L2/5F

Professor J B S Haldane
Indian Statistical Institute
Calcutta

Dear Jack:

Just as | started to write this letter | realfzed there might nave
been a substantial connection between Its Import and the occasion of
my visIt to you November 6, 1957. | recall this was the night of a lunar
eclipse, and there was also some excitement about the expectation that
there might be a demonstration moonshot marked by the deposit of some
visible powder! It must have been around this time surely that | began
to think of the scientific consequences of lunar and planetary probes,

At any rate, since then, It has become very plain that planetary ex-
ploration is close enough to realization that tangible plans must be
made for it, and | have been particularly exercised at the possibility
that irreperable harm might be done before our biological colleagues
woke up to this and attempted to exert some Influence. { have In mind
the quite tangible possibility of contaminatyon by terrestrial organisms
of the surfaces of Mars and Venus, unless Stringent precautions are taken
to sterilize any vehicles sent there, Recent spectroscopic observations
make It quite likely that the dark spots on Mars correspond to C-H and
C-H-G compounds, and thelr waxing and waning would almost decisively Incri-
minate organic activity. We know practically nothing about Venus, and
can certalnly not exclude It as a possible habitat for some terrestrial
bacterla (1! was impressed on this score by seeing the flourishing growth
of blue-green algae in the water at the nuclear reactor at Trombay, near
Bombay!) Finally the moon might offer an ultimate test for the (possibly
farfextched) proposals of interplanetary even interstellar transport of
spores (Arrhenius' panspermla).

During the past year, some colleagues and | have made some headway In
pointing out the dangers of uncontrolled contamination to our own (untll
now rather disorganized) authoritles Involved In deep space probes, and |
feel that a reasonable mobilization of Informed biologiacal opinion could
be decisive in guiding American space policy. But this really has to be
done on an International basis, not only to impress our own physicist
colleagues who still dominate the program, but of course especially those
In other countries namely the USSR, In fact, the likelihood that any domes-
tic proposals might be futile in view of the Spectacular advances of the
Russlan program has most nearly discouraged my own colleagues from devoting
their energy to the problem. A serious problem has been to identify those
Russian scientists who could reasonably communicate thelr understanding of
the basic problems of cosmic blology -- it is rather discouraging to face
a suspected vacuum behind an [ron curtain. At any rate, not a word has come
out of the Soviet Unlon to suggest any concern on thelr part for the preser-
vation of planetary surfaces against contamination, a magkaxx negative
caution that must, of course, be followed promptly by constructlIve pro-
posals for the safe detection of planetary life.

The moon as you know is already a tempting target, and it seems quite
likely it will be effectively bombarded if not by the USSR then by the US

in 1959 or 1960. Venus will traverse a favorable synodic period in June
1959 and strong recommendattons have already been published for a shot at
it then. We are certainly dealing In a time scale of weeks or months for

the moon, and months ora few years for the planets.
{f you still credit the proposals you and Oparin made for the mechanism
of the orlgin of life (during the '20s) 1 know you will not be disinterested
in these problems-- and | will be rather surprised if you did not publish
the same cautions 20 years ago. . | concede that there are many even more
vexatious problems of terrestrial contamination of no less concern. However
! look forward to any consyructive suggestions you may have for coping with
tne challenge of planetary blology (both at scientific and political

levels) and also that you will make your own voice heard to good effect
on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

If you are Interested | can send you copies of some of my own informal
notes and minutes. You will also have received a copy of a paper called
XMBAMK Moondust which was published in Science, June 27 '58.

LY rely

Our best regards to Helen and to Rani Mahalanobis,

P.S. By the way, | have an Indian student with me now-- A.T. Ganesan
wno is as bright and promising as can be. He will doubtless rejoin

Swaminathan's group at New Delhi after he finishes his Ph.D. here. You
should keep an eye on fim?