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— Dr. Murray Llewellyn Barr, 54, at the University of Western Ontario, was busily studying the cells in the hypoglossus (tongue-controlling nerve) of the female cat when he realized that a little dark spot in each nucleus was never found in the cells of males. Then he learned that this was true of all mammals, including man. Now, a tiny pinch of skin or mucous membrane, examined under the microscope, will show the true, or nuclear, sex. Only such a test will indicate whether a child with a sex-chromosome abnormality should be raised as a boy or a girl, and what surgery is indicated. With abnormal chromosomes, mental retardation is often present. Dr. Barr also got $8,333 PIus a $25,000 grant for research.
For contributions to the development of the special techniques needed for teaching the mentally retarded, Educator Samuel A. Kirk won a $25,000 award plus $50,000 for the University of Illinois' Institute for Research on Exceptional Children, which he heads. A $50,000 grant to the National Association for Retarded Children for "awakening the nation to the problems and for proving in countless ways that the retarded can be helped," brought the total gifts from the Kennedy Foundation to $225,000. Each award winner also received a soaring Gothic form in crystal, engraved with a figure of the seraph Raphael (the name means "God heals") holding a child in his arms.