Marcia,

A few months ago Al Seiff died from a brain tumor. Al Seiff was an NACA old-timer and also one of NASA Ames' most brilliant engineers. He pioneered the technique of deriving a planet's atmosphere (density versus altitude) through telemetry from an entry probe. The atmospheres of Mars, Venus and Jupiter were originally determined by Al Seiff (he's a minor deity at NASA Ames). A bunch of guys had the melancholy job of going through his professional papers and equipment. In the process of doing that they found some really important documents, i.e. the aerodyanamics data book for the Mars Viking aeroshell (this was like finding one of Aristotle's lost books). Anyway, amongst all this stuff they found this beautifully made but well worn 18 inch long slide rule. The feeling was positively electric. It was like finding Wyatt Earp's Bluntline pistol. Seiff's slide rule should be displayed in a museum but I don't think people would appreciate it.

Gary