Together with the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, California, the Vatican Observatory held the fourth in the series of research conferences that the two institutions are organizing on the theme of "Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action." The meeting, held in Pasierbiec, Poland, from 21-27 June, dealt with the topic: Brain and Mind: Neuro-Biology and Brain Research. HELLER chaired the local organizing committee, and STOEGER served on the scientific organizing committee. COYNE and CORBALLY also participated in the meeting.

A working group on the Church and Science was organized by the Observatory at Castel Gandolfo 12-18 September. Seven scholars in the history and philosophy of science gathered to evaluate the outcome of the Church's recent activities toward a dialogue with modern science. Special emphasis was given to the work of the Galileo Commission, constituted by John Paul II in 1981 and terminated in 1992.

Under the leadership of IMPEY (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona), alumni from all of the six Vatican Observatory Summer Schools, which have been held since 1986, were invited to participate in an International Symposium on Astrophysics Research and Science Education held 14-21 June at Rocca di Papa (Rome), Italy.

Participants at the International Symposium on Astrophysics and Science Education relax in Castel gandolfo's piazza.

Eighty participants from thirty-three different countries attended. Over the past decade, the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools have helped to create a worldwide community of young scholars in astronomy and astrophysics. Their research extends over a wide range, from the discovery of extraterrestrial solar systems to exploring the question of whether the universe is open or closed. Many of these former students have become recognized experts in their fields, and the symposium provided an opportunity for them to share their research results with one another. The meeting also addressed the concerns and issues of science education around the world. Group discussions were held on the particular problems of research and education in developing countries, on strategies for encouraging women into science, and on ways to facilitate international collaborations. The proceedings of the symposium are being prepared for publication.

The Observatory is organizing an international conference on "Galaxy Disks and Disk Galaxies" to be held 12-16 June, 2000, at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. The scientific organizing committee is being cochaired by BERTOLA (Department of Astronomy, University of Padua, Italy) and RUBIN (Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA). Members of the local organizing committee include COYNE and OMIZZOLO along with CORSINI and FUNES (Department of Astronomy, University of Padua, Italy).

An official invitation has been extended by the Observatory to the Meteoritical Society, the premier international organization dedicated to the study of meteorites, to hold its 64th annual meeting in September 2001 at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. The Society accepted this invitation at its annual meeting in Dublin, and preparations for the meeting have begun. CONSOLMAGNO will serve as the chair of the local organizing committee, assisted by COYNE and MAFFEO.

The Observatory will be a co-host of the 1999 annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, to be held in Padua, Italy, under the chairmanship of BIANCHINI (University of Padua.) CONSOLMAGNO has been appointed chair of the program committee.

Through the efforts of MAFFEO, the Observatory continues to collaborate with the Golden Age University of Ariccia, Italy, in the presentation of lectures on astronomy. In addition to MAFFEO, CASANOVAS, CONSOLMAGNO, COYNE, and OMIZZOLO have given lectures.

Presentations and Academic Activities

CASANOVAS 27 March gave a seminar at the University of Campobasso, Italy, on "Mathematics in Early Astronomy." Presented a paper on "Riccioli and Kepler" at the international meeting held 15-16 October at Ferrara to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Riccioli's birth, and served on the scientific organizing committee for this meeting.

CONSOLMAGNO Presented a talk 12 February on meteorite densities and porosities, and their implications for asteroid structure, to the weekly Asteroid, Comets, and Meteorites luncheon seminar sponsored by Steward Observatory and the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, and by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO). Gave a talk on meteorite and asteroid densities and structure on 4 March at the University of Hawaii Institute for Geophysics and Planetology. During that visit he consulted with BELL and KEIL (University of Hawaii) and GRADIE (TerraSystems, Inc.). On 15 April presented a slide show, "Visitors to An Alien World: Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica," at the weekly physics seminar of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Presented a paper at the inaugural internal seminar of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, 18-20 May. 1-3 December presented his work on meteorite densities and structure and participated in discussions with STRAZZULLA (Astrophysical Observatory of Catania, Italy) and his group, which does laboratory experiments concerning the effects of radiation damage on materials in space. Paid a working visit 14-17 May to Oakland, California, to discuss with STOLL their work on meteorite porosity and structure.

Appointed in the spring to the program committee of the 1998 Division for Planetary Sciences meeting in Madison, Wisconsin; he was named chair of that committee for the following year's meeting in Padua, Italy. Traveled to Madison on 15 August for a meeting of the 1998 committee; hosted a meeting in July at Castel Gandolfo with members of the 1999 organizing committee; and traveled to Turin and Padua in November to meet further with the organizing committee. The visit to Turin also provided an opportunity to meet with colleagues at the University of Turin, including BONINO and TANGA.

In June, July, and November, made three working visits to the meteorite collection at the British Museum of Natural History (BMNH), London, as part of an ongoing collaboration. The last trip was coupled to a visit 9 November to the Open University in Milton Keynes, where he was hosted by FRANKI and PILLINGER, and gave the presentation "Meteorite Porosities and Asteroids Structure" to the Planetary Sciences Research Laboratory. Work at the meteorite collection included preparation of thin sections with GRADY (BMNH); examination of those thin sections with an optical microscope and scanning electron microscope with RUSSELL (BMNH); and investigation of weathering of meteorites in collaboration with BLAND (Open University/BMNH).

CORBALLY Continues to serve on the Council of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science and was reappointed to Vice President for Science. He attended council meetings in January in Boston, and in July in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was a responder at the Tallahassee Winter Templeton Course Program Conference, 2-6 January, and led a discussion on "Divine Action in the Evolution of the Universe and of Life."

14-18 April paid a working visit to the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Appalachian State University. Participated in the consultation of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Spectroscopic Data Archives, held at l'Observatoire de Haute Provence, France, 1-3 October. In May was a member of the preliminary oral examination committee for Jian Liu, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona.

COYNE On the occasion of the plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, attended a reception held 26 October at the residence of the Ambassador to the Holy See from the United States to honor personnel from NASA participating in the Academy meetings, including Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman, astronaut and NASA European representative. As a member of the Council of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, attended Council meetings on 25 May and 1 September.

17-18 February participated in the meeting, held at Stanford University, of the Governing Board of the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics (ICRA), of which the Observatory is a member. On 2 July attended the inauguration of the new international coordinating center of ICRA at Pescara, Italy. He also participated on 27 May at the Council Meeting of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City; MAFFEO represented the Observatory at the Council Meeting of 5 November. Became a corresponding member of the Geymonat Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science, Milan. On 30 April attended the awards program of The Franklin Institute, Philadelphia.

HELLER Presented a paper on "The Human Person and the Space of Dialogue between Science and Theology" at the 7th European Conference on Science and Theology on "The Person: Perspectives from Science and Theology," held 31 March-5 April at Durham, UK. At the conference on "Particles, Fields and Gravitation" held 15-19 April at Lodz, Poland, he presented a paper, "Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Experiment from Noncommutative Geometry." At the 5th Krakow Methodological Conference, "Unity of Science-Unity of the World?" held 6-8 May in Krakow, he presented a paper, "Beauty as a Criterion of Truth."

STOEGER During the fall semester at the University of Arizona team-taught, with COCKE, the graduate course in general relativity in the Department of Astronomy; he presented the component on cosmology. During the same semester he participated in and gave four class lectures for the course "Science and Theology" taught by LINDELL in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Participated in and often gave talks during the informal working seminar each week on quantum field theory run by JUST in the Department of Physics.

Served as principal host, on behalf of the Catholic Newman Center and the St. Albert the Great Forum, of the Rev. Dr. Arthur R. PEACOCKE, S.O.Sc., of the Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford, UK, 23-26 January. On 23 January PEACOCKE delivered a Sir John Templeton Lecture, "Welcoming the Disguised Friend: Darwin and Divinity," as part of the Forum Program at the Newman Center. The next morning PEACOCKE joined the campus community for an ecumenical service at the Campus Christian Center, followed by brunch. This event was co-sponsored by Campus Christian Center and the Catholic Newman Center with Templeton Foundation support. Stoeger was chairperson of the organizing committee.

2-4 February was hosted by ZOTOV for a visit to the Physics and Mathematics Departments and the Catholic Newman Center at Louisiana Tech University. He delivered an evening lecture at the Newman Center on "Science, the Laws of Nature and Divine Action," as part of the Science and Theology Forum there. He also gave a colloquium on "Zeroing in the Cosmological Constant" to the Physics and Mathematics Departments.

Attended working meetings 20-24 February and 29 October-1 November on the Eschatology and Science project initiated by the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey. Spent the month of April on a working visit to the Department of Mathematics, University of Brasilia, Brazil, and while there worked with ARAUJO on completion of analysis of the exact spherical symmetric Einstein field equations in observational coordinates with data functions. He also continued work on several other related theoretical projects in observational cosmology.

11-14 June attended the Catholic Theological Society of America annual meeting in Ottawa, Ontario. He organized and chaired the parallel session on "Theology and the Natural Sciences" that focused on "The Johnson-Bracken Exchange. Searching for Metaphysics Adequate to Our Evolutionary Universe." He also gave a short presentation on the relevant scientific background to that discussion. In another parallel session gave one of two presentations on "Teleology in Science." 18-21 June attended a conference on research in science and theology at the University in Heidelberg, Germany. He gave a talk on the programs of the Vatican Observatory and the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in this area.

Continues to serve on the Boards of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, and of the St. Albert the Great Forum at the Catholic Newman Center, University of Arizona. Continues as the principal editor for the series Philosophy in Science, published by Pachart Press, Tucson, Arizona.

WHITMAN The principal forum for his research is the Clavius Group of Mathematicians, which he co-founded in 1963 as a faith community of mathematicians. It has met every summer for six weeks for thirty-six consecutive years, and currently has a membership of twenty-four mathematicians. During the summer the Group met at Fairfield University in Connecticut and explored the following topics: Finite Automata and Regular Languages, Turing Machines and the Undecidability of the Halting Problem, Computational Geometry, A Hierarchy of Programming Languages, Seiberg-Witten Invariants for Smooth 4-Manifolds, Clifford Algebras, and Isoparimetric Hypersurfaces. He gave two lectures on "From Lie Groups to Lie Algebras" during a seminar on the "Representation Theory of Lie Algebras." STOEGER participated for one week in the Clavius Group meetings.

On 14 and 15 November he attended the regional meeting of the American Mathematical Society, which met at the University of Arizona in Tucson. During the year completed the TEXing of his notes on a visual approach to the first-year calculus using the software package Mathematica.

Public and Educational Outreach

NEWS MEDIA COVERAGE The Vatican Observatory was featured in several popular publications during 1998. The cover article for an issue of Newsweek highlighted the work of STOEGER with the CTNS, Berkeley. CORBALLY and CONSOLMAGNO were featured in an article about the Observatory in the December issue of Astronomy. A special issue of the National Space Society magazine, Ad Astra, dedicated to religion and astronomy ran an article by CONSOLMAGNO. CORBALLY, FUNES, and OMIZZOLO were featured in a story in the Sunday Telegraph of London.

CONSOLMAGNO Participated in the Chicago-area science/science fiction convention, Capricon, 6-7 February. He gave presentations on the utilization of asteroid resources and the development of scientific theories for life in the oceans of Europa. He also served on panels discussing K-12 science education and the recent results from the Mars Pathfinder mission, and set up a display room of 3-D Pathfinder wall posters, loaned by BRITT (University of Arizona).

Public speaking engagements: 9 March, to the Serra Club of Tucson, a group of laymen dedicated to furthering vocations to religious life, about his experiences as a Jesuit brother and his work as a scientist in Antarctica. 11 March, a presentation to the Women's Club of St. Raphael Parish (Englewood, Florida) on "The Vatican Observatory, Science and the Church." 16 May, appeared in the San Francisco-Berkeley area on the live radio show West Coast Live, hosted by Sedge Thomson, to discuss his work at the Vatican Observatory.

At the annual Space Development Congress of the National Space Society (an organization of advanced amateur and semiprofessional space enthusiasts), 22-23 May in Milwaukee, gave invited papers on scientific theories for oceans and life on Jupiter's moon Europa; asteroid structure and its implications for space utilization; and his experiences collecting meteorites in Antarctica. On 4 September, spoke to the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association on "Visitors of Another Planet: Searching for Meteorites in Antarctica." Invited to speak on 4 October at the monthly meeting of the student Space Development Society of the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, where he described the evolution of theories for the presence of liquid, and possibly life, in the interior of Jupiter's moon Europa.

7 October, presented the talk, "Are Asteroids Fluffy?" to the weekly lunchtime seminar of the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. As a member of a panel advising on the continued expansion and renovations to the Planetary Science exhibit hall at the Adler, he spent the remainder of the day consulting with FORTSON and WOLF-CHASE (Adler Planetarium and University of Chicago). Invited guest lecturer 16 October to the Philosophy 101 class at the University of Scranton where he spoke on the shared common roots and search for truth in science, theology, and philosophy.

His book The Way to the Dwelling of Light: How Physics Illuminates Creation (see sec. IV, Publications) was published in the fall by the Vatican Observatory. It presents an informal description of modern physics for a lay audience of religious believers. He is author of one chapter, coauthor of a second, and served as an advisor for two other chapters in The Impact Book, which is being prepared for publication in 1999 by McGraw-Hill in response to the premature and inaccurate announcement during the summer of a near-Earth asteroid on a possible collision course with Earth. That news and the release of two major Hollywood movies about the threat of asteroid or comet impacts renewed public interest in the subject matter. The book, which is geared to a general audience and explains the science behind the impact hazard, is edited by SUMNERS (Houston Museum of Science) and C. and J. ALLEN (Johnson Space Center, Houston), and will contain nine chapters written by experts in the field of small solar-system bodies.

Turn Left at Orion, his popular how-to-use-a-telescope book written with DAVIS (State University of New York Stony Brook), continued to sell strongly. It reached the top five best sellers of astronomy books for the Internet bookseller Amazon.com, and accounted for a significant fraction of all sales of astronomy books issued by Cambridge University Press. While working in London in November, he traveled to Cambridge to consult with MITTON (Cambridge University Press) to arrange final details of their plans to expand the text and accelerate production of a third edition of this book. Delivery of the text is expected in June 1999, with a probable publication date of spring 2000.

CORBALLY In May, attended the annual meeting of Discovery Park in Safford, Arizona, and saw the newly opened wildlife habitat called "Nature's Hideaway" and the railroad. On 27 October, visited the Newman Center at Eastern Arizona College, Thatcher, and later helped guide students and faculty from the college on their visit to the Mount Graham International Observatory. He hosted several other groups visiting MGIO throughout the year.

Talks: "The Universe: From Its Past to Our Prospects," at Eastern Arizona College to the Arizona Board of Advisers on 6 February, and to Sigma Xi Society at Boone, NC, on 17 April; on that same day a talk to the Physics and Astronomy departmental seminar at Appalachian State University on the "New Vatican Telescope"; 11 June, a breakfast meeting talk on the Vatican Observatory to the St. Thomas More Society, Tucson; 30 October, "The Vatican Observatory in Arizona," a presentation to the Jesuit Alumni of Arizona at Brophy College, Phoenix, following an introduction by Brendan Thomson on the history of the calendar.

Provided interviews to the following journalists: Jonathan Leake, The Sunday Times, London; Tim Jenkins, Radio Ulster, Belfast; Lyle Schnably, of Videoworkshop, who is preparing brief, science topics for Discovery Channel. Hosted various news media representatives interested in visiting the VATT, including Tony Ortega, writing for Astronomy magazine, and Ian Parker, Sunday Telegraph Magazine, London. Helped the following journalists: Edwin Aguire, Sky & Telescope, with a News Note on galaxies observed with the VATT (appeared in the April 1998 issue); Alison Rose, Grimthrope Film, with a proposal for a video documentary on the Vatican Observatory; Lyle Jackson, News Odyssey; Shankar Vedantam, Philadelphia Enquirer; and Jan Ferris, Sacramento Bee.

COYNE Provided interviews to: Jane Little of BBC Radio; Raymond Arroyo and Gary Gagnon of EWTN News, USA; Brian Healy and Rita Braver of CBS Sunday Morning; Ian Johnston, Australian National Radio Program 3, The Clockmaker's Handiwork; Luigi dell'Aglio, AVVENIRE, Rome and Milan, Italy; Andy Papadopoulos, Film Ross, Los Angeles. Featured in the PBS program Faith and Reason, produced by New River Media under the direction of Margaret Wertheim and shown throughout the United States in September.

Lectures: 10-11 March, at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, "Cataclysmic Variable Stars," to the Physics Department; "Galileo, The Right to Think," to the course in European History; and "The Evolving Universe," a public lecture; on 12 March, the Templeton Lecture on "Scientific Evidence for Habitable Extra-Solar Planets: A Challenge for Religious Thought," at St. John's University, Queens, New York; on 25 March, "Astronomy at the Vatican Observatory," to the Lecture Series of St. Francis in the Valley Episcopal Church, Green Valley, Arizona; also on 25 March, "Life in the Universe," to the Community School of Naples, Florida, during its visit to Tucson; 2-4 April, at Purdue University, Indiana, "The Emergence of Life in Cosmic Evolution," a public lecture, and "The Search for Proto-Planetary Disks," to the Physics Department; on 14 April, "Next Generation Telescopes," to the Engineer Associates of Arizona, Tucson; on 20 May, "Polarimetric Search for Planetary Disks," to the Hipparchus Group of Amateur Astronomers, Rome; on 28 May, "Birth and Death of Stars," to the Swiss Italian Electricity Board, Lugano, Switzerland; on 20 June, "Sustainable Human Development in an Evolving Universe," to the International Council of Human Duties, Trieste, Italy; on 28 September, "Modern Research in Astrophysics at the Vatican Observatory," to the friends of Cardinal Francis George, Chicago, and on 13 October to the friends of Sir Daniel Donohue, Los Angeles; on 8 October, "Stars, Galaxies and Us," to the Sun City Astronomy Club, Tucson; on 29 October, "The God of the Cosmologists," to the Cattedra dei Non-Credenti sponsored by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, Milan; on 30 October, "The Physical Conditions for the Origin of Life," to the Cultural Center S. Omobono, Cremona, Italy; on 19 November, "Life as a Cosmic Imperative," Rimes Lecture in Science, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama; 21-24 November, "Possible ETs and Religion," to the Templeton Foundation Meeting on "Many Worlds: The New Universe and Its Implications for Theology," Lyford Cay, Nassau, Bahamas; and on 14 December, "The Evolving Universe," to the Amateur Astronomers' Association, Trieste and Mestre, Italy.

MAFFEO Gave an interview to Letizia Davoli, Alessandro Vittori, and Domenico Marzini of SAT 2000 TV, Italy.

STOEGER Visited St. Norbert College, DePere, Wisconsin, 19-21 March, to deliver a Templeton Lecture on science and religion; he also taught several classes while there and delivered a breakfast lecture on his personal experience as a priest and a cosmologist. 19 May, gave a lecture on cosmology, "How Did It All Begin," to participants at the Smithsonian Associates New Astronomies seminar at the Arizona Inn on. 13 March, visited Loreto Catholic Elementary School, Douglas, Arizona, to celebrate Mass for the students there and to speak to the classes about astronomy and religion.

7-10 June, gave an invited paper, "Is There Common Ground in the Practice and Experience of Science and Religion" at the Science and the Spiritual Quest Conference, held at the University of California, Berkeley. 25 October, gave a lecture on "Science and Religion" at the Community Christian Church, Green Valley, Arizona. 18 November, gave a St. Albert Forum presentation on "The Mind-Brain Problem."

WHITMAN Continues to prepare the Annual Financial Report for the Centro Social Presidente Kennedy of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. This necessitated a month's visit to Brazil in March. In this way, the Vatican Observatory contributes to the justice and peace mission of the Church in the Third World.

International Meetings

During 1998 representatives of the Vatican Observatory took part in the following international meetings:

6-10 January: Washington, DC. 189th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society. CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. coauthored a paper; RICHARD BOYLE, S.J. participated.

25-27 February: Havana, Cuba. Second Congress of the Cuban Society for History and Technology. JUAN CASANOVAS, S.J. gave a paper.

12-13 March: Tucson, Arizona. 1998 Steward Observatory Internal Symposium. CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. gave a paper.

16-20 March: Houston, Texas. 29th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. GUY J. CONSOLMAGNO, S.J. presented a paper and coauthored another.

31 March-5 April: Durham, England. Seventh European Conference on Science and Theology. CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. gave a paper and moderated a workshop; MICHAEL HELLER presented a paper.

27-30 April: Palermo, Italy. Italian Astronomical Society. JUAN CASANOVAS, S.J. participated.

16-17 May: Tucson, Arizona. Tenth Annual Meeting of the International Dark-Sky Association. CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. participated.

15-20 June: Rocca di Papa (Rome), Italy. International Symposium on Astrophysics Research and Science Education. RICHARD BOYLE, S.J., GUY CONSOLMAGNO, S.J., CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J., GEORGE COYNE, S.J., and WILLIAM STOEGER, S.J. participated.

21-27 June. Pasierbiec, Poland. Divine Action Workshop on "Cognition and Neuroscience." CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. participated; GEORGE COYNE, S.J. organized; MICHAEL HELLER headed the local organization for the meeting; WILLIAM STOEGER, S.J. gave a paper and served on the scientific organizing committee.

25 July-1 August: Star Island, New Hampshire. Annual Conference of the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science. CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. participated and attended the IRAS Council meetings.

26-31 July: Dublin, Ireland. 61st Annual Meeting of the Meteoritical Society. GUY J. CONSOLMAGNO, S.J. presented a paper.

21-25 September: Paris, France. Les Rencontres de l'Observatoire, Meudon 1998, on "Galaxy Evolution". CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY, S.J. gave a paper.

11-15 October: Madison, Wisconsin. Annual Meeting, Division for Planetary Sciences, American Astronomical Society. GUY J. CONSOLMAGNO, S.J. served on the program committee and presented a paper.

15-16 October: Ferrara, Italy. Riccioli and the Scientific Achievements of the Jesuits in the Period of the Baroque. JUAN CASANOVAS, S.J. served on the scientific organizing committee and gave a paper.

26-29 October: Vatican City. Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences: "Changing Concepts of Nature at the Turn of the Millennium." GEORGE V. COYNE, S.J. and MICHAEL HELLER participated.

2-5 November: Garching, Germany. ESO Workshop on Minor Bodies in the Outer Solar System. GUY J. CONSOLMAGNO, S.J. participated.