The Rev. Scott I. Paradise, since 1978 the Episcopal chaplain at MIT and coordinator of the Technology and Culture Seminar (TCS), will be honored at a special TCS forum on Monday, May 2. Mr. Paradise, who was ordained in 1953, is retiring.
The TCS Steering Committee has organized the May 2 forum, which will address changes over the past two decades in the prospects for humanity's future.
The featured speaker will be Gerard Piel, founder of the modern Scientific American. Philip Morrison, Institute Professor emeritus of the Department of Physics, will be the moderator and also will respond.
The Rev. John Crocker, former Episcopal chaplain at MIT, will be among those attending.
The forum will begin at 4pm in Rm. 6-120.
COMMUNITY RECEPTION MAY 11
Another event in Mr. Paradise's honor, a community reception, will be held on May 11 in the Mezzanine Lounge of the Student Center following the weekly Lutheran-Episcopal Ministry service, which begins in the MIT Chapel at 5:10pm. The community is invited to the service and to the reception that follows.
The TCS began in 1964 when a group of about 40 faculty met to discuss the impact of science and technology on our culture. The late Myron Bloy, Episcopal chaplain at MIT in the early 1960s, brought the group together for the first time, and his successors have carried on the work.
Over the years, TCS events have addressed the major issues of our time, including world hunger, the arms race, Star Wars, the impact of technology on work, gender and science, AIDS, global development and the environment. Speakers have included Willy Brandt, former West German chancellor; Frank Press, former science adviser to Jimmy Carter and former president of the National Academy of Science; Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Recife, Brazil; John Kenneth Galbraith, and the late Olaf Palme, former prime minister of Sweden.
For many years TCS activities have been supported by central Institute funds. Because of current budget constraints, the TCS faces the prospect of becoming self-supporting starting July 1.
PRAISE FROM PROVOST
Provost Mark S. Wrighton praised the Rev. Mr. Paradise "for his enormous contributions to the MIT community over a long period of time. "The Technology and Culture Seminar Series has drawn many distinguished people to the campus and provided an important Institute-wide program serving students, faculty and staff," Professor Wrighton said. "We will miss Scott's leadership and we are undertaking efforts to secure a support base for the Technology and Culture Seminar in order to continue this important series."
Mr. Paradise came to his post at MIT after 13 years as director of the Boston Industrial Mission, which he founded in 1965. The Mission was an ecumenical group concerned with the interface between church and society. Before that, Mr. Paradise had been associate director of the Detroit Industrial Mission for seven years.
A graduate of Yale University and the Episcopal Theological School, Mr. Paradise is married and the father of two sons. He and his wife live in West Newton.
A version of this article appeared in the April 27, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 30).
