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From Orphan To Startup After being bought and sold and then finally told that he just wasn’t wanted anymore, computer scientist David Jenkins is now calling the shots for his own computer hardware company, Visionary Systems Inc. of New Haven, Conn. It all began in 1986 when Jenkins was working on microchips for array processing boards as part of ITT’s Advanced Technology Center in Shelton, Conn. In December of that year, ITT sold Jenkins’ Cellular Array Processor project, alo

WASHINGTON—In 1985 the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health decided to find out if computer monitors cause miscarriages. So it did what any good research body would do: It drew up a questionnaire to ask women about their medical history, work and home life, and fertility. But because NIOSH is a federal agency, the survey first had to pass muster at the Office of Management and Budget (0MB). 0MB rejected it, carrying out its authority under a 1980 law, meant to reduce

The Merger That Didn’t Happen After months of discussions, plans for a merger of the nation’s two largest biotechnology associations have fallen through. The Industrial Biotechnology Association had proposed joining forces with the Association of Biotechnology Companies in July. In discussions that went on through the summer, the two Washington-based organizations couldn’t resolve questions about equal representation of their members, according to the ABC’s new executiv

Officials of the Fogarty International Center, a National Institutes of Health unit that has brought 2,700 foreign postdoctoral researchers to the United States since 1958, are considering steps to involve more scientists from Third World nations. A study of the center’s International Research Fellowship (IRF) program, commissioned by NIH and conducted by an independent firm earlier this year, generally praised the program, which was established to promote cooperation in biomedical re

Six months ago the Antarctic Minerals Convention seemed assured of passage. The treaty, eight years in the making, proposed strict—and some say neatly impossible—environmental standards for oil and mineral prospecting in the Antarctic. But today many observers believe the measure is as good as dead. Australia, France, and several other countries have withdrawn their support of the pact under pressure from environmentalists, who fear that if a mechanism—no matter how rigorou

The fence between industry and academia seems like a precarious place to sit. But a team of California scientists makes the balancing act look easy. Their perch on that fence has been the perfect place for cranking out highly cited research, including four “Hot Papers” identified by The Scientist in the past year (May I, 1989, page 12). The laboratories of immunologists Robert Coffman and Tim Mosmann are side by side on the secondfloor of DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto. Se

For Big Instruments, Call Energy December 1 is the deadline for applications to the Department of Energy’s Research Instrumentation Program, which buys equipment costing more than $100,000 for universities that have received at least $150,000 in DOE support over a two-year period. The $5-million-a-year program was started in 1984, along with other instrumentation support programs at the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense. DOE bankrolls larger instruments than the o

Joseph Gall, whose investigations have focused on the structure and function of chromosomes, has received the 1989 V.D. Mattia Award from Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. for his contributions to biomedical research. Gall, 61, was presented with the award on September 28 at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology; the Nutley, N.J.-based company’s basic research center. A native of Washington, D.C., Gall received his B.S. (1949) and his Ph.D. (1952) in zoology from Yale University. From 1952 to 1

WASHINGTON—Although House and Senate conferees compromised on the higher of two numbers in all parts of the National Science Foundation’s 1990 budget, scientists will still be getting less than President Bush requested for the foundation last February. And the repeated promise of a doubling of the NSF budget within five years is likely once again to ring hollow in their ears. The October 17 agreement, which must he approved separately by each house and by the president, gives NS

Don’t Touch That Money! The embattled U.S. Agency for International Development malaria vaccine research project (The Scientist, July 10, 1989, page 1; Oct. 16, 1989, page 12) received another blow last month with the release of a government report that condemns the manner in which AID has managed the $100 million effort. The problems are so extensive, says the General Accounting Office, that AID officials should postpone any plans to build a $15 million field testing station in the Sout

Wolfram Research Inc. has taken a major step to broaden distribution of its Mathematica software system. signing an agreement with Digital Equipment Corp. to share marketing rights to the program. Under the licensing agreement, whose terms remain confidential, both Wolfram and Digital will be able to sell the software for use on Digital VAX and RISC computer systems. Mathematica, which Wolfram Research Inc. introduced in June 1988 for personal computers, is a software package that can per

First Publication For Seattle Theorist A 72-year-old retired aerospace engineer with a new theory of life will finally get a hearing in a peer-reviewed journal. Dwight H. Bulkley, director of the Seattle Institute for the Life Sciences, is publishing his paper, “Electromagnetic Theory of Life,” in next month’s issue of Medical-Hypotheses. Bulkley, who describes the Seattle Institute as a “think-tank” of about two dozen people who meet at their homes for informal d