156 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1944 
in the clock and azimuth lists; that parallax determinations are going 
on; that solar photography and observations of chromospheric erup- 
tions in Ha are continuing; and that the two Time Service Stations 
have operated continuously. During this period the exhaustive work 
on the solar parallax was brought to completion. 
In France solar, planetary, and stellar research have been carried 
on, and in Holland galactic problems, long-period variables, dark 
nebulosity, and theoretical astrophysics have been under investiga- 
tion even in these tragic years. In the U. S. S. R., where at least 
three observatories have been destroyed and another dismantled, plans 
are already made for resumption of activity and for the erection of 
new observatories to further the study of latitude variations and solar 
research. From two observatories east of the farthest battle front we 
know that papers have been published recently on photoelectric calo- 
rimetry and on color temperatures. 
Similar records of observations and measurements carried on des- 
pite air raids, despite reduction of staff, despite pressing war problems 
and difficulties of all kinds, could be quoted from many observatories 
in countries deeply involved in fighting for their very existence. 
‘In these and in countries like our own—at war, but far removed 
from the main theaters of conflict—there has been a very important 
contribution made by astronomers in the adaptation of astronomical 
observations and calculations to the problems of air ngvigation. The 
Director of the Glasgow University Observatory, W. M. Smart, has 
produced three books on nautical astronomy since this war began, and 
under his instruction, R. A. F. pilots and cadets are learning the art 
and science of navigation. Scores of astronomers, including Canadian 
men well known to many of us, are doing similar work, giving all 
their time, skill, and energy, and often risking their lives in the air 
with student pilots, in order to impart this so necessary instruction 
in air navigation, 
In the Koran, it is written: “God has given you the stars to be 
guides in the dark, both by land and sea.” Homer tells of Ulysses. 
on his raft that he sat at the helm and “marked the skies, nor 
closed in sleep his ever watchful eyes.” But navigation from the 
back of a camel or from the bridge of a ship can be a relatively 
leisurely performance. Not so in a modern airplane! The naviga- 
tor takes a sight on a star or planet, he reads his chronometer, and 
then if his calculations take him 5 minutes to perform, he and his 
plane are already perhaps 25 miles away from the ascertained posi- 
tion. Every minute that astronomers have been able to cut off the 
time for computation of position is of the greatest value to airmen 
flying over seven seas and six continents, across enemy lines, with 
objectives a mere dot on the map—a railway yard, a factory, an 
airfield. 
