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MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

CAMBRIDGE. MASSACHUSETTS 02139

January 4, 1979

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

President, The Rockefeller University
1213 York Avenue

New York City, NY 10021

Dear Josh,

At the invitation of the NASA Exobiology people, I have
agreed to chair a series of Science Workshops on the Origins
of Life. The goal of the Workshops is to undertake a thorough
re-examination of the current state of knowledge and to reach
a consensus On promising research directions for the future.
We will take a broad approach. We will draw heaviest on
the earth, and to a lesser extent on the solar system: but
we will also include a galactic viewpoint. Our findings will
appear in summary form as a published document of book length.

I am most pleased that Melvin Calvin has agreed to be Co-
Chairman of the Science Workshops. This bodes well for our success.

Our plan is to hold six two-day meetings at intervals of
three or four months. The first meeting will be at the Ames Z
Research Center on March Ist and 2nd, 1979. It will be devoted OE ge
to technical discussions about the scope and content of the oo
Workshops. The second meeting will be at Harvard or M.I.T.
on May 22nd and 23rd, and will address the history of the pre-
biotic elements and planetary evolution. The third meeting,
in September, will be concerned with chemical evolution; the
fourth, in December, with the origins of life; and the fifth,
in March, 1980, with cellular and the earliest organismal
evolution. The concluding meeting, to review the draft of Y
the report, will be hosted by Josh Lederberg at the Rockefeller
University in the summer of 1980.

ily 9

This letter is to invite you to be a member of the Science
Workshop. As I will be out of the country for two months, Me
perhaps you would send a copy of your reply to me to John
Billingham, Chief, Extraterrestrial Research Division,

NASA-Ames Research Center, Code LX, Mail Stop 239-11, Moffett
Field, California, 94035--telephone number 415-965-5181.

John will act as our Executive Secretary, and will need to
know your response so that he can work out the details of

the honorarium for all Workshop members for each meeting
attended. The Ames people will assist us with logistics,
manuscripts preparation, editing, secretarial activities and
other resources as needed.
It is my hope that most members of the Workshop will be
able to attend most of the meetings, so that we will have a

good measure of continuity.
It is my particular hope that you will be able to join us.

Sincerely,
LN
tae . RM
Philip Morrison

PM:kh