How many of us are aware that a blip on the lunar landscape owes its
name to an acronym devised for a Harvard building? For this piece of
intelligence the Pump is obliged to Tom Lehrer '47, A.M. '47,
mathematician, teacher, and comic song writer nonpareil. From his
presumably voluminous files, Lehrer has sent an old New York Times
clipping stating that the 1972 moon visit of astronauts Eugene Cernan
and Harrison Schmitt will include a stop "at a crater named Van Serg,
after Prof. Hugh McKinstry, a 20th-century mining geologist who wrote
satires under the pseudonym Nicholas Van Serg." To which Lehrer adds,
"Here's my theory:
"Hugh McKinstry (1896-1961) was a professor of geology at Harvard until
his death.
"The geology department was near the Vanserg building, and Professor
McKinstry must have known the name. (He may even have dined there, as it
was for some years the home of the graduate dining hall.)
"As far as I know, there is no such name as Van Serg in any language.
"It is therefore reasonable to assume that he took his pen name from the
name of the building, spelling it 'Van Serg' to make it sound more like
a surname.
"The Vanserg building is a 'temporary' building, erected at the end of
World War II to house various departments. (The roster has changed over
the years; it has included the mathematics department
and--currently--expository writing and history and literature.) Since
the building was meant to be temporary, there was no benefactor after
whom to name it, so they used an acronym of the names of the original
tenants, namely Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic
Research, and Graduate dining hall. (This fact appears to be known only
to those who were around at the time.)
"Thus there is a crater on the moon which derives its name from a
Harvard acronym. I rest my case."
The Pump is advised by Owen Gingerich, professor of astronomy and the
history of science, that the International Astronomical Union lists Van
Serg not as a crater but as a "lunar feature named by an Apollo 17
astronaut." And who could that have been? The prime suspect has to be
Harrison Schmitt, Ph.D. '64.
Kind regards,
Wolfgang Dick
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net> Altus OK
Eureka!