60-Foot Radio Telescope Dedicated; Heeschen Traces Galactic Discovery

HARVARD, Mass., April 28--America's colleges and universities must remain strongholds of basic research, Alan T. Waterman, director of the National Science Foundation, said this morning.

Dedicating the College Observatory's 60-foot radio telescope, the largest in this hemisphere, Waterman explained that in academic communities, rather than in foundations or special research institutes, there is a scholarly interchange of views between various disciplines that is essential to the process of research.

Waterman criticized an American tendency to confuse science with its end products, but noted with pleasure the increases in federal aid to research products. He considered it important for the government to finance research construction, but said that excessive control could be avoided by the institutions paying maintenance costs.

The George R. Agassiz Radio Telescope was built with the aid of a $132,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. To be put into operation within the week, this instrument will play a significant part in the development of the new science.

President Pusey hailed the new telescope as a triumph of science, predicting that by its use the Observatory could fulfill the University's task "of constantly seeking for answers which are true."

Lloyd V. Berkner, president of Associated Universities, Inc., operators of Brookhaven National Laboratories, traced the role of astronomy in science, calling it a central study because of its contributions to other fields, particularly physics and chemistry.

More than 200 astronomers, from as far away as Australia, gathered here today to witness the dedication. The new instrument will supplement the 24-foot telescope now at the Agassiz Station, and the combination will give the Observatory the most expensive facilities for radio astronomy research in the country.