Shades of 2001. Hal is everywhere! In last September's issue I reported that Hal Smith was living in Beaverton, OR and that he enjoyed square dancing, fishing, gardening and travel. This immediately provoked an astonished response (its reassuring to know that someone is carefully perusing what I write!) from Hal Smith who protested that he didn't live in OR and has never square danced or caught a fish in his life! What is an untutored class secretary to do under such circumstances? Consult the alumni directory of course! Harold A. Smith does live in OR. Harold P. Smith does not. Each is known as Hal. My apologies for not acknowledging the distinction at the time.

Hal P. Smith writes that he and Marian happily reside in Piedmont, CA where he is a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Berkeley and pursues his consulting practice in the defense and telecommunication industries. Hal further admits that he maintains a second residence in Arlington, VA (not Beaverton, OR) where he serves as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense while Marian is a member of the Investment Policy Committee of the Smithsonian Institute.

Hal is really quite modest. In his five-year stint as a special assistant to the Secretary of Defense Hal held responsibility for the reduction and maintenance of the American and NATO nuclear weapon arsenal. Hal's accomplishments included collaborating with the Department of Energy to develop the Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan which eliminates nuclear explosive testing requirements, improving the United States' capability to monitor worldwide nuclear testing, negotiating a treaty with Russia to design the first chemical weapons destruction facility, and leading the Cooperative Threat Reduction program designed to help the successor states to the former Soviet Union eliminate weapons of mass destruction delivery systems. In recognition, Hal received three Distinguished Public Service Awards, the highest honorary citation that can be given non-career federal employees.

While I am apologizing, I owe one to several classmates who wrote in 1998 (I misplaced the letters fellows!). Phil Pluta wrote that he and Joan live in Saratoga CA. Since retiring as an Engineering Manager from Lockheed-Marietta in 1995 Phil has been personally replacing everything in his home and establishing a new garden. Phil enjoys tennis, computer graphics, Internet browsing, reading a book a week and plenty of travel. George Ives wrote that he and Marney live in Wayland, MA where George is a member of the town planning board. George is with Draper Laboratory. Alfred Hofmanis wrote that he retired from Northrup-Grumman as a principal engineer in 1990. Alfred and Naty live in W. Melbourne FL where he concentrates on the stock market. Bob Berg writes that he and Elizabeth live on Staten Island where Bob is with the State Insurance Fund. Dick Schwaegler writes that he and Denise live in Seattle where Dick teaches structural engineering at Seattle University. Dick and Denise are helping their family raise 10 grandchildren. Dick is still skiing and playing handball.

John Day writes about fellow classmate Leon Van Speybroeck, an Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, who is the Project Scientist on the recently launched billion-dollar NASA Chandra X-ray Observatory. John says that Leon was instrumental in the design of the telescope having worked on the project for the past 22 years. Chandra is the largest object put into orbit by Columbia, is 45 feet long, can observe x-rays from particles up to the last second before they fall into a black hole, and operates on 2 kilowatts, about the same power as a hair dryer. For more see http://chandra.harvard.edu/. Coincidentally, Martin Zombeck, our Webmaster and a physicist at the same institution, is the Project Scientist for the Chandra High Resolution Camera, one of two focal plane instruments for the telescope. For more see http://hea-www.harvard.edu/HRC/HomePage.html.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. The Class of 1955 searched high and low for the best MIT Class website to emulate in establishing their own. They decided that the Class of 1957 website is the best of the best and adopted it hook line and log-log-duplex-decitrig. You can see for yourself at http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1955/ where the Class of 1957 (congratulations Martin Zombeck!) is given the design credit.

Happy millennium y'all! For a nostalgic and free vacation visit the Class of 1957 website at http://alumweb.mit.edu/classes/1957/ ---Alan M. May, secretary, 3601 Turtle Creek Blvd., Dallas, TX 75219; (w) tel: 214-521-8533; (h) tel: 214-528-8812; (w) fax: 214-521-8544; e-mail: alanmay@wtd.net