Word: smithsonian
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...years, the Smithsonian Astrophysics Observatory has fought to discover the universe’s deepest, darkest secrets. From discovering the Great Wall of galaxies to documenting the expanding universe to tracking early satellites, the observatory has been at the center of American understanding and exploration of space. But now, the institution is fighting for its very survival...
...proposal put forth by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would shift $20 million from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, of which the Smithsonian Observatory is a major component, to the National Science Foundation. The money goes towards the observatory’s staff salaries and equipment, and the cuts would severely jeopardize the observatory’s ability to conduct meaningful, ongoing scientific research...
...federal government currently pays for the Smithsonian Observatory’s permanent infrastructure—salaries, building upkeep and equipment maintenance. The observatory then competes for outside grants to finance specific projects. But if the OMB proposal were adopted, the observatory could lose the funding to keep its scientists and equipment—an onerous and undesirable situation for an institution whose first priority should be innovative research, not cutthroat bureaucracy...
...Bush Administration has argued that shifting this funding from the Smithsonian to the National Science Foundation would foster a more competitive review process. But the scientists who work at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center already compete for funding for their projects; the proposed change would routinely place the basic infrastructure of the observatory in jeopardy...
...letter called on the Bush administration to support the Smithsonian “as the preeminent caretaker of American history and culture and the home of much American scientific excellence,” according to The Boston Globe...