October 25, 1960

Or. John Strong
Department of Physics
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, Maryland

Dear Doctor Strong:

We are now actively engaged In the design of Instrumentation for the
detection of life on other planets. My own particular concern Is for those
experiments thet can be landed on Mars and are designed to give information
on the presence of microorganisms in the Martian soll. We have spent a good
deal of time unti] now In crystallizing our basic approaches and are only
just now getting well started In developing the actual Instrumentation. A
number of approaches are belng cultivated but all of them will make heavy
demands on the state of the art In optics and electronics.

An instrument that would be particularly useful as the basis for a variety
of accessories for specific purposes would be a fast scanning ultraviolet
mlcrospectrophotometer. This instrument should be capable of discriminating
Individual particles, possibly after some preliminary fractionation, and
characterizing them as belng microbial or mineral. The requirement for speed
in the spectral scan is to enable the Instrument to look at specimens In which
microorganisms are a small minority, as we must expect to be the case.

PM ae of oD

At Stanford, we can count on very substantial help from my colleagues Ia
electrical engineertng and physics as well as from several of the local Z
industrial laboratories. Interest and talent In microblology and blochenlstry \
likewlse present no problems. However, If we are tq proceed extraditiously
with this work, and especlally If we are to make prellminary forays alonc a |
varlety of different lInes, we should acquire the best possible talent In
our own laboratory for the engineering aspects. | am writing to ask you for
any recommendations that you might have for a research associate with a
strong background In optics and electronics. § belleve that the program should
be a challenging and fascinating one and hope that you may know of some quall fled
people who would enjoy working In a smal! qroup with diverse talents on this
problem.

In addition to the associate, we would also have an opening for a
technician to assist In the same area.

Your observations on planetary atmospheres are, of course, highly relevant
to our own Interests and | would be very much Indebted to you to be kept on
your malling list for the consequent publications.

Yours sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics
Encs: 87, Exob. 8-2 with flow sheet
JL/jh