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Both high-and low-altitude photo work have improved spectacularly since World Har II. Cameras that work at 20-mile altitudes-up where the U-2 flies-have 36 in.-100 in. focal lengths that turn their lenses into virtual telescopes. Some of them swing from side to side, reaching both horizons. But though the pictures show surprising clarity, their scale is still too small to illuminate fine details of objects on the ground. Clouds are another frustrating disadvantage; over humid Cuba they often spoil the view. High-Utitude photography serves best for surveying large areas that cannot be reached...
...build a giant telescope with a focal length of 300 ft.? Any such mammoth construction high on an exposed peak would surely be swayed by winds, would tremble with the earth's least vibration. The cumbersome structure could hardly serve for delicate solar observations. The astronomers solved that problem by digging down, not building...
What was happening in French painting between 1850 and 1950 forms the theme of "The Controversial Century: 1850-1950." the exhibition showing at the Chrysler Museum of Art in Province town until September 3. Although schools of painting other than the French are represented, the focal point of the exhibition is France. Appropriately enough, non-French paintings relate closely to those forces in French art which form the major stylistic movements of modern painting. Most interesting, however, is the scope of the exhibition. Not what happened, but what was happening dictates the choice of the works of art displayed...
...geological laboratory was getting regular messages from Admiral Byrd in Little America those days, but the focal point of interest in world affairs was Germany rather than Antarctica. Incidents involving Ernst Hanfstaengl '09, the Nazi government's foreign press secretary, brought students closer to the oppressive realities of the times. Hanfstaengl was chosen a class marshal for his 25th reunion, but he himself declined to serve after protest came from many quarters. Near the end of the year he again embarrassed Harvard, by offering a $1000 scholarship for a College student to use at a German university. The Corporation turned...
...white doctors treating dark-skinned natives and Negro medics caring for white G.I.s. This compassion between the races has long fascinated Hirsch, and his paintings tend to have a religious overtone. The hand swabbing the boxer's brow is to Hirsch almost as much the focal point of the painting as the boxer himself. Hirsch likens it to a kind of benediction...