as FONZ's Wildlife Arcs Festival. In 1997 these programs 

 reached nearly 20,000 schoolchildren with self-guides, out- 

 reach kits, and other materials. In addition, public education 

 programs funded by FONZ Membership reached about 

 71,000 children and adults. 



The Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front 

 Royal, Virginia, and the Wilds, an animal conservation 

 facility in Ohio, collaborated on the use of artificial insemina- 

 tion (A/I) to produce four scimitar-horned oryx calves. The 

 birth of the two males and two females between June 13 

 and June 20 is an important advance in the conservation of 

 this highly endangered species. These healthy calves repre- 

 sent the largest number of oryx offspring ever produced by 

 A/I. 



The conservation efforts of the National Zoo were featured 

 in a special satellite-to-schools teleconference on October 29, 

 1996, produced by Kurds Productions, Inc. "The Battle to 

 Save Endangered Species" reached an estimated 3—5 million 

 students in 11,000 schools across North America. Two of the 

 species featured, the black-footed ferret and the Florida pan- 

 ther, are alive today due, in part, to the collaborative efforts of 

 National Zoo reproductive biologists. As an added feature to 

 the day's activities, the U.S. Postal Service launched the 

 endangered species stamp series at the National Zoo and 

 provided a special cancellation, that read "National Zoologi- 

 cal Park Station: Endangered Species" and featured a drawing 

 of a black-footed ferret. 



The Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front 

 Royal, VA, conducted a special course, "Advanced Conserva- 

 tion Training," for 83 scientists, managers, graduate students, 

 and conservation organization representatives. CRC staff 

 trained participants in the latest conservation biology methods 

 and theories, as well as in remote sensing, genetics, and 

 biodiversity monitoring and sampling. Throughout 1997 

 CRC staff conducted similar training sessions in China, 

 Burma, Thailand, and Brazil. 



The Howard Hughes Medical Institute 1997 Pre-College 

 Science Education Initiative for Science Museums, Aquaria, 

 Botanical Gardens, and Zoos awarded a $100,000 four-year 

 grant to the Zoo. The funds will support the updating of the 

 Zoo's existing science education materials, development of 

 new materials and activities for teachers, and expansion of the 

 Teacher Workshop Program. 



The Zoo's Latino Program recruited Latino professionals 

 to develop and promote science outreach programs for 

 Latino communities. In 1997 Adrian Cerezo, Education/ 

 Exhibit Fellow, was instrumental in developing the educa- 

 tion/interpretation programs at the new Amazonia Science 

 Gallery, and Carlos Ruiz-Miranda, Coordinator of the Zoo 

 Latino Program, and Michelle Garcia, Education Special- 

 ist, completed a three-year science outreach program with 

 local schools. 



Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory 



Irwin I. Shapiro. Director 



The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), head- 

 quartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, pursues research in 

 close collaboration with the Harvard College Observatory 

 (HCO), with many staff members holding joint appointments 

 and sharing in research projects. Together, the two obser- 

 vatories form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for 

 Astrophysics (CfA) to coordinate related activities under a 

 single director. Although both observatories retain their 

 separate identities, with each responsible to its parent 

 organization, they draw on the coordinated strengths of the 

 two organizations and the combined staffs in seven research 

 divisions: Atomic and Molecular Physics, High Energy- 

 Astrophysics, Optical and Infrared Astronomy, Planetary 

 Sciences, Radio and Geoastronomy, Solar and Stellar Physics, 

 and Theoretical Astrophysics. In addition, the CfA has a 

 department devoted to science education. 



Facilities 



Observational facilities include the multipurpose Fred 

 Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) on Mt. Hopkins in 

 Arizona and the Oak Ridge Observatory in Massachusetts. 

 The major instrument on Mt. Hopkins is the Multiple Mirror 

 Telescope (MMT), operated jointly with the University of 

 Arizona. Also located at the FLWO are a 10-m-diameter reflec- 

 tor to detect gamma rays, a 1.2-m imaging optical/infrared 

 telescope, and a 1.5-m spectroscopic telescope; it also houses a 

 1.3-m optical telescope, operated by the University of Mas- 

 sachusetts and other partners, and an optical and infrared in- 

 terferometer (IOTA), built in collaboration with the 

 universities of Massachusetts and Wyoming and MIT's Lin- 

 coln Laboratory. 



Major support facilities in Cambridge include a panoply of 

 computers connected by a local-area network, a central en- 

 gineering department, a machine shop, a large astronomical 

 library, design and drafting capability, and in-house printing 

 and publishing services. 



Special laboratories are maintained for the petrologic and 

 mineralogic studies of meteorites and lunar samples; for the 

 spectroscopy of atoms and molecules; and for the development 

 of instrumentation, including advanced electronic detectors 

 and atomic maser clocks. Major research endeavors include 

 the development of a Submillimeter Array (SMA), and the 

 conversion of the MMT to a single-mirror telescope 6.5 m in 

 diameter. 



SAO instrumentation is also operating in space; for ex- 

 ample, the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) is 

 studying the Sun's corona as one of a suite of experiments 

 aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) space- 

 craft launched in 1995. Development of new instrumentation 

 continues for other space missions, including the Advanced X- 



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