January 30, 1961

8. O. Ward, Ph.D., Director
MississippI institute of Microblology
Hississ!pp! Southern Col lege

Box 264

Station A

Hattlesburg, MissIssIpp!

Dear Doctor Ward:

Thank you for your letter of January 9 and for bringing my attention
to your 1955 paper. |! certainly have to agree with your remark, as of
course | have done, that biological thinking has tended to be overe
particularized. Whether It would be possible to answer the evident need by
a specific program in "theoretical blologics'' would be harder to say.

To answer the explicit question In your letter, we are assembling a »
smal} experimental group with the alm of defining and bullding preliminary
models of experiments that might be flown to Mars to detect indigenous

life. Since we already have rather strong resources in biochemistry, micro- ~~
blology and genetics, | had thought that our principal needs for new :
people would be in the area of biophysical Instrumentation. However, in t

view of your evident foresight and enthusiasm, { should keep In mind during
the forthcoming months whether there might not be a place here that could
be useful and attractive to you. To this end, | would be very pleased if.
you could send me a more complete resumé of your academic and research
background so that [| might have a more explicit Judgement of what you

could offer such a program. ! would not want you to have an unduly opti-
mistic Impression of the possibility, but 1 can certainly say that It

could not be excluded at the present time.

If you could furnish these materials In two copies that would be
espectally. Your publications would be, of course, especially useful.

Yours sincerely,

Joshua Lederberg
J] bc Professor of Genetics