re: alert

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

 Normally I respect AP copyrights but I felt the academic community should
know of this sooner than latter

Dave   


    NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) _ A mail bomb exploded today at Yale
University, critically injuring a computer science professor,
authorities said.
           The bomb went off in the professor's office on the fifth floor
of Arthur K. Watson Hall, a computer science center, said Yale
secretary Sheila Wellington. Damage was confined to the office, she
said.
           The 8:30 a.m. blast was caused by a letter bomb, said police
spokeswoman Judith Mongillo.
           David Gelernter, 38, an associate professor and director of
undergraduate studies in computer science, suffered severe wounds
to the abdomen, chest, face and hands, and was in surgery this
morning at Yale-New Haven Hospital, officials said. He was in
critical condition.
           Gelernter ran a block to the university's Health Services Center
to get treatment, said a colleague, Robert L. Dunne.
           ``I'm shocked that it would happen to this place, to this man _
that it would happen at all,'' said Susanne Hupfer, a student of
Gelernter's. ``No one is safe until they find out what happened.''
           A colleague, Vladimir Rokhlin, described Gelernter as an
outspoken person who has written articles on a variety of topics
that reflect his fairly conservative views.
           Postal inspectors and investigators from the FBI and the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were called to the scene.
           On Tuesday, a mail bomb exploded at the home of a prominent
geneticist at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr.
Charles Epstein, 59, lost several fingers after opening the parcel
and was hospitalized in fair condition.
           There was no indication the two incidents were linked. John
Sennett, an FBI spokesman in New Haven, said that ``obviously we
are looking for commonalties'' between today's bombing and other
recent bombings, including the one in California.