Center for Astrophysics Workers Furloughed Following Government Shutdown

As debate over the federal government shutdown continues in Washington, funding for the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has dried up and approximately 100 federal workers at the Center have been sent home.

A collaboration between the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Center houses more than 300 scientists and receives both University and federal funding.

With fewer scientists, researchers, and technicians at the Center due to furlough, some research projects have been placed in jeopardy, while many other collaborative endeavors have been set back by the shutdown’s effects on other institutions that receive federal funding.

Professor of astrophysics James M. Moran estimated that approximately 100 workers at the Center were sent home on Oct. 1. Many of the people who have been furloughed are technicians and staff members who help the Center to operate smoothly.

“Many of the people who would fix things have been furloughed,” said Moran.

The Smithsonian appropriations for the Center total just under $26 million. Other federal agencies, including NASA, have provided an additional $95 to 100 million annually, according to professor of astronomy Charles R. Alcock.

These contracts, staggered in receipt, will slowly run out in the next month or two, causing an even greater burden on the Center if the government shutdown continues.

“Research has been hampered,” said Moran.

In particular, the shutdown has jeopardized the research of Mark J. Reid, an employee at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and associate of the Harvard College Observatory currently on furlough.

Reid’s research uses a vast network of radio telescopes across North America to map the Milky Way galaxy. His research, which demands a strict schedule of data collection, was disrupted by the closing of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

If Reid cannot resume research in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory before November, a year’s worth of research will be lost. “We will have to throw away the data,” said Reid.

Given the high costs of operating these technologies, Reid estimated that such a loss could cost as much as $500,000.

Moran, who also uses the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, said he expects his research to be delayed as well.

Beyond the loss of funding and wasted research, Alcock noted that the shutdown has delayed new grants and prevented the disbursement of those recently awarded. “No new awards are being made,” said Alcock. “There’s no one at the National Science Foundation to make them.”

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory moved to Cambridge in 1955. The partnership with Harvard was formalized in 1973, when the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics was founded.