The College
Unbridled enthusiasm is a rare thing in the Age of Cool. It was somewhat startling, then, to learn that standing-room-only crowds turned out in mid-April for talks by Carl Sagan, a youthful Cornell astrophysicist and author of The CosmicConnection.The Cornellian appeared at Dartmouth as part of a lecture series on the "subject of mankind" sponsored by Ray Winfield Smith '18. Sagan, who has spent considerable effort in probing the universe for evidence of extraterrestrial life and has attempted to communicate with other-worldly civilizations by means of a message—a drawing of a man and information about the earth's position in the solar system and the "biological" molecules such as carbon and hydrogen—placed aboard the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, talked about cosmic evolution, the origins of life on earth, and God. He exhibited quite an enthusiasm for the interior of red giant stars, and explained how at the age of five and "even with a seven o'clock bedtime," he became fascinated by stars. "I asked people what they were and everybody told me, 'They're lights in the sky, kid.' "
In the same week and under the same sign of the zodiac (Aries) as the Sagan lectures, tures, tickets went on sale at Hopkins Center for the upcoming performances of the Chicago Symphony. The first students appeared at 5:30 a.m. and by 9:00, when the box office opened, the line snaked through the corridors of Hopkins Center all the way to Lebanon Street. A friend of ours who stood a not-altogether-unpleasant three hours waiting to buy his tickets (at $20 the pair), reported that he spent much of the time getting chairs for a seventy-ish lady in line behind him and striking up a conversation with a "very cute" freshman girl in front of him. The treshman, it turned out, had enthusiasms of her own. She already has studied Hebrew and Greek and now is taking a fling at Russian because, she said, she likes languages with "funny alphabets."
In April of 1946, when the scene above was photographed, Dean of the College RobertStrong lived in splendid isolation on Reservoir Road, north of the College. A piece of theGaripay pasture appears at right. The aerial view below, taken in April of 1974, and alsolooking east, shows the progress of 28 years. Reservoir Road is shown angling off LymeRoad in the middle distance, with Oak Hill to the left. Trees screen the Strong place.
In April of 1946, when the scene above was photographed, Dean of the College RobertStrong lived in splendid isolation on Reservoir Road, north of the College. A piece of theGaripay pasture appears at right. The aerial view below, taken in April of 1974, and alsolooking east, shows the progress of 28 years. Reservoir Road is shown angling off LymeRoad in the middle distance, with Oak Hill to the left. Trees screen the Strong place.
