Staff horticulturist at the Lamont- 
Doherty Geological Observatory of 
Columbia University, Thomas A. 
Christopher has a certificate in hor- 
ticulture from the New York Botani- 
cal Garden and a degree in classics 
from Brown University. His article on 
the botanical garden at Padua grew 
out of his research on the history of 
the gardens of Italy, especially those 
of imperial Rome. Christopher points 
out that although “classics and hor- 
ticulture may seem an unlikely com- 
bination of interests, the background 
in classics has provided me with the 
knowledge of languages and the tech- 
niques of research necessary for a 
study of historic gardens, while garden 
history has, in turn, provided a fas- 
cinating sidelight on the study of an- 
cient and modern civilizations.” 
After the builders of the Gossamer 
Condor captured the Kremer Prize 
for human-powered flight in 1977, 
Morton Grosser was invited to join 
the team for its next project: the de- 
sign and construction of the Gossamer 
Albatross , the plane that would make 
the first human-powered flight across 
the English Channel. Grosser’s special 
responsibility, as an author and en- 
gineer, was to chronicle the Gossamer 
ventures in a book, a chapter of which 
has been adapted in this issue of Nat- 
ural History. With a master’s degree 
in mechanical engineering and a doc- 
torate in the history of science, 
Grosser has been both a teacher and 
design engineer. He divides his time 
between writing and serving as an in- 
dependent consultant in technology as- 
sessment and management. 
“I grew up with a great love of 
birds,” writes George W. Archibald, 
“and kept an entire menagerie of 
ducks and geese at home in Nova Sco- 
tia. I remember doing my undergrad- 
uate thesis on cranes, being captivated 
by them, and going on to do graduate 
work on them.” He has been working 
on the captive propagation of Siberian 
cranes since 1974, and is also doing 
research on the breeding ecology of 
red-crowned cranes and the migration 
and ecology of Siberian cranes in the 
USSR and the People’s Republic of 
China, as well as the ethology of 
hooded cranes. Archibald is cofounder 
and a member of the board of directors 
of the International Crane Foundation 
in Baraboo, Wisconsin. 
When she arrived in Vermont in 
1969 to teach folklore and folk life 
at Goddard College, Eleanor A. Ott 
(right) was fortunate enough to meet 
someone who could instruct her in the 
traditional ways of local rural life. This 
was Lucille Cerutti, who has shared 
with the author her lifelong experience 
of seasonal activities, from sap gath- 
ering and spring planting to deer hunt- 
Mark Deyrup claims that ht be- 
came interested in insects at tht age 
of two, and that he made his firsl 
collection at the ripe age of four. An 
assistant professor of entomology at 
Purdue University, he is now engaged 
in investigating the biology of Indiana 
bark beetles and other insects that 
inhabit wood. The long-term gdal of 
the project is to obtain infornjation 
on the structure of insect commifiities 
in deadwood, the overlap of cohmu- 
nities, and the niche breadth if in- 
6 
