j STANFORD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
STANFORD MEDICAL CENTER
300 PASTEUR DRIVE, PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94304

DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS
Professor Joshua Lederberg

MAY 14 1979
Dear Dr. Alfert ,

I feel I have wasted enough energy on the
"Sensen affair", and I do not think I would add
anything very useful by calling him a "charlatan",
He is certainly not a well-rounded geneticist, but
the flaws in his thinking would be within the cus—
tomary variation I see among my colleagues. He happen
-s to be stumbling like a bull in a china shop, th
a territory that calls for infinitely more Sensitivity
than he seems to be capable of. Needless to say,
I disagree violently with his politics, and I
think I have made my contribution to the polemics.

A few relevant items are enclosed; therwwill be
more from time to time that criticize precisely the
narrowness and unproductivity of a purely statisti-
cal approach, so likely to be confounded with
unresolvable factors.

I suggest you also look out for an article that
will appear shortly in LIFE.

Sincerely,

ikon

De Hae attest Dr. Max Alfert

we / 3 Zoology Department
U/C, Berkeley

Lr. Josep P. Kennepy, Jr. LABORATORIES FOR MOLECULAR Mepicine
dedicated to the study of mental retardation

Molecular Biology Heredity Neurobiology Developmental Medicine