Happenings

Robert L. White, William E. Ayer Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University took office this month as director of San Francisco's Exploratorium, a science, perception and art center with more than 600 hands-on exhibits. White succeeds founder Frank Oppenheimer, who directed the center from 1969 until his death in February 1985.

Donald J. Osterbrock has been elected to succeed Bernard Burke as president of the American Astronomical Society. Osterbrock, professor of astronomy arid astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and astronomer at the Lick Observatory, will take office as president-elect in June. His two-year term as president will begin in June of 1988.

The AAS also elected two vice presidents: J. Roger Angel, professor of astronomy and optical sciences at the University of Arizona, and Stephen E. Strom, chairman of the Five College Radio Astronomy Department in Amherst, Mass.

The Rank Prize Funds were presented last month at the Royal Society of Medicine, London, to five scientists whose contributions to nutritional science have led to major breakthroughs in the field: Mary-Dell Chilton, Jozef Schell, Marc Van Montagu and Michael Bevan were recognized for molecular biology research that enabled genes to be transferred from one type of plant to another; Nathan Lifson was honored for developing a technique to determine the energy expenditure of man.

Herbert Friedman, Bruno B. Rossi and Riccardo Giacconi have been selected to receive the Wolf Prize in Physics for their discovery of Xray emissions beyond the solar system. Friedman is chief scientist emeritus of the E.O. Hulburt Center for Space Research at the Naval Research Laboratory; Rossi is Institute Professor and professor emeritus of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Giacconi is with the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The trio will share the $100,000 award, to be presented in Israel next month.

Kiyoshi Ito of Kyoto University and Peter D. Lax of New York University were also selected to receive the Wolf Prize, for their work in mathematics. Ito is being honored for contributions to probability theory, and Lax for his work in analytical and applied mathematics. The National Academy of Sciences will present 13 awards during its 124th annual meeting next week. Among the recipients: G.W. Lugmair, research chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, will receive the George P. Merrill Award for meritorious research in the field of meteors, meteorites and space.

Alfred G. Gilman, professor and chairman of the department of pharmacology at the University of Texas Health Science Center, and Martin Rodbell, scientific director at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, will receive the Richard Lounsbery Award for their studies on cellular responses to ligands. The annual award includes a $50,000 prize and an additional $20,000 for travel to France for study and lectures.

Herbert C. Brown, Wetherill Research Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Purdue University, will be presented the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences for his studies on organoboranes. The award, which includes a prize of $10,000, was established in 1978 by the Occidental Petroleum Corporation in honor of Armand Hammer.

Dale R. Corson, president emeritus of Cornell University, will receive the annual NAS Public Welfare Medal for "extraordinary contributions toward bringing science to the service of all segments of our society."

Thomas R. Cech has been named recipient of the $5,000 U.S. Steel Foundation Award in Molecular Biology, which recognizes a young scientist for recent contributions to molecular biology. Cech, American Cancer Society Research Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, was chosen for "the astonishing discovery of RNA-catalyzed self-splicing of introns and the analysis of the chemistry of RNA catalyzed reactions."

Jeremy Nathans will receive the NAS Award for Initiatives in Research for his work that identified changes in DNA corresponding to colorblindness. The award, established in 1980 by AT&T Bell Laboratories in honor of William O. Baker, recognizes innovative young scientists and includes a prize of $15,000.

Wolf W. Zuelzer, a retired director at the National Institutes of Health who specialized in pathology, hematology and clinical pediatrics, died March 20 of leukemia in Washington, D.C. He was 77 years old. Zuelzer was born in Berlin and studied medicine there, as well as at universities in Bonn and Prague. He came to the United States in 1935, eventually becoming chief of hematology and chairman of the department of pathology at the Children's Hospital in Detroit. Zuelzer moved to NIH in 1975, serving as associate director of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and director of the division of blood diseases and resources until his retirement in 1980.

Everett Harrington Hurlburt, 76, director of the radio astronomy program at the National Science Foundation from 1964 until his retirement in 1972, died March 17 in Naples, Fla., of a heart attack. Before joining NSF, Hurlburt was assistant director of the physics branch of the Office of Naval Research and prior to that he was on the staff of the National Bureau of Standards and the Naval Research Laboratory.

Genes and Development presents research articles in molecular genetics, focusing in particular on work that demonstrates the relationship between genotype and phenotype. The monthly journal, which made its debut last month, costs $65 for individuals and $195 for institutions. For more information, contact: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, P0 Box 100, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724; (516) 367-8397.