ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE LIBRARY 111111111111111 i]~~r1ll~lllii[f [~1111111 ~111111111 31696 01138 2262 :-1 HOMECOMING 98 Annapolis events included some- thing for everyone ....................... 14 CATALOGUE BOMBS How-and why-a St. John's alum S!JOHN'S COLLEGE lofted catalogues out the window of ANNAPOLIS ·SANTA FE his plane during bombing missions over Germany............................... 9 THREE FACULTY STORIES Charles Bell adapts Symbolic History to the computer age; Krishnan Venkatesh talks about Chaucer and the I Ching; John Verdi and other Annapolis tutors relate Nietzsche to the Program ......................... 6, 7, 10 DEPARTMENTS From the Bell Towers: Searching for Isaac Newton, banishing the February blues, Paul Mellon's legacy ............... 2 Alumni Profiles: An explorer of underwater caves, an attorney who argued before the Supreme Court.................................... 20, 23 Campus Life: Community service in Santa Fe, milk and cookies in Annapolis, the all-American guy from Ghana ...................... 11, 12, 13 Alumni Voices: A Peace Corps volunteer shares the story of his first shakymoments ........................... 28 Alumni Association: Peripatetic tutors, chapter contacts ............... 16 Class Notes ................................ 18 Randall Hall, built in 1903, is a true multi-purpose building: dining hall, dormitory, office space, administra­ tive computer center. Alumni from all eras have fond-or not so fond-memories of times spent in the building. See "Nine Facts About Randall Hall" on page 2. Watercolor illustration by Sarah Waters, A88. Letters ........................................ 8 + Fro01 the Bell Tow-ers ... by Sus3an Borden SEARCHING FOR ISAAC NEWTON ir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) is from March 19 through April 18. generous grant to help St. John's philosophy at France's University of everywhere in our modern Plans for the conference began stage the conference. Lille, will lecture on the topic: Does Sworld: his laws helped build the when Stewart Greenfield (A53), a Both the exhibition and the con­ Newton's science disclose actual Bay Bridge, the engineers at General member of the Board ofVisitors and ference will have as their underlying knowledge of nature? Motors use his principles daily, and Governors, learned that St. John's theme the question of hypothesis. "I The following day, three talks NASA's scientists rely on his insights might be able to borrow books and hope the conference will be an occa­ are scheduled, two of which include for calculating orbits. But while his equipment of great interest to sion for raising the question: 'to re-enactments of Newton's original laws govern engineering around the Newton scholars from the Burndy what extent can methods of scientif­ experiments. William Donahue world, and his physics and calculus Library of the Dibner Institute for ic investigation give more than (A67), a former tutor and now one of are taught in nearly every college in the History of Science and Tech­ merely hypothetical ideas about the proprietors of Green Lion Press the country, his writings are rarely nology at MIT. From there, the idea things; " says tutor Howard Fisher, (which publishes a guide to the study read-only by the few hundred gradu­ of sharing the loaned items with chair of the conference committee. of Newton's Principia, as well as ate students who study the history of other students of Newton's thought Flaumenhaft elaborates on this other works of math and science) will science and, of course, by every discuss Newton's early work in light student who attends St. ~ and colors. This will include a This fact was driven home to ~ ~ demonstration of his famous double­ Dean Harvey Flaumenhaft in 1987- -s prism experiment. George Smith of the three hundredth anniversary of ~ Tufts University's department of phi­ the publication of the Principia. losophy and William Harper of the While reading a newspaper article department of philosophy at the that mentioned the number of copies University of Western Ontario will of the Principia sold each year, discuss Newton's double-pendulum Flamnenhaft noted that the number experiment. This talk will include a was very small, only a few hundred. demonstration of the experiment by He realized that most of them must Tutor Emeritus Curtis Wilson. For be sold to St. John's students. the final Saturday talk, Smith and "We read the Principia for a Harper will again pair up for a dis­ long stretch of junior math, and we cussion of Newton's work and read crucial parts of it in lab," says thought between the Opticks and Flaumenhaft. In addition, he says the Principia. that many junior seminar books On Sunday morning, Dana (Kant, for example) are, in some Densmore (A65), also a former way, reflections on Newton's way of Howard fisher, one of the tutors bringing Newton scholars to St. john's tutor and the other proprietor of understanding the world. ""A direct blossomed into the idea of an exhibi­ by explaining that an important Green Lion Press, will present ales­ confrontation with Newton's tion. And around the exhibition, question in the study of science is son on Proposition 7, Book III of thought is required and is a large plans for the conference grew. whether the pursuit of science yields Newton's Principia, a proposition part of the education at St. John's The exhibition will include first, a view of what is, or if it merely concerning the proportionality of College. Students elsewhere hear second, and third editions of the yields a set of tools that enable us to gravity and matter. The conference about Newton in a physics class, or Principia and seven other original manipulate what is. "The question will close early Sunday afternoon perhaps in a history class, but the editions of Newton's work, all on is," Flaumenhaft says about the with a panel discussion led by the study of Newton is not widespread." loan from the Burntly Library. In work of science, "are you getting a conference's speakers. This spring, St. John's plans to addition, visitors will be able to see a cookbook or a window? Is science a The conference's organizers, broaden the study of Newton by sev­ replica of Newton's reflector tele­ set of mental rules and tools for tak­ Howard Fisher, Curtis Wilson, and eral hundred scholars and students scope, on loan from the Smithsonian ing raw materials and making some­ Adam Schulman, along with Dean through a weekend-long conference Institution's National Museum of thing, or does science give you a Harvey Flaumenhaft, hope that and a month-long exhibition of American History; a replica of a typi­ view of what's already there?" interested alumni will be able to Newton's works and philosophy. The cal Galilean refracting telescope; This issue will be addressed attend some or all of the program. conference, "Beyond Hypotheses: and a model of Newton's double­ throughout the conference, begin­ All of the conference's lectures, Newton's Experimental Philosophy," prism experiment. In addition to ning with the keynote lecture on talks, and demonstrations are free will take place March 19 to 21. The facilitating the loan of these items, Friday, March 19 at 8:15 p.m., when and open to the public. For more accompanying exhibition will run the Dibner Fund has also made a Francois de Gandt, professor of information, call 410-626-2539. • 9 FACTS ABOUT RANDALL HALL Ill It was built in 1903 to serve as the college dining hall; the architecture vate dining room and terrace were added. The entrance was moved from is pseudo-Georgian, in the style of Christopher Wren. the quad side of the building to the Pinkney side. Ill When women were admitted in Ill For many years, dinners were served family style (see photo) by student 1951, they lived in Randall dorm wait staff. Men wore coats and ties and women wore dresses to dinner. Any rooms (this was before Campbell alumnus who knows when this custom of the family style dinners was dis­ was built). Barbara Leonard, the continued, let us know. We haven't been able to track it down. tutor and assistant dean who The large portraits of William and Mary in the dining hall were donated was "'in charge" of the women, philanthropist Paul Mellon, class of 1944. lived in a suite (now the com­ Currently in the "basement" of Randall you'll find the tTeasurer' sand mon room) that was separated business offices, plus the nerve center of the campus netwnrk a curtain drawn across the where Plourde, A79, and other computer services folk reif!n over a end of the hallway. cabling and banks of monitors. Randall was designed by T. The food service contract is renewed every 3 years; a committee of u.auuaLL, a Baltimore stutaent~3, and administrators decides who should fruit loops . and named for the to the 350 or so students who use the food service. Current Randall family, which had provider is Bon Appetit, a catering firm out of Menlo Park, CA. many St. John's alumni There are 21 doubles and two single dorm rooms in Randall. According to among its members. Director of Residence Cora Sterling, A94, Randall is the least favorite dorm The building was remodeled because the rooms are the smallest and because the temperature of the show­ in 1981, when a new kitchen was built and the pri- ers fluctuates wildly. • Front the Bell Tow-ers ... SURVIVING FEBR ARY ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Glenda Holladay Eoyang (SF76) the Rain. The hope was that the the end of the fifth Pollyanna characters, the spunky straight run, almost the mid-70s, when I was a stu- music, and the mindless plot would everyone on campus in Santa Fe, February was the lift comrades out of the depths of knew the lyrics and -,...,.,,,,,i,,."r month.