Richard Henry is an Academy Professor in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where he is also Research Professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics & Astronomy. He is also Director of the Maryland Space Grant Consortium. He earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University in 1967. In this oral history, Henry discusses his early interest in astronomy, the trajectory of his career, and the beginnings of the Space Telescope Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Since 1986, Raymond Villard has been the News Director for the Space Telescope Science Institute. His earlier work experience includes producing planetarium programs for the Maryland Science Center and serving as Assistant Editor of Astronomy magazine. He received a B.S. in Communication Arts from the University of Albany, SUNY and an M.S. in Science Communication from Boston University. In this oral history, Villard discusses his work at the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Hubble Space Telescope. This oral history is part of the Hopkins Retrospective oral histories series.

Lynn Poole introduces the program by pointing an arrow gun, or optical pointer that is used to point to objects on the dome of a planetarium. Man has wondered about the universe around him since prehistoric times, noticing the movement of the stars and planets. Early in the 20th century the Zeiss planetarium was developed and built in six cities in the United States. After World War II, Armand Spitz produced the Spitz planetarium which made it much more economical for smaller sites to have planetariums. There are now over one hundred in the United States. Mr. Spitz discusses how these planetariums work. He has also designed a toy planetarium that can project images of the stars and planets in the home.

Lynn Poole gives the statistics of U.S. graduates in science and predicts the numbers through 1961, noting that a growing supply of competent scientists is critical. He discusses "juvenile delinquents" and suggests that a constructive way to guide them is through the Science Talent Search. In order to qualify, student contestants must submit answers to an examination measuring their science aptitude, a record of their grades, personal data by their teachers, and a 1,000-word project report. In the thirteenth annual Talent Search for Westinghouse Science Scholarships, 32 boys and 8 girls throughout the United States received a trip to Washington, D.C. to compete for final scholarships. Photos show some finalists during their trip visiting such scientific sites as the Bureau of Standards, the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, the National Institutes of Health, and the Naval Ordnance Lab. In the studio, $400 scholarship winners Mary Jeanne Kreek, of Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, D.C., explains her project on allergies, and Victor A. Schmidt, of Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County, demonstrates his planetarium project. The program concludes with photos of a random selection of the other forty winners and their projects.