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5/ Rockefeller THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
a University /Z 1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10021
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re November 26, 1979

JOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Universities Research Association, Inc.
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D. C. 20037

Gentlemen:

This is in response to President Harry Woolf's so-
licitation for stggestions of at-large trustees. I
would like to present the name of Dr. Elliott Levinthal
whose brief biography from American Men & Women of
Science is attached. Dr. Levinthal played a crucial
role in the Mariner IX and Viking photographic missions
to Mars. I think that there is a widespread consensus
that he played a unique role in bringing together the
scientific aspirations and engineering realities of
these missions that were instrumental to their success.
He had a particular flair for the problems of scheduling
and management that avoided many potential mishaps: skills
that will surely be indispensible in the oversight, even
at a board level, of the Space Telescope Science Institute.
I have known him personally for almost 20 years and believe
that he has qualities that badly need to be represented on
a board of this kind and which are very hard to find. Al-
most any other member of the missions I mentioned might be
consulted for corroboration of this evaluation.

Youxs sincer

Joshua Lederberg

Encl.