The Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona, hosted a number of visitors during 1998.

George Coyne, S.J., shows Ambassador Corinne Boggs an early edition of Galileo's "Dialogue," one of the volumes in the rare book collection of the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo. (Photo by Yvonne Thayer)

In May MAFFEO hosted a visit by the faculty and staff of the Pontifical Lateran University of Rome. He also hosted a visit in April by the Board of Directors of the Dan Murphy Foundation of Los Angeles. In August COYNE received the Ambassador to the Holy See from the United States, Mrs. Corinne C. Boggs, who was accompanied by Ms. Yvonne F. Thayer, Chargé d'Affaires; Senator Barbara A. Mikuski, United States Senator from Maryland; and Mr. A. Reynolds, Scientific Attaché, Embassy of the United States to the Italian Republic. On 11 December COYNE received the Ambassador to the Holy See from Iran, Mr. Mohammad Hadi Abd Khoda'i, who was accompanied by the Scientific Attaché, Mr. Hamid Monajemi, and several astrophysicists from Shiraz University. On 18 May COYNE received a group from the Papal Foundation for a visit organized by Paul HENKELS, who serves on the Vatican Observatory Foundation Board.

Some 2,000 people, especially with school groups, visited the Observatory at Castel Gandolfo under the guidance of MAFFEO.

The following individuals paid extended working visits to the Observatory:

A. G. DAVIS PHILIP, Union College and Institute for Space Observations, Schenectady, New York, USA

PIOTR FLIN, Pontifical Theological Academy, Krakow, Poland

JOSÉ FUNES, S.J., Astronomical Observatory of Padua, Italy

JEAN-BAPTISTE KIKWAYA ELUO, S.J., Congo

A. M. MAGALHAES, Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, University of São Paulo, Brazil

PIERO RAFANELLI, Astronomical Observatory of Padua, Italy

GOTTARD RICHTER, Astrophysical Institute, Potsdam, Germany

The following made occasional working visits to the Observatory:

AJOY K. DASGUPTA, Institute of Astronomy, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy; and South Glamorgan Education Department, Cardiff, UK

FILIPPO SMRIGLIO, Institute of Astronomy, University of Rome "La Sapienza," Rome, Italy

ROBERT UGLESICH, Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, USA

Among other professional guests of the Observatory during the year were: Gianandrea Bianchini, University of Padua, Padua, Italy; Claudio Casacci, Alenia, Turin, Italy; Bruno Coppi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Charles L. Currie, S.J., President of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, USA; Rick Hill, University of Arizona; V. Keilis-Borok, Russian Academy of Sciences; Jonathan Lunine, University of Arizona; Terry Rettig, Sun Hong Rhie, Lindsay King, University of Notre Dame; William Romanishin, University of Oklahoma; Eileen Ryan, Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona; William Ryan, Eastern Arizona College, Safford, Arizona; Martha Schaefer, Yale University; Roberto Somma, Alenia, Rome, Italy; Piero Todesco, University of Bologna, Italy; Stephen Tegler, Northern Arizona University.

The following participated in the Working Group on the Church and Science (see sec. III, Observatory Conferences): Ugo Baldini, University of Padua, Italy; Richard J. Blackwell, Department of Philosophy, St. Louis University, USA; Annibale Fantoli, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada; Paolo Maffei, University of Perugia, Italy; Ernan McMullin, Program in the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame, Indiana; Michael Segre, Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Germany.