File photo by Chris Meyer

Mikhail Gorbachev (center, wearing virtual reality goggles) opened his 1997 U.S. lecture tour with an address at the IU Auditorium on the Bloomington campus. But beforehand, he took an autumn tour of the Bloomington campus, stopping in at the CAVE (Computer Automatic Virtual Environment) in Lindley Hall for a virtual look-see at IU’s emerging information technology capabilities. Pictured to Gorbachev’s left in this Home Pages’ file photo is Eric Wernert, who is the “e” in a new IU invention called the John-e-Box, featured on today’s front page. Gorbachev, by the way, enjoyed a fly-by to Saturn’s rings and the red moons of Neptune, but lit up with great pride when he “flew” past the space station Mir. Gorbachev served as president of the Soviet Union from 1990-199l and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Go to this IU Home Pages achival site for more on the Gorbachev visit: Peace in the 21st century— virtual or reality?