December S, 1953

Or. Alexander Hollander
Biology Division

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Box P

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

My dear Ir. Hollander:

Thank you for keeping us in mind in your inquiry of Novemnber
27. Larry will not be through with his studies here until June or
possibly January 1955 and is therefore orobably not immedictely
available for the position that you have in mind. I have to men-
tion, as I have probably indicated before, that his performance
here has been quite splendid. He has accumllated a great deal of
experimental data on transductions in E. coli, some of this work
being in collaboration with Esther. Unfortunately, the results do
not lend themselves to presentation in small bits and it may be
some time before the whole of the work can be published, tut vhen
you see it I am sure you will concur in this appraisal of his
abilities.

4t the instant I can not refer to any candidate who would
be immediately available and best suited for your position. Ton
Nelson is working with us on a fellowship which will, however,
not expire for somewhat over another year. I do not now have any
other students who would be available for consideration. Without
giving a detailed appraisal as to their availability or qualif-
ications, however, I would like to mention just the names of Dr.
Stanley Shapiro, now in the Department of Bacteriology at Towa
States College at Ames, Iowa; Dr. P. David Skaar, currently at
Gold Spring Harbor; Arnold Raven, who is now at Rochester; and
Ellis Engelsberg, who is at the Heoper Foundation in San Francisco.
These are all young men who have done some creditable work and are
probably not yet in their definite berths. There may also be
severel other persons at Cold Spring Harbor who do not yet have
permanent appointments with tenure, but you possibly know rather
more about this than I do.

I would like to mention a rather outstanding person who is,
as far as I know, not yet ina happy, secure position end sould
be an undoubted intellectual. asset to any organization that hac
the foresight and the ability to attract him. I am referring to
Pave 2 -— Letter to A. Hollonder December 8, 1953

Haig Fapdzian, who is. now. temporarily et. Yale‘in the Botany Depart-
ment. Papazian is not, “strictly speaking, a bacterial geneticist
but his work on the genetics of hymenomycetes is exemplary.

Yours sincerely,

Josmia Lederberg

/ muy