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THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK. NY 10021

 

August 17, 1979

JOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Dr. Louis Pelner
616 Rugby Road
Brooklyn, New York 11226

Dear Dr. Pelner:

Thank you for your letter of September 31st which
was delayed by being forwarded back to New York.

I am enclosing some of the material that you re-
quested.

As to the impact of religious background and train-
ing, that is a problematical question. The fact that my
father was a rabbi and committed to the study of the
Torah certainly leant an atmosphere of respect for literary
and intellectual expression at home; I also have to give
very considerable credit to the public library and public
school systems of the City of New York for giving me enor-
mous opportunity and encouragement.

I will let you draw your own conclusions further on
this topic from some of the remarks long since committed
to print that are enclosed.

If you can spare a copy I would like to see a reprint
of your piece on Metchnikoff and I will also share it with
my colleague Jim Hirsch who has been biographically inter-
ested both in Metchnikoff and now still more seriously in
Paul Ehrlich. 4

Finally, I wonder if you have seen a remarkable survey
by S. M. Lipset, referenced in the attachment.

Yours sinc ly,

    
  

Joshua Lederberg

P.S. In the next month or two, prints of my installation
address and lst annual report as President will be
ready. These are fairly confessional. I will ask
our Public Information Office to send them to you.