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[[image - drawing of the Smithsonian castle]]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Washington, D.C. 20560
U.S.A.
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January 26, 1988

Professor Neil Harris
Department of History
The University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637

Dear Neil:

Our experience last October has strongly reaffirmed the importance of the contribution that the active presence and stimulus of Smithsonian Council members regularly brings to the consideration of our program. There have been few occasions, in fact, in which the value of the Council's overview was as quickly demonstrable as in your discussions of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory's programs and aspirations. What is even more interesting and worthwhile is that the demonstration took unexpected as well as expected directions.
 
Those that were unexpected grew out of the Council's consideration of the submillimeter telescope array, as well as out of the thoughtful review of the SAO as a whole that Dr. Challinor and I were very pleased to have been invited to attend. I hope that the modification of the Council's initial proposals that was ultimately agreed upon with regard to the working of its formal statement has not created the impression that its views were disregarded on a matter of substance. Quite the contrary, the Council position was the impetus that led to a substantial reconsideration of the course we were following. The outcome is that the intent of the initial recommendations for further review of the submillimeter telescope project is being honored at least in part. At my request, Dr. William J. (Jack) Welch, Director of the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, has agreed to chair an advisory panel to facilitate planned reviews of this project. As the project progresses, the Council will be kept informed of developments.

I join Irwin Shapiro in welcoming the Council's views of other SAO efforts, including the support expressed for the conversion of the six-mirror telescope, the MMT, to a single-mirror instrument. The conversion is in process with negotiations now