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© THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

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Rockefeller

*\ University fe 1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10021
Ln,
8° November 14, 1979

JOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Mrs. Marian Javits

322 East 57th Street
Apt. 12A

New York, New York 10022

Dear Marian:

This letter is to follow-up on the very interesting
telephone conversation that we had a few weeks ago. You
had sent me some material on various lines of optical
research going on at the Environmental Research Institute
of Michigan. I had been well aware of this group and
their forerunners, the Willow Run Laboratories, having
laid the groundwork for many innovative developments:
multiband spectral reconnaissance perhaps being the most
widely known.

As we discussed, the problems of funding bioengineer-
ing-related research are not at all unique to Erim: they
are pervasive throughout the country. (You might consult
Dr. Bruce H. McCormick, Dept. of Information Engineering,
U. of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Box ‘4348, Chicago, Ill.
60680). In fact applicable science generally has a seri- —
ous problem finding a home in this country; it is too
costly and for other reasons a bad match to the career
structures of academic life; on the other hand, it often
may not have the prospect of narrow proprietary yield
needed to justify conventional entrepreneurial investment.
So we have a situation where many potential technical in-~
vestors are waiting for someone else to incur the costs
of path finding before they move in to skim the profits.

Our conversation turned more specifically to some ap-
plications of holography and I suggested that it might
have a particular utility for curatorial and archiving
purposes. I suggested in particular contacting Daniel
Boorstin at the Library of Congress who would also know
Mrs. Marian Javits
November 14, 1979

- 2-

about Smithsonian, and Phil Handler at the National
Academy of Sciences. We thought about the idea of

a kind of holographic portrait gallery and that sci-
entific types who on the one hand deserved to be
"immortalized" might also be the most sympathetic to
the use of an innovative technology for portraiture.

Just in the last couple of days, however, I noticed
the enclosed article in the Wall Street Journal which
raises some questions both about feasibility and competi-
tion. However it looks as if the field still just needs
a good strong push and then it might well take off!

I have also asked Dr. Joseph Ernst of The Rockefeller
Archive Center to look out for existing reports on museum
applications.

I hope this is helpful and looking forward to seeing
you soon.

Yours ,sincerely,

  

Encl.