May 16, 1958

Professor V. D. Tinakow

Academy of Medical Selences of the USSH
Soljanka 14

Moscow

Dear Professor Tinakoy:

Dr. C.—i, Heden of the International Congress of Mierobiology has
forwarded your letter signifying your interest in a discusaion of som
general aspects of alcroblolo research in space.

ZI oan well understand that ay remarks might be unclear after having
been tranamitted seccomil or third hand, and I am happy to take this op-
portunity, at Dr. Heden's suggestion, of first hand correspondence with
you. An exchange of views by letter, prior to the Congress, aight be most

First let m stress that my om interests are in biological ami masdical
researoh, ani that I have no connection with the rocket and satellite pro-
gram An this country. Official policy on these matters is at present within
the jurisdiction of the Departamnt of Defense, although it is likely that
legislation now pending in the U.5. Gongress will transfer basic research
functions to a new civilian agenoy, already abbreviated "NASA". This has,
however, not yet been approved by the Congress. My views are therefore
entirely personal. I speak only as a selentist, and not as an official
representative, and I have furthermore no access to any unpublished or
seoxet information in this field.

chief concern is that a lack of Liaison between biological and
phys scientists my lead to an unfortunate loss of certain opportunities
for future microbiological research. For example, the question whether the
planet tare 43 inhabited by living organisms will be extremely pertinent
to our conespti ons of the origin and distribution of life in the universe.
Furthermore, during the next few decades, when it becomes pussible to
analyse the Martian microflora, ita biochemical constitution will be of the
most extruordinary interest. My fear is that in the haste to accumlate
data for the physical sciemoes in space research, and to deaunstrate the
capabilities of interplanetary vehicles, these biological objectives may
be overlooked in the planning of rocket missions. A possible result might
then be the inadvertent contamination of a planet such as Mars by micro-
organisms carried from the earth.

This is an event which might be expected to occur in the very near future.
The possibility of retrieval of samples from another planet is much more
distant, though its ultimate attainment can hardly be doubted. If, say 25
years later the problems have been solved, we face the possibility that
microorganisms resembling those on our Earth may be found on Mars. The
inter pretation of such a finding will be most difficult unless we have
some assurances that inadvertent contamination from earlier visits by
one-way vehicles had been excluded.

The same considerations apply to the moon, although we can hardly believe
that this is a habitat for active life. The only way that spores might occur
on the moon would be through interplanetary dissemimtion, as had been suggested
for example by Arrhenius fifty years ago. Your able compatriot, A.I. Oparin
has summarized the arguments against such a possibility in his recently revised
book "Origin of Life on the Earth". His objections are entirely convincing,

but I would be very sorry if the opportunity to make an experimental test
were to be needlessly spoiled.

I am enclosing some materials such as clippings from newspapers that may
give you some idea of the extent to which these ideas have been received in
the U.S. In view, however, of the pre-eminent position held by the USSR in the
production of artificial satellites of such a magnitude that they could certainly
be propelled to the moon by your existing rocket motors, the interest of U.S.
biologists in this question will be futile unless we can make a common cause
with our fellow-scientists in the biological selences in the USSR.

This particular question, I should mention, is being taken up through
more official channels, for example by the committee which has been convened
by Florkin (Liege, Belgium). However, if such groups are EMAX to have necessary
advice from microbiologists, both as to the nature of possible problem that
may not yet have been thought of, and as to the methods for their solution,
it will be necessary to bring these questions to the attention of our many
acientific colleagues. I have been assured that Professor Florkin's committee
would welcome suggestions from many sources.

One difficulty is that I have no way of knowing which scientists in Russia
may be most interested in these questions. If you have an occasion to intro-
duce them to Academician Oparin, I would be very pleased to have his views also.

I haye one last favor to ask. I must apologize for having essentially no
knowledge of the Russian language, and unfortunately the facilities for trans-
lation in this community are, I am sure, inferior to yours. My wife has been
studying Russian recently, but would have great difficlty at this stage. If
it is at all possible or convenient, I would ask that we communicate in English,
or in French or German if you would prefer either of these.

I am sure that Dr. Heden would welcome your suggestions as to microbiologists
in other countries who might be asked to participate in the discussions. I do
not know who else among the professional microbiologists in the U.S. would be
interested, but perhaps during the next few months I can learn something of them.

Are you acuuainted with Dr, K.V. Kossikov or Dr. N.D. lerusalimsky of the
Academy of Sciences? I had the good fortune to meet them at a CIBA conference
in London, and hope you may transmit my regards if you know then.

Yours sine

YA Joshua Lederber
Professor & Chairmin, Dept. of Medical Genetics