Congress Approves FY '78 Appropriation By Linda St. Thomas National Zoological Park, building restora­ of Federal grant funds." research and study, and conservation. Cur­ tion and renovation, and construction. The Senate committee report added its rent plans include a building of approx­ Congress completed action July 14 on the The salaries and expenses appropriation expectation "that efforts will begin im­ imately 338,000 square feet to be con­ Smithsonian appropriation for fiscal year is $88,238,000, an increase of about $3 mil­ mediately to effect the smooth transition of structed adjacent to the existing Silver Hill 1978, which begins October I, and sent it to lion over fiscal year 1977. It affects most the Science Information Exchange to facility in Suitland, Md. the President for his approval. Smithsonian staffers because it includes ap­ Federal status, either in the Smithsonian or Approval of the request for funds for the propriations for salaries, museum exhibi­ another appropriate Federal agency." study center and library addition to MHT Highlights of the measure include tions and acquisitions, research, travel, and The conferees reduced the SSIE ap­ was deferred, at least until fiscal year 1979, $325,000 to initiate architectural and publications. propriation "based on the belief that user pending the results of the House Ap­ engineering plans for the museum support The $4 million appropriation for fees should bear a greater share of the propriations Committee investigation staff center; $2.5 million for restoration and museum programs and related research is operating costs of the Exchange." report. The Senate report said that its com­ repair of buildings at the N ational Zoo and administered by the Office of International I n the area of Zoo construction, funds mittee "did not necessarily quarrel with the its Front Royal facility; deferral of the $7.1 Programs' Foreign Currency Program. Of have been appropriated for the renovation need for the facility but with the high cost million request for the study center and this total, up to $500,000 will be available to and repair of buildings and the installation involved in adding it to an existing struc­ library addition to the Museum of History Smithsonian employees for research. of a fence around Front Royal Conserva­ ture." and Technology; and a reduction of Of a request for $450,000, the House and tion and Research Center. Funds have also Plans for the proposed sixth floor addi­ $200,000 in the total budget of the Science Senate conferees allowed the research been approved for M aster Plan construc­ tion include space for about 215,000 books, Information Exchange. awards program only $110,000 to conclude tion, including such projects as improve­ manuscripts, and documents. Among the The Smithsonian appropriation is ongoing research by Smithsonian ment and enlargement of the waterfowl collections to be housed there would be the divided into six accounts: salaries and ex­ employees. They directed that the Smithso­ ponds and building of a new facility for the Alexander Graham Bell Library and the penses, museum programs and related ni an Research Foundation be terminated, lesser cats. Dibner Library of the History of Science research, Science Information Exchange, however, and "that the Smithsonian es­ The proposed museum support center is and Technology donated to the Smithso­ construction and improvements at the tablish procedures for direct administration expected to provide space for collections, nian in 1975. o T HE SM I THSONIAN TORCH No. 77-8 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. August 1977 July 4 Visitors Danced at MHT; Welcomed Metro to Mall Station An estimated 20 I ,000 visitors attended Everyone was delighted with the social the outdoor Fourth of July Celebration, dancing which focused each evening on a July 2-4, on the grounds and terraces of the different era of dance music. Live bands Museum of History and Technology. backed professi onal dance instructors who Produced by the Division of Performing demonstrated the jitterbug, Charleston, Arts in association with M HT, the three­ Greek dances, and waltzes, mazurkas, and day event became a focal point for schottisches. Washington's. celebration. of America's DPA Director J ames Morris, who served ____ .l.U.w......b,I.t.Y:I.d..:~...s..w,I.e.y.....l.:..Ilen.:w*",£ .oor~ - master- of cer-emonies fgr the social danc- ~ dinator for the programs, reported that ing, said he was pleased to see the combina­ everything went smoothly as crowds of tions of dancers, tall and short, young and families, young people, and senior citizens old, cognoscenti and initiates, who all gathered to watch high-wheel b ikers, pup­ became enthusiasts fo r the evening. Later, Face painting brought clowns to MHT fo r July 4 festivities. pets, and clowns, a nd to sit at t he the Visitor Reception Center and D PA amphitheater stage to enjoy gospel, both received many requests to continue the bluegrass, and old-fashioned band music. dance programs. "I haven't seen such an orderly crowd in Along with those from D PA, the celebra­ a long time," said Captain George Terrell tion was staffed by hundreds of SI people, CFA Study Identifies of MHT's Guard Company C. In addition employees and volunteers alike, who may to crowd control, Captain Terrell and the otherwise have spent their weekend at near­ other guards acted as "walking en­ by beaches and parks. cyclopedias of information for the "We always have a weekend captain on Clusters of Galaxies tourists. " (See 'July 4,' Page 8) By James Cornell The important feature of this gas is that Using data from the UHURU satellite, a the mass required to produce the X-ray team of astronomers led by Riccardo Giac­ emission is five to 10 times greater than all Ten Millionth Visits NASM coni at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for the material seen at other wavelengths and Astrophysics has discovered what appear to is itself sufficient to gravitationally bind the 1 Year, 8 Days After Opening be "superclusters" of galaxies, bound clusters in the supercluster. This high den­ together by a very hot and tenuous gas with sity has implications for the evolution of the a mass many times that of the galaxies universe. themselves. If this gas exists in the quan­ For the past two decades, a major scien­ tities suggested by the observations, it could tific debate has concerned the nature of the represent a significant percentage of the so­ universe and its eventual fate. Proponents called "missing mass" needed to close the of the "open universe" claimed the universe universe. originated in a primordial explosion, or big While compiling the "Fourth UHURU bang, some 20 billion years ago and will Catalog of X-Ray Sources" from observa­ continue to expand outward forever. By tions made in the early 1970's, the group contrast, the "closed universe" advocates detected a number of sources of X-ray emis­ suggested that this expansion would even­ sion associated with several clusters of tually end due to gravitational collapse and galaxies grouped together in the material would fall back onto itself, "superclusters" more than 150 million light perhaps to repeat the cycle. years in diameter. An analysis of the data The amount of material observed by by Stephen Murray, William Forman, traditional optical and radio techniques has Christine J ones, and Dr. Giacconi suggests been insufficient to provide the that the X-ray emission is most likely gravitational attraction needed to "close" produced by a hot gas pervading the the universe. The new observations, based supercluster. on data from the X-ray astronomy satellite Confirmation of this discovery could be UHUR U, suggest the "missing mass" may made within the next several months by the exist as vast amounts of extremely hot gas High Energy Astronomy Observatory between the galaxies. (HEAO-A) satellite scheduled for launch by The U HU R U satellite, officially the National Aeronautics and Space Ad­ designated Explorer 42, was placed into a ministration in early August. nearly circular orbit over the earth's He was only seven years old, but Kenric Call wood of St. Thomas, V.I., made The scientists described the gas, primarily equator on December 12, 1970, from the history on July 8 when he became the 10 millionth person to visit the National Air hydrogen and helium, as "essentially San Marco launch platform off the coast of and Space Museum. Overwhelmed at first by the excitement which greeted his primordial material," representing the re­ Kenya by NASA and the Centro Richerche entrance, Kenric soon got into the spirit as he helped NASM Director Michael Col­ mains of the initial explosion that created Aerospaziali of Italy. The date of the lins blowout the candles on the waiting cake. Kenric received a framed color picture the universe. The very high temperature of launch coincided with the seventh anniver­ from the movie, "To Fly," catalogs of Museum exhibits, a gift certificate to the the gas, more than 10,000 times hotter than sary of Kenyan independence and the satel­ shop, and passes to the theater and spacearium. He and his party were treated to the surface of the sun, accounts for the dif­ lite was named UHURU, the Swahili word lunch in the Museum cafeteria. ficulty of observing it at any but X-ray for "freedom," in recognition of that na­ wavelengths. tion's cooperation. Page 2 THE SMITHSONIAN TORCH August 1977 Festivities Mark Opening of Zoo Trail System NCFA Shows Art of Clear enough even for small children to Hispanic-Americans follow, the system is based on animal By Karen Ruckman footprints. On a map visitors can select a trail-crowned crane trail, zebra trail, Multicolored feathers, iconographic elephant trail, lion trail, duck trail, or polar images, self portraits, and fond recollec­ bear trail-and then look for the cor­ tions of community are among the subjects responding footprints to direct them.