May 18, 2001

As the Smithsonian Reviews Its Science Programs, One Lab Is Axed and Another Survives

By RICHARD MONASTERSKY

At the Smithsonian Institution last week, it was survival of the most popular. The secretary of the Smithsonian, Lawrence Small, announced that its Board of Regents had approved his proposal to close a highly respected but largely unknown laboratory, while another center would duck the budget ax for now, because news of its imminent demise had elicited a swell of public protest.

The regents also accepted a proposal by the former corporate leader to overhaul scientific work at the

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