February k2, 1959

Mr. Hugh Odi shaw
National Academy of Sciences
Washington 25 0.C.

Dear Mr. Odi shaw:

Thank you for your correspondence of the 9th and the reletdd material.

1 am enclosing a tentative roster for the meeting scheduled here for the
21st. You should certainly have a resumé of it well before the CETEX and COSPAR
meetings next month,

Professor Rossi just wrote to send some materltal, and Indicated that It
may be advantageous to have a representative of the Space Science Board, perhaps
Mr. Darbyshire, to sit with us. We will be meeting at IOAM at the Biophysics
Laboratory conference room, Saturday February 21, and {| am sure that he or his
opposite number will be most welcome. Dr. Jastrow, from NASA, has been in
touch with me during the past week and, in view of imminent plans now In the
hands of the Working Group for Planetary Exploration, for further moonshots,
he has su suggested it might be advisable to send a representative as an obser-
ver, and | trust this is also desirable.

The travel expenses will be limited to the trips (by alr or train) from
Pasadena (2) and Eugene, Ore. (1) and auto mileage from Berkeley,anm Davis, Qakkhx
and Pacific Grove, Calif, Say 8250-300 should be more than enough to cover travel
and Incldental expenses (including telephone). The only additional item | foreeee
just now might be for transcripti« , and this is not certain at present. The
whole point of a regional group Is, of course, to minimize costs and waste of
energy In travel. You will receive whatever recommendations we may have to make
as to the utility of additéonal meetings.

Thank you for your Information on effects of impact; | was rather afraid the
issue might be open. Another question of vital importance Is whether the moon
Is absolutely and uniformly anhydrous. On the assumption it is, | have been willing
to conclude that the development of Indigenous life, and active persistence of
introduced microbes, was out of the question. 1! gather this also might be contro-
versial, if there Is any possibility of continuous seepage to the surface as an
adjunct to Intermittent volcanic episodes. The possibblity of lunar vulcanism
is then another contingency on which the best possible assessment must be made
as a premise of biological thinking. The enclosed memorandum will be an item on
the agenda,

Yours sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics