To the Editor:

Re: ''Observatory Calls Plan a Threat to Survival'' (Dec. 11):

The quest for new knowledge about our universe is rarely a linear process, with the unexpected being the norm. The strength of the American science is its diversity of approaches.

The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory well illustrates the benefits of diversity. Its scientists have opened our eyes to the X-ray sky with its black holes and rapidly spinning neutron stars, and they have mapped the universe, revealing unexpected structures and clues to its beginnings.

Shifting the observatory to the National Science Foundation would be a significant blow to the diversity of American science -- and probably wouldn't even save money.

I for one hope that this recommendation is weighed very carefully.



The writer is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Chicago.