BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 88: 2 (1997)
point historiansof science. The authorsmakelit-
tle attemptto situate the story of Lincoln Labo-
ratory in a wider context: larger political and
culturalissues are given scant or superficialcov-
erage, and the extensive relevantscholarshipon
relatedsubjects,in particularthe historyof other
defense laboratories,is largely ignored. The in-
formationaboutthe laboratoryitself is also open
to question, as the text includes few footnotes.
Because the authors fail to explain how their
study proceeded,historiansof science will won-
der whether the resulting research was per-
formed in an acceptable scholarly manner.The
book does not state who initiated the study or
how it was funded. In addition, apartfrom re-
markingthatsome informationwas excludedfor
security reasons, the authorsgive no indication
of how much freedom they had in framing is-
sues, gatheringfacts, or making historicaljudg-
ments. Incredibly,even their own identities are
shrouded in mystery. The book has an editor,
Eva C. Freeman, but she does not explain her
role; the only clue about authorshipappearsin
an acknowledgment,which lists thirty-eightpeo-
ple "who wrote or coordinatedportions of the
book" (p. xii).
Given these omissions, perhaps it is best to
judge the book on its own terms-as an effort to
showcase the accomplishmentsof Lincoln Lab-
oratory-rather than as an attemptat historical
scholarship. The assembled success stories do
make pleasant reading, and the authorsrepeat-
edly note that problems were difficult and the
solutions remarkable.In the telling, however,
problemsolving is picturedas a snap:staff mem-
bers smoothly solve one problemafterthe other.
The authorscarefully gloss over or omit the in-
evitable embarrassing mistakes, unflattering
confusion and conflict, and frustrationthatchar-
acterize cutting-edge technological problem
solving. Thus, instead of showcasing accom-
plishment, the book demonstrateswhat is lost
when painful details are edited out of history.In
additionto deprivingthe history of its credabil-
ity, such editing robs achieversof the full credit
they deserve.
CATHERINE WESTFALL
Benjamin K. Malphrus. The History of Radio began at GreenBank, West Virginia,the follow-
Astronomyand the National Radio Astronomy ing year.
Observatory:EvolutiontowardBig Science. viii
+ 199 pp., frontis, illus., figs., tables, bibls., in- rected
dex. Malabar,Fla.: KriegerPublishing, 1996.
BenjaminMalphrus'shistoryof radioastronomy years and capableof operatingat relativelyhigh
is a popularaccount of the formationand work frequencies, allowed the NRAO to establish it-
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359
of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory
(NRAO). It focuses mainly on the construction
of the telescope systems that constitute the
NRAO and celebrates the observationsand dis-
coveries that have been made with these instru-
ments. Malphrusbegins with a thumbnailhistory
of the emergenceof radio astronomy,describing
the isolated researches of radio engineers Karl
Jansky and Grote Reber; he then turns to the
postwar radio astronomy projects in Britain,
Australia, the Netherlands, and the United
States.
In Malphrus'sview, the NRAO's roots lie in
a "socialphilosophyof science"-essentially the
promotionof federalfundingof large-scalebasic
science-that was embodied in new institutions
such as the National Science Foundation(NSF).
In January 1954, at an internationalmeeting
jointly sponsoredby the NSF, the CaliforniaIn-
stitute of Technology, and the Departmentof
TerrestrialMagnetism of the Carnegie Institu-
tion, it was suggested thata large radiotelescope
for shared use should be constructed.As Allan
Needell has discussed in Osiris (1987, 3:261-
288), two rival alliances articulatedtwo different
conceptions of what a shared nationalradio as-
tronomy facility might be like. The first group,
the Associated Universities for Researchin As-
tronomy(AURA), composed primarilyof south-
eastern universities, revolved around physicist
Merle Tuve. The second association,the primar-
ily northeasternAssociated Universities Incor-
porated (AUI), was directed by Lloyd Berkner
and managed the Brookhavenlaboratories.Fol-
lowing Needell, Malphrusdescribes the conflict
between Tuve, a supporterof "purescience"but
also chair of an influential NSF subcommittee
on radio astronomy,and Berkner,for whom sci-
ence had become "an essential political, eco-
nomic, and military force." The AUI conducted
a feasibility study that recommendedthe future
telescope should measure up to 600 feet in di-
ameter and should be located within 300 miles
of Washington.This huge instrumentwas to be
the central instrumentof an observatoryman-
aging a series of large, fully steerableradio tel-
escopes, beginning with one 140 feet in diame-
ter. The AUI proposals were approved in
November 1956, and constructionof the NRAO
The NRAO startedout with a small staff di-
by Otto Struve, who replacedthe interim
head, Berkner. A steerable 85-foot telescope,
built by the Blaw-Knox Company in just two
360 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 88: 2 (1997)

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Erectionof the 180-tonsuperstructureof the 140-footNationalRadioAstronomyObservatoiynear

GreenBank, West Virginia,in 1964 (reprintedfromMalphrus,History of RadioAstronomy
andthe
NationalRadioAstronomy
Laboratory).

self quickly. NRAO radio astronomers were oratorytelescope. Although Malphrusdescribes

soon contributingto ongoing research:observing
a nonthermal component of radio emissions
from Jupiter, for example, and producing de-
tailed surveys of intense sources such as the ga-
lactic center. Struve also approved high-risk,
high-gain projects, in particularFrank Drake's
Project Ozma to search solar-type stars for un-
usual signals. Although no "exobiological life
forms" were found, Malphrus claims Drake's
project introduced new techniques (parametric
amplificationand digital data processing) to ra-
dio astronomy.
Malphrus devotes much of his book to de-
scribing the constructionand use of three tele-
scope systems:a 140-foot, all-purpose,high-pre-
cision instrument;a 300-foot transit telescope;
and an interferometer-the original85-foot tele-
scope combined with extra dishes.
For the 140-foot system the AUI and NSF
consideredvery differentdesigns, by JacobFeld,
H. C. Husband,and D. S. Kennedy,but rejected
them all in favor of one by Ned Ashton, who had
previous experience with a Naval ResearchLab-
this decision as "controversial,"he does not ex-
plain the controversyadequately.Insteadhe ex-
aminesthe "fundamental" discoveriesmadewith
this telescope after its completion in 1965, in
particularthe measurementof a galactic mag-
netic field andthe detectionof molecularspectral
lines within galactic gas clouds, including the
organic molecule formaldehydein 1969.
The decision to build the 300-foot transittele-
scope was intimatelyconnectedwith progresson
the 140-foot telescope. The latterwas a complex
instrument;its constructionwas impededby de-
lays; and it was controlledby the AUI. Accord-
ing to Malphrus,staff at the NRAO "saw a need
to quickly build a telescope whose concept, de-
sign and constructionthey could oversee" and
therefore pushed for the relatively simple, but
large, transitparaboloid.Designed by Rohr Air-
craft Corporation,the 300-foot telescope was
completedin 1962, threeyearsbeforethe smaller
steerable telescope. It was used extensively for
surveys of the radio sky, uncoveringa quarterof
the known pulsars in the process, before spec-

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 BOOK REVIEWS-ISIS, 88: 2 (1997) 361

tacularlycollapsing in 1988 because of a failed and Dwayne A. Day. (NASA History Series.)
gusset plate, a photographof which Malphrus xxvi + 795 pp., illus., figs., tables, apps., index.
includes. Washington,D.C.: NASA, 1995.
In commonwith otherradioastronomygroups
This book is the firstin a series of volumes aimed
across the world, the NRAO developed interfer-
ometry techniquesto achieve high resolutionofat making the seminal documentsof the U.S. ci-
radio sources throughthe combinationof radio vilian space program more widely available.
Based on the official recordsof NASA, and aug-
signals from severalaerials.Fromthe late 1960s,
the 140-foot telescope was used in Very Long mented by researchin other governmentrepos-
Baseline (VLBI) experiments in conjunction itories, personal papers, and corporate collec-
with instrumentselsewhere. The VLBI line of tions, the volume contains 113 of the more than
research culminated with the completion of a 2,000 documents that were collected, copied,
Very Long Baseline Arrayinvolving ten 25-me- andindexedby a team at the GeorgeWashington
ter antennasfrom Hawaii to Puerto Rico. Simi-University Space Policy Institute. Some of the
remaining material will appear in succeeding
larly, duplicateswere added to the 85-foot tele-
scope to produce an interferometersystem thatvolumes organizedaroundprogrammaticdevel-
was the prototype of the NRAO's Very Large opments, NASA's relations with other organi-
Array,completedin 1980 at San Augustin,New zations, space science, and applications; the
Mexico, and, Malphrussays, "undisputedlythe complete set will be availablefor consultationat
world's most powerful and advanced aperture the NASA HeadquartersHistory Office and at
synthesis radio telescope." George WashingtonUniversity.
Declarationsof brilliance,and lists of "majorEach of the four sections in this volume con-
contributions," recur throughout Malphrus's tains a selection of edited documentsand an in-
troductoryessay that provides some historical
book. But I think it less interesting to identify
context. The wide-ranging"Preludeto the Space
areas where a more sophisticatedhistoriograph-
Age," by NASA Chief HistorianRoger D. Lau-
ical approachwould have been fertile(Malphrus,
for example, shows no awareness of the prob- nius, addressesthe pre-Sputnikperiod and intro-
duces a variety of speculative science fiction
lems entailed in the term "big science") than to
consider the way in which radio astronomyin- writings, discussions of scientific and engineer-
ing research in rocketry and space travel, pro-
stitutionshave made use of history.Reber's sol-
motional tracts by enthusiasts, and other mate-
itary prewarresearch,for instance, has been ap-
propriated by the NRAO: his "first true rials. Putting the accomplishmentof spaceflight
telescope" is on display at Green Bank, alonginto the broadestculturaland historicalcontext,
it serves well to remind the reader that space
with "otherhistoricalradio telescopes." For the
observatoryat JodrellBank in the United King-travel was about far more thanjust engineering
dom, radio astronomersinvoked the history of and science. "Originsof U.S. Space Policy: Ei-
senhower, Open Skies, and Freedom of Space,"
science, and of the nation,to secure essentialre-
sources. But displays of material culture (tointroduced by Air Force Historian R. Cargill
demonstrate, for example, a long lineage of Hall, presents documentson the tangled origins
Americanradioastronomy)and writtenhistories of military and civilian space programsthrough
the 1950s; some of these documents have only
are not just records of the past; they are inter-
recently been declassified. This section shows
ventions in the present. And, even as a popular
just how much was going on behind the scenes
institutionalhistory, this volume could perhaps
have been made more appealing:althoughmany during those formative years and how long it
of the black-and-whitephotographsand design takes to put the puzzle pieces together when so
many of them remain hidden behind the screen
drawingsare excellent, the scarcityof color pic-
of national security. "The Evolution of U.S.
tures will not encouragethose with room on the
coffee table to buy this book. Space Policy and Plans," by political scientist
JON AGAR and space policy expertJohn M. Logsdon, deals
largely with decisions at the presidentiallevel,
from the Eisenhower administrationto that of
Reagan. Here one can see plainly the varying fit
John M. Logsdon (Editor). Exploring the Un- between NASA's ambitions and fortunes and
known:SelectedDocumentsin the Historyof the those of the succession of chief executives, each
U.S. Civil Space Program. Volume 1: Organiz- with his own set of domestic and foreign con-
ing for Exploration.With Linda J. Lear, Jan- cerns. "Organizingfor Exploration,"by former
nelle Warren-Findley, Ray A. Williamson, NASA Chief HistorianSylvia K. Kraemer,con-

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