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February 24, 1989

 

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
History and Philosophy of Science

  

Professor Joshua Lederberg, President
The Rockefeller University

1230 York Adfvenue

New York, NY 10021

U.S.A.

Dear Professor Lederberg,

I have returned to the problem of development. I am writing an historical
essay on “protozoology and development" for a volume on modern developmental
biology and will take this opportunity to address some of your remarks abont
Beyond the Gene, especially about genic change during the cellular
differentiation. Most of the essay concerns the role of the cytoplasm in
development and the usefulness of protozooa for studying nucleo-cytoplasmic
relations, cortical inheritance etc. I am beginning the body of the essay
with a deconstruction of Weismann’s The Germ-Plasm examining his assumptions
rhetoric, and so on. From there it moves to embryologists concerned with the
physiology of development, and protests against Wiesmannism and morphological
theories of development heredity. I have found C.M. Child's writings and his
emphasis of the importance of polarity to be most useful. As, Vance Tartar
remarked in his Biolo of Stentor, "Consciously or not, the tradition he
established has continually been drawn upon.” My essay begins and ends with
recent controversies in embryology ( Goodwin versus Wolpert etc) and the
involvement of protozoological work in the debate. Actually, | think there is
need for a good readable book on the history of developmental biology as it
pertains to discussions and debates about genocentric views of the organism.
1 would like to send you a copy of the draft of this paper when it is
completed.

TI realise now that I could have done a much better job, been much clearer, in
setting up the first chapter of Beyond the Gene. I'd also rewrile the
concluding chapter taking out the unnecessary sociological jargon which did
not help clarity at all, as I see it now. Bult that book has done some
service. And I don’t think I have made the same kind of mistakes in the new
book. By the way, my editor at C.U.P has informed me that the Momwus bool. is
in the production line.At the moment, I am on study leave and have a busy
writing and research schedule.

1 should also mention, that I am on the look out for a suitable position in
North America. Although my wife and 1 like Australia very much, and = the
department here is excellent, since-we now have two small children taking long
flights from Australia have become more and more difficult

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Actually, I am on the short list for a job in the History Department at U.C.
San Diego. They are building up a very strong science studies program there,
between Martin Rudwick and Bob Westman in the history department, Phil Kitcher
and two others in philosophy, and Andrew Scull, Steve Shapin and Bruno Latour
in the sociology department. They are all excellent scholars. No doubt they
will eventually seek departmental status for their program. I was in San
Diego two weeks ago to be interviewed and to give a lecture. My talk was based
on my paper "The Nine Lives of Gregor Mendel", its a chapter for a volume on
experimention which I am co-editing. I enclose a draft copy for your interest
and scrutiny. I am by no means confident that they will offer me the position.
They had 90 applicants and the competition is stiff. But I left San Diego with
the feeling that I would really like that job- building up a program from the
bottom floor. I know I could also learn a great deal from the group at San
Diego. It would also allow me to be closer to archives, conferences to attend,
and scientists to interview.

This brings me to another issue. One project that I have been thinking about
for a long time, is to write a story of your career. Of course, I have no idea
about your feelings about this idea, or if you already have someone working
on this, or if you have already begun an autobiography. But, there is no doubt
in my mind that a book detailing your career should be written.

There is no need for false modesty. I am not talking about a purely
celebratory "great man" book about a creative genius, nor am I talking about
a book that would pretend to assess your achievements and judge your rightful
place in origins of microbial genetics and in the foundations of molecular
biology. I am interested in writing one that would detail your career, your
associations, and the process by which you made your scientific and
administrative acheivements. I am confident that there would be a very large
audience for such a book, and that there would be important lessons for all
of us to learn from it. As I see it, such a book should be written in a way
to embrace, not only biologists in the field, but the scientifically educated
public generally. At this stage there is no need to elaborate further. I would
Just like to express my great interest in such a study and to learn of your
feelings about the idea. If you were interested, I would make it a priority,
and begin work full-time on the project as soon as I meet my present writing
commitments.

With best wishes,

_ a Sun
Jan Sapp fr