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Hearings of the Task Force on Science Policy of the 



ComiDittee on Science and Technology 



of the U.S. House of Representatives 



June 19, 1985 



Testimony by Herbert Friedman, 



National Research Council 



Mr. Chairman and members of the Task Force on Science 

 Policy: 



I have been invited to discuss aspects of international 

 cooperation in various geophysics and space science programs. 

 My statement is confined to two scientific disciplines, 

 astronomy and global geophysics, which serve well to judge the 

 value of international cooperation both past and future. 



Astrongmy. 



Astronomy has always had a strong international character. 

 Major observatories have been located in many countries and 

 traditionally been available to visiting scientists with 

 recognized scientific qualifications regardless of where they 

 came from. Because the community was small and private 

 benefactors were generous, governmental funds were rarely 

 necessary. Men like Andrew Carnegie, James Lick and Percival 

 Lowell established many of the great observatories which served 

 American astronomy so well for the past 100 years. 



But astronomical research has been undergoing a social 

 revolution over the past two or three decades. Rapid and global 

 air travel has permitted the establishment of new observatories 

 at remote sites with astronomical seeing being the prime factor. 



