UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY
BERKELEY 4, CALIFORNIA

August 20, 1956

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
Department of Genetics

The University of wisconsin
Madison 6, wisconsin

Dear Joshua:

It is true that a graduate student of mine who was interested in
the problem on his own has received his doctorate degree on the basis
of a thesis in which he, following the work of a Russian investigator,
separated X and Y spermatozoa by electrophoresis and demonstrated this
fact by the results of artificial insemination. Unfortunately the data
were not very large, although very highly significant, and we decided
after the filing of the thesis last year to wait with publication until
one more carefully controlled repeat experiment had succeeded. As it
turned cut sterility interfered with these experiments and no new data
hawébeen added, although strenuous efforts are underway to obtain them.
Until that time J am very haospy that the newspapers have not picked up
the story, although anyone can really get it out of the university li-
brary.

Personally I am not too deeply concerned over the social implica-
tions of what you call such a bombshell. It will be some time until the
methods will be applicable from rabbits to domesticated animals and from
them there will still be a certain step toward man. Eut even when the
application has succeeded, I wonder whether a great revoluticn in regards
to the sex ratio will occur? Presumably there may be some tendency for
the first born to be of the male sex to be followed by a female, but even
this is doubtful.

I am very sorry to learn that you are not going to Japm. Someday
I weuld like to hear what really happened.

With kind regards to you and your wife,
Sincerely yours,
Curt Stern

CS/rr