Secrets of the Hoary Deep: A Personal History of Modern Astronomy

ELEVEN: Transitions: From American Science and Engineering to Harvard

ELEVEN Growth and Divergence at AS&E—First Thoughts about a National X-Ray Observatory— Culture Clash: Introduction to Harvard—The Ventures of Others into Celestial X-Ray Gazing Transitions: From American Science and Engineering to Harvard 181 Growth and Divergence at AS&E When people are young, they are quite happy to be given the opportunity to work in an interesting field where they can learn new and important subjects. Provided the organization in which they happen to work can sustain their personal and professional growth,there are few reasons for discontent.In my own case, I found working at AS&E wonderful for more than 10 years. After feeling (in my fellowship years) underutilized, or unwanted, I finally had a job that was worthwhile, for which I was paid a reasonable salary—so that I could support my family—and in which I could learn a profession. With the help of the company, my visa status was changed so that I no longer had to leave the United States, which I had come to love. The company’s classified work was not a burden to me; on the contrary, the climateof theearly1960smadeitseemapatrioticduty.Intherevisionistatmosphere of the era that followed John F. Kennedy’s tragic death, one often forgets hisfirmandcourageousstandagainsttheUSSR’sthreat,particularlyduringthe Cuban missile crisis in October 1962. His decision to counter the USSR’s atmospheric nuclear tests, carried out the previous year, with high-altitude tests in the summer of 1962 was the prelude to the test ban treaty that followed. The work at AS&E to develop better educational approaches to the teaching of science was also extremely attractive. There was hope in the early 1960s that one could make science education more attractive for our children by following the empirical hands-on approach introduced by Jerrold Zacharaias and others at MIT, and AS&E was involved in designing and producing inexpensive learning kits for elementary school children. In addition, the Boston Children’s Museum was trying to apply some of the educational approaches advocated by Jean Piaget, such as role playing, to a variety of subjects, and it had started programs in which we at AS&E were collaborating. The development of medical instrumentation appeared to be an exciting area, with good prospects for growth and clear societal benefit. Herbert Gursky and I had actually come up with the idea of using “good geometry” techniques in x-ray radiography. This approach is the basis for the scanning devices produced by AS&E for airport security and border protection, which even today constitute the main business of the company. Even more significant has been the further application of the technique to medical tomography (computerized axial tomographic, or CAT, scanning), which I wish we had developed. The field of research I had been asked to concentrate on, space sciences, was opening the window to an unexplored universe, which promised an almost limitless wealth of discoveries.I have mentioned in Chapters 4 and 9 the rapid development of the Space Research and Systems Division at AS&E into a vertically integrated organization, capable of executing technically challenging and ambitious programs. During these years of challenging and frenetic work, I too had changed. I was no longer the starry-eyed young man, grateful for the opportunity to do any work at all and content to follow what seemed an almost predetermined path. Martin Annis, the president of the company, had been increasingly relying on my managerial support with respect to the most general corporate issues. In 1968 he had insisted that I take management and sensitivity training , then much in vogue, and as early as 1969 I was given increasing responsibility for the management of AS&E. I negotiated all aspects of the contracts for my division, which had come to provide some 90 percent of the company ’s income. This responsibility included the development, together with the company’s Accounting Office, of corporate targets for general and administrative expenses, divisional overheads, material handling, budgets, and fees. These budgets included marketing expenses plus expenses for independent research. I had to defend our estimates to the government auditors on S E C R E T S O F T H E H O A R Y D E E P 182 a yearly basis. It was necessary for me to learn about such administrative issues as compensation, benefits, and insurance provisions for the staff, and to contribute to the formulation of policies regarding hiring, yearly evaluations , rewards, and terminations. I also became deeply involved in the...