Astronomy Dept. to Hold Meeting For Discussion of Defense Links

The Astronomy Department will hold an open meeting on November 25 to discuss the department's research links with the Federal government.

Leo Goldberg '34, Higgins Professor of Astronomy and director of the Harvard Observatory, said the meeting is a response to "a lot of misunderstanding" about Harvard projects supported by the Department of Defense. At the meeting, Goldberg plans to "expose the entire picture of research" within his department.

List

Goldberg's staff has compiled a list of all department grants from and contracts with the Federal government. The list does not contain any classified information, but this is the first time all the government grants and contracts have been put together in one package.

When asked if the meeting had been called to avoid the kind of confrontation which the November Action Coalition organized at M. I. T., Goldberg said that the situation in his department is different from what was the case at M. I. T.'s Instrumentation Labs.

The Astronomy Department carries on no classified research for the Department of Defense, Goldberg said. Classified defense research was one of the main issues in the M. I. T. confrontation earlier this month.

The meeting will be at 1:30 p. m. this Tuesday in the Observatory Library.