Smithsonian articles from April 1987

Smithsonian archives from April 1987

Smithsonian horizons. (scientific technology and human thought) (column)
April 1, 1987... Smithsonian horizons The modern scientific renaissance is atruly international arena of achievement. Fortunately, it is one in which this nation can still claim a position of leadership. And behind that leadership lie major advances in our...

Around the mall and beyond. (new Smithsonian Information Center)
April 1, 1987... Around the Mall and beyond On a pleasant morning last winter,shortly before Washington entered the new Ice Age, a family of three stood helplessly on the Mall between the Arts and Industries Building and the Hirshhorn and looked about them...

Phenomena, comment and notes. (scientific study of environmental problems) (column)
April 1, 1987... Phenomena, comment and notes The things that worry environmentalistsare often invisible, far away or off in the future. It is almost as difficult to make them real in our minds as it is to develop a personal feeling of what it means to say...

In from the fields, wildflowers find a new welcome among gardeners.
April 1, 1987... In from the fields, wildflowers find a new welcome among gardeners Kittens grow up to be cats. Ice creams and pies arefattening. Babies are expensive and messy. Mothers can cause psychic ailments. In contrast, the reputation of wildflowers...

A man who made architecture an art of the unexpected. (Frank Gehry)
April 1, 1987... A man who made architecture an art of the unexpected Frank Gehry is very fond of fish. As a boy growing upin a Polish-Jewish home in Toronto, he remembers playing with the live carp that his grandmother bought every Thursday to make gefilte...

With new energy, Vietnam gets down to business.
April 1, 1987... With new energy, Vietnam gets down to business Van Thi Dung ran her eyes and fingers professionallyover the workmanship of the simple white cotton blouse and, with a little grunt, pronounced it satisfactory. Then she peeled 350 dong off a...

A life hardly less romantic and turbulent than his novels. (Victor Hugo)
April 1, 1987... A life hardly less romantic and turbulent than his novels While the 1985 centennial of the death of the greatFrench novelist and poet Victor Hugo went as unnoticed in this country as most of his work has been for some time, the musical...

Oh, it's so nice to have a sloth around the house.
April 1, 1987... Oh, it's so nice to have a sloth around the house "Sir must to come! Lady had her baby last night!' Lady, a three-toed sloth, had been with us morethan two years. One hundred and six days ago she had mated with a young male. Now...

One fan's tribute to baseball greats - and almost-greats. (Barry Halper's collection of baseball souvenirs)
April 1, 1987... One fan's tribute to baseball greats-- and almost-greats In the summer of 1954, a 14-year-old baseball nut fromNewark, New Jersey, named Barry Halper went to Yankee Stadium to see an old-timers game. Before the game began he waited outside...

Sculpture in the subways? Is there a better place for it?
April 1, 1987... Sculpture in the subways? Is there a better place for it? When sculptor Mags Harries agreed to produce a workof art for a new Boston subway station, her initial idea was tree roots. They would be bronze, protruding from the station's...

Monte Cassino: a story of death and resurrection.
April 1, 1987... Monte Cassino: a story of death and resurrection "Like a lion it crouched,' the young American lieutenantthought as he looked up toward the great abbey on top of the mountain, "dominating all approaches, watching every move made by the...

The sun never sets: travels to the remaining outposts of the British Empire.
April 1, 1987... The Sun Never Sets: Travels to the Remaining Outposts of the British Empire Simon WinchesterPrentice Hall, $17.95 Maps of the world just a generation agoshowed a good deal of the planet tinted pink, marking the dominions of the British...

The new Grove dictionary of American music.
April 1, 1987... The New Grove Dictionary of American Music Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcockand Stanley Sadie Grove's Dictionaries of Music, $495 The accuracy and comprehensiveness ofa major new reference work--surely its most notable attributes--can...

An odd bestiary. (column)
April 1, 1987... An Odd Bestiary Designed and illustrated byAlan James Robinson Text compiled and annotated by Laurie Block University of Illinois Press, $29.95 An Odd Bestiary is an elaborate hybrid, across of old literary and bookmaking traditions with...

"Negative biography": a Who's Who for who's not. (column)
April 1, 1987... "Negative biography': a Who's Who for who's not A problem unnoticed by most of us,but alarming to those affected, is that college English departments are turning out biographical scholars faster than the society is producing great men and...