May 7 



Exhibit: The "Invertebrate Exhibit," the first comprehensive exhibit of living 

 invertebrates in the United States, opened at the National Zoological Park. 



May 7 



Award: The National Zoological Park awarded a Silver Medal to E. O. Wilson of Harvard 

 University in recognition of outstanding service to zoological science and 

 conservation. The award ceremony included a talk by Wilson on the importance of 

 invertebrates in global ecology. 



May 7 



Exhibition: Following a highly successful thirteen-month tour to museums in Seattle, 

 Minneapolis, Cleveland, Fort Worth, and Atlanta, "Treasures from the National Museum 

 of American Art," an exhibition of eighty-one works from colonial to contemporary 

 times, returned to its home for its final showing. 



May 12 



Grant: The Visitor Information and Associates' Reception Center received a grant from 

 the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation to support production of an orientation 

 video for the new Smithsonian Information Center, scheduled to open in 1989. 



May 13 



Telecast: The Public Broadcasting Service aired "The Elephant On The Hill," the 

 third special of the third season of "Smithsonian World." 



May 14 



Lecture: In a lecture cosponsored by the Resident Associate Program and the National 

 Air and Space Museum, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager relived their around-the-world 

 flight in Voyager. 



May 15 



Research Milestone: "Test tube," or in vitro, fertilization resulted in the births of 

 domestic cats, marking the first time that the fertilization method was successful 

 with a carnivore species. The application of this technique to felines, developed by 

 National Zoological Park scientists, may eventually help save species of small wild 

 cats from extinction. 



May 15-19 



International Workshop: Thirty-five leading paleoecologists from the United States, 

 Canada, England, and West Germany evaluated current understanding of catastrophic 

 disruptions to land ecosystems during the past 400 million years. The conference— the 

 first devoted to this topic-was organized by the scientists directing the National 

 Museum of Natural History's new Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems program. 



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