Betty Radcliffe’s first fieldwork on 
the study of social movements con- 
cerned protest activities against a 
proposed high-voltage power line in 
central Minnesota (see “The Great 
Energy Standoff,” Natural History, 
January 1978). By means of inter- 
views with protesters, affected res- 
idents, employees of the utilities 
seeking to build the power line, and 
public officials involved in selecting 
a site, Radcliffe “observed at first- 
hand the development of a major 
protest movement.” This kind of re- 
search, she feels, is an “essential pre- 
liminary to the formulation of good 
questionnaires” and prepared her for 
her work on our 1 980 version of “You 
and the Ecology Movement.” A 
graduate of St. Cloud State Univer- 
sity and a former teacher, Radcliffe 
has worked as Luther Gerlach’s re- 
search assistant at the University of 
Minnesota for the past seven years. 
Since 1 970, when Natural History 
published its first questionnaire on 
“You and the Ecology Movement,” 
coauthor Luther P. Gerlach has been 
following the development of the en- 
vironmental movement. Through re- 
search, analysis, and interviews, he 
has also examined the recent growth 
of other social movements and the 
controversy over energy. The 1980 
version of the ecology questionnaire, 
which appeared in the June issue 
of Natural History, and the final 
report in this issue, reflect his in- 
terest in how various social move- 
ments work to “challenge and change 
American culture.” Gerlach, who re- 
ceived his Ph.D. from the Universi- 
ty of London, is professor of an- 
thropology at the University of Min- 
nesota. He is now studying the role 
of churches in Minnesota in several 
social issues, chiefly resource devel- 
opment and control. 
Authors 
In 1924, shortly after receiving a 
Ph.D. in comparative anatomy and 
vertebrate paleontology from Glas- 
gow University in Scotland, William 
E. Swinton accepted a job at the 
Natural History Museum in London. 
He remained there for thirty-seven 
years, away only during World War 
II when he served in the British 
Navy. As a principal scientific of- 
ficer in the Department of Geology 
and Paleontology, Swinton helped 
build up the museum’s vertebrate 
paleontological collections and cre- 
ated the museum’s dinosaur galler- 
ies. In 1961 he moved to the Royal 
Ontario Museum in Toronto, where 
from 1963 to 1966 he served as di- 
rector. Since 1966, Swinton has been 
a professor of zoology and the history 
of science at the University of To- 
ronto. He is currently emeritus pro- 
fessor of the university’s Massey Col- 
lege. 
6 
