Almost
60 years after his graduation from Swarthmore, Richard Setlow '41 is
still making important contributions to the world of science. A
senior biophysicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Setlow
recently received a three-year grant from NASA to study the effects
of cosmic radiation on astronauts traveling in deep space. According
to Setlow, NASA has been planning to send astronauts to Mars, which
is deeper in space than humans have ever gone before. He warns that
outside the earth's magnetosphere, cosmic rays are filled with heavy,
high-energy particles capable of damaging, mutating, and killing
human cells. Setlow says: "On a trip to Mars and back, without the
appropriate shielding, about every cell in the body would be
traversed by one of these heavier particles."
To date, the exact dangers of such high-energy particles are unknown. Numerous studies have examined their effects on simple biological systems, but only one experiment, conducted almost 10 years ago, has ever attempted to determine their role in causing cancer. However, the results were frighteningly significant. They showed that cosmic rays were 40 times more likely to induce cancers in mice than X-rays would be. Setlow concludes: "That's a big number, and that's the only experiment.... So obviously, you need more experiments."
Such experiments require the use of particle accelerators that can produce the types of particles found in deep space. But access to this type of machinery is limited. So Setlow and his colleagues have convinced NASA to build an addition to one of Brook-haven's accelerators, which will be available to them for the next three years.
Scientists at Brookhaven will use the new accelerator to test the effects of high-energy particles on small Japa-nese fish called medaka. In doing so, they hope to answer the following question: "How damaging are such heavy particles in inducing germ cell mutations--ones that would be expressed in the offspring?" As Setlow explains, in addition to the risks of cancer and other cell damage to the astronauts, cosmic radiation could produce cell mutations in their children as well. For these reasons, he advised NASA to learn more about the dangers of cosmic rays before planning a mission to Mars that could put astronauts and their families at risk.
Setlow's recent work at Brookhaven follows a lengthy and impressive career in biology and physics. After graduating from Swarthmore in 1941, he earned a Ph.D. in physics at Yale, where he went on to conduct research and teach physics and biophysics until 1961. He then moved to the Biology Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Among his accomplishments at Oak Ridge were his discovery of DNA repair in 1963 and the first demonstration, in 1968, that ultraviolet (UV) light damages DNA. In 1974, Setlow joined Brookhaven National Lab, where, in 1993, he found that malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is caused by both UVB and UVA rays.
Today, Setlow continues to share his expertise with scientists around the world. Since July 1998, he has served as a visiting director of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Hiroshima, Japan. RERF is a joint Japanese and American research organization that studies the effects of radiation exposure on the atomic-bomb survivors and their children. Setlow emphasizes the unique importance of RERF's sample population, explaining that because we know the cause and the dose of their radiation exposure, "the atomic-bomb survivors make up one of very few good data sets indicating the hazards of ionizing radiation." As one of 10 members of RERF's binational board of directors, he travels to Japan once a year to advise the foundation in its research activities.
In light of his many years of studying the effects of radiation, Setlow reflects: "It's a lot of fun.... I didn't deliberately go out to find out anything of this sort--I was just curious." He credits Swarthmore for developing this curiosity throughout his college years. He says: "Swarthmore makes one see the world and understand other people and other subjects." As a physics major, he took advantage of all that Swarthmore has to offer, taking courses in a variety of subjects such as chemistry, mathematics, and philosophy. Although he never enrolled in a single biology course, the accomplished biophysicist enjoyed discussing his interest in the field with members of the Biology Department--an opportunity he attributes to Swarthmore's small size. His continued enthusiasm for the College is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that two of his children, Peter Setlow '64 and Katherine Setlow O'Brien '68, are also alumni.
With a lifetime of ground-breaking discoveries behind him, Setlow is still pursuing his curiosity in true Swarthmore fashion. He says: "I have been at Brookhaven for 25 years--that's longer than any other place I've been.... I love it!"
--Andrea Juncos '01
The
Great White Way has been enhanced by a 14- by 25-foot mural of New
York's Broadway legends displayed inside Manhattan's Times Square
Visitors Center.
Titled "Curtain Call," it was painted and installed in 1998 by Jessica Winer in only seven weeks. The acrylic-on-canvas mural captures a century of images of renowned Broadway actors, actresses, playwrights, composers, and producers, including Ethel Merman, who is center stage.
New York artist Winer's greatest inspirations come from the theater. Even as a girl, she created show posters for the White Barn Theater in Westport, Conn. At Swarthmore, she painted backdrops for plays written by sister Deborah Winer '83.
Winer received the commission for the project from Gretchen Dykstra, who then headed the Times Square Business Improvement District. Winer had been looking for an outdoor wall to paint, and Dykstra was looking for an artist to paint an inside wall in the soon-to-be-renovated Embassy Theater, now called the Times Square Visitors Center. Ideas were meshed, and Winer undertook the job.
The mural was to have displayed 100 notables, but "a committee was making the decisions as to who should appear," Winer said. "When I got the final list, there were 200 names," Winer continued, her voice still sounding shocked. With the help of "a ton of books," Winer began the project.
Among the people depicted are Helen Hayes, Ira and George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, Laurence Olivier, Ben Vereen, Patti Lupone, Danny Kaye, Chita Rivera, and Arthur Miller.
"I
didn't just copy an image from a book. I used the pictures I saw--and
there were several for each--and determined how I would place them in
perspective on the canvas," Winer said.
Installing the mural required resourcefulness and ingenuity. But, in theater lingo: The show must go on.
"I was working with an engineer who was going to build the stretchers for the six canvas panels and then install them on the wall. Unfortunately, he broke two ribs and was unable to help out. So my sister and I ended up going to a lumberyard, building the stretcher strips, stretching the canvases, and then screwing the whole thing to the wall in a day and a half," Winer said.
"Two hours before the press were to arrive [on Aug. 31, 1998], the whole place was a mess, with carpenters and workers, and stuff was everywhere. But when the doors opened, everything was in place, including my mural. It was incredible," said Winer, who was followed by a PBS crew for a documentary on the project.
Although Winer was given a small stipend for her costs, the money she received was a token, so contractually the mural belongs to her. "This means, if anything ever happens to the building, like they want it torn down, I will get the mural back," she said.
Ownership of her art is something she learned about the hard way at Swarthmore.
In the spring of 1983, Winer was asked by Patricia Boyer, then director of the Swarthmore Dance Program, to paint a mural on wood for the Hall Gym (now the site of the Lang Performing Arts Center). When the gym was torn down, no one thought to ask if Winer wanted the mural back, and it was destroyed.
Winer's work is known throughout Manhattan. Her paintings have appeared on products for the Metropolitan Opera, in The New Yorker magazine, and in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue. She also had two solo shows at Lincoln Center. Her watercolor painting of the famed Flatiron Building was recently acquired by the Museum of the City of New York--a gift from Elizabeth Sanford Carey '82 and her husband, Jeffrey.
"I enjoy working in a large format. You become one with it. It feels like you can walk into the painting. I want that for the spectator, too--to be a part of it," she said.
She remembers hearing Kaori Kitao, the William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor of Art History, give a talk on "Why Be an Art History Major?"
"Her answer was, 'you won't make money. It won't get you a job, but you'll always be happy.'
"Art is what I do best. I understand it better than anything else. I totally get it, and I love doing it."
--Audree Penner
Photos by Philip Greenberg
When
Crispin Clarke walked into my Parrish Hall office last spring, I
thought the conversation was going to be political. The young
activist had called a few weeks before, saying he was going to be on
campus and would like to discuss an article for the Bulletin about
the project he is working on--the United Nations' 55th-Anniversary
Global Peace Walk. As sometimes happens when a Swarthmorean gets
fired up about a cause, I braced myself for a message, an agenda, and
a plea for publicity.
But the conversation wasn't political at all; it was spiritual. Clarke is walking across the United States because he is searching for something--for himself and for the rest of us. What he is seeking, he says, is "a reestablishment of a spiritual relationship with the elements: earth, water, fire, and air."
For Clarke, the walk is a way of getting his life "in balance." He's been living in a tepee in northern New Mexico ("an Earth ship, made from recycled materials"), learning ceramics and building a kiln ("pottery is from the Earth"), and working to build a sustainable community with others of like mind ("some people weave, some fix cars, and some raise goats and chickens").
But instead of planting vegetables in Taos this spring, he joined a group of about 20 other seekers of peace on a trek from San Francisco to New York that will end at the United Nations on Oct. 25, the world body's 55th anniversary.
Led by Yusen Yamato, a Buddhist monk from Japan, the marchers carry drums, chimes, flags, and signs. They stop at cities and towns along the way, declaring "global peace zones," holding rallies and Indian-style powwows and seeking local support for causes that range from stopping nuclear proliferation to alternative medicine and from the use of industrial hemp as a natural material to changing the calendar to a year of 13 moons.
The main goal, however, is "a profound spiritual and environmental summit at the United Nations" this fall.
If it sounds way out and countercultural, it is. But as Clarke talked, his mind jumping from issue to issue, he kept returning to the meaning it had for him. "A lot of it is internal," he said, recalling a trip to post&endash;civil-war El Salvador, where he was able to "peer inside" and see that "the First World lives in a bubble while the Third World is suffering behind barbed wire fences and pollution, barely hanging on to its culture in the face of poverty." He saw much of the same in the troubled Mexican province of Chiapas, where he went as an undergraduate, part of a peace studies mission led by Assistant Professor of Spanish Aurora Camacho de Schmidt.
Clarke thinks that the First World, with its nuclear weapons and power plants, appetite for natural re-sources, and attitudes that celebrate human dominance over the environment, has a lot to learn. He sighs as he talks about the "velocity of modern society," how it's spinning out of control. "On the walk, the trees stand still, and the trucks fly by. It's actually dangerous; one little swerve of the wheel and...."
He's quiet for a moment, waiting for another question from me. But I'm quiet, too. We listen as birds rustle in the shrubs outside the open office window. It's a fine spring day.
Yet questions come: Why are you doing this? Why spend a year of your life trying to change things that most people think cannot be changed? What is the source of your idealism?
In a Zen-like answer, he refers back to ceramics, to the clay, and our relationship to the Earth: "It starts with the relations between your neighbor and yourself. People have to learn to cooperate beyond race, gender, ideology, and religion in order to protect our land and life for future generations. If I don't make this walk, what will happen to Mother Earth? You just have to try to do something."
--Jeffrey Lott
ALUMNI DIGEST / BACK PAGES/ BOOKS BY ALUMNI / COLLECTION / EDITOR'S NOTE / FEATURES /
IN MY LIFE/ LETTERS / PROFILES / ARCHIVE / TALK BACK
Swarthmore College 2000. All rights reserved.