17. Judson, p. 50.
18. François Jacob interview, July 1, 1987. See also Jacob, p. 293.
19. Novick to the author, March 1991.
20. Notes for “Talk Comparing Research in Biology with Research in Physics” to the University of Colorado Medical School, November 11, 1950 (LSP).
21. Szilard and Novick returned in 1951 and 1953, and Szilard came alone in 1956, 1961, and 1963.
22. Newsweek, June 18, 1951.
23. John Platt to Alice K. Smith, February 24, 1960.
24. John Platt interview, January 12, 1987.
25. Aaron Novick interview, July 2, 1986. Edward Levi interview, March 19, 1987. “Introduction” in MIT Vol. I by Aaron Novick, pp. 389–92.
26. See Aaron Novick and Leo Szilard, “Virus Strains of Identical Phenotype but Different Genotype,” Science, 113: 34–35 (1951), reprinted in MIT Vol. I, pp. 417ff. Novick to the author, March 1991. My thanks to Maurice Fox for clarifying this and other biological explanations.
27. John Platt to Alice K. Smith, February 24, 1960.
28. Walter R. Volbach to the author, June 26, 1983.
29. Szilard to Trude, August 16 and 26, 1948 (EWP).
30. Manuscript in LSP 23/23. See also The Voice of the Dolphins, pp. 87–102.
31. Szilard to Trude, September 7, 1948 (EWP).
32. Szilard to Trude, September 11, 15, and 18, 1948 (EWP).
33. If the washout rate exceeded the maximum growth rate of the bacteria, they would eventually be flushed from the growth vessel; but if the washout rate were set below the maximum growth rate, the bacteria population would increase in size until it began to exhaust whatever component of the nutrient supply was in least relative amount. Szilard wanted to provide a nutrient with an excess of all necessary elements save one, which would become the limiting growth factor. He anticipated that as the growing population tended to deplete the concentration of the limiting growth factor, the bacteria would respond by reducing their growth rate and their utilization of the factor.
In this case, one could expect a balance, or “steady state,” when the growth rate of the bacteria equaled the washout rate, leading to the maintenance of a population of constant size and a constant low concentration of the limiting growth factor. The concentration of the limiting growth substance would be determined only by the washout rate. Aaron Novick to the author, April 24, 1991.
34. MIT Vol. I, p. 390. Novick to the author, March 1991.
35. Stan Zahler interview, November 22, 1985.
36. Aaron Novick interview, July 2, 1986. Novick, “Phenotypic Mixing,” p. 136. At times, Szilard numbered from the back of the lab book, beginning with 1 on the second-to-last left-hand page, 2 on the last right-hand page, etc.
37. Platt, pp. 152–53. Platt interview, January 12, 1987. Platt to Alice K. Smith, February 24, 1960.
38. Maurice Fox to the author, December 9, 1991.
39. Newsweek, June 18, 1951.
40. Maurice Fox interview, May 24, 1988.
41. John Platt to Alice K. Smith, February 24, 1960.
42. MIT Vol. I, p. xvii.
43. Earl Ubell, “Germ Changes Found Rising as Life Lengthens. Scientists’ Discovery Backs Report of Shorter Lives for Older Women’s Babies,” New York Herald Tribune, September 7, 1951, p. 21.
44. Manuscript dated July 29, 1955 (LSP).
45. October 30 and 31 and November 6, 1958, drafts. See “The Broad Biological Theories” in The University of Chicago Reports, Vol. 12, No. 2, 1961, pp. 9a–12a.
46. “A Theory of How We Age,” New Scientist, February 12, 1959, p. 346. “Genetics. Chilling Forecast,” Newsweek, March 31, 1959.
47. See Tabin, MIT Vol. I, p. 531.
48. According to Novick, this patent was used for some commercial enterprises but yielded scant financial return. Melvin Cohn interview, August 11, 1987.
49. Szilard to Novick, February 24, 1954 (LSP 14/21). Maurice Fox interview, May 24, 1988.
50. Werner K. Maas interview, May 19, 1987; see also “Perspectives” by Maas, Genetics 128:489–494 (July 1991). And MIT Vol. I, pp. xvi–xvii.
51. Melvin Cohn interview, August 11, 1987.
52. William Doering interview, November 12, 1986.
53. Tristram Coffin, “Leo Szilard: The Conscience of a Scientist,” Holiday, February 1964, p. 67.
54. John Platt, “Leo Szilard and His Ideas,” from notes at the 1958 Conference on Biophysics, Boulder, Colorado, July 20–August 16, 1958, pp. 3 and 5. My thanks to John Platt for the use of these notes.
55. Szilard later explained that one reason he sought, and enjoyed, the company of younger scientists was their willingness to perform “really imaginative experiments” that do not “virtually guarantee publishable results.” See Szilard to Livingston, October 26, 1958 (LSP). See also John Platt to Alice K. Smith, February 24, 1960.
56. Novick to the author, April 1991.
57. Hans Zeisel interview with Alice K. Smith, February 9, 1960.
58. Hans Zeisel interview, February 25, 1987. Lorenz to the author, May 25, 1987.
59. Bernard Davis interview, December 17, 1985. Maurice Fox interview, May 24, 1988.
60. Maurice Fox interview, May 24, 1988.
61. Harrison Brown interview, October 6, 1986.
62. Harrison Brown to Alice K. Smith, April 19, 1960.
63. The fertility necklace was made by University of Chicago mechanic John Hanacek, who charged Szilard $10.80 “For services rendered in making: one set of Beads and Clasp. 4½ hours” (LSP).
64. MIT Vol. I, p. 14.
65. Quoted in Gertrud Weiss Szilard to Puck, January 17, 1956. This draft letter was apparently never sent and was found in Trude Szilard’s papers when she died (EWP).
66. Philip Marcus interview, December 3, 1986. Marcus to the author, October 27 and November 19, 1991, and March 13, 1992.
67. Theodore T. Puck and Philip I. Marcus, “A Rapid Method for Viable Cell Titration and Clone Production with HeLa Cells in Tissue Culture: The Use of X-irradiated Cells to Supply Conditioning Factors,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 41, No. 7, pp. 432–37 (July 1955). Marcus later told Puck and the author that this paper was a compromise that did not fully state Szilard’s role in the process. Up to the time of this book’s first publication, Marcus and Puck disagreed over the significance of Szilard’s contributions to their work. Marcus has since documented Szilard’s role in Genesis of the “Feeder Cell”: Concept and Practice. Philip I. Marcus. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.—Animal 42:235–237 (2006). See especially “Postcript” 237.
68. John Benjamin to Szilard, October 17, 1958 (EWP).
69. Puck to Szilard, December 10, 1955 (LSP 15/25) Contant Webb correspondence.
70. Irwin Weil interview, October 18, 1991.
71. “The Great Science Debate,” Fortune, June 1946. Speculating about the future of his own profession, Szilard had written “Observations on the Provision of the Progress of Sciences,” comparing scientific training in different countries and endorsing the proposed National Science Foundation (NSF).
He urged that scientists try to study unrecognized problems, not those already identified, and he was pictured and quoted as one of four “Scientific Irregulars” (with Urey, Condon, and Harlow Shapley) in a comprehensive article in Fortune about the future of American science.
72. According to his expense records, Szilard met Salk on October 25, 1956. They met again on January 7–9, 1957, at the conference on “Cellular Biology, Nucleic Acids, and Viruses.” In addition to Salk, speakers included Renato Dulbecco and Francis Crick.
73. MIT Vol. I, pp. 505–24.
74. January 11, 1957, “Memorandum” and its “Appendix” (LSP).
75. Among Szilard’s candidates who did not join were Min Chueh Chang, working in reproduction studies at the Worcester Institute; Joshua Lederberg; Howard Green; Norton Zinder; Maurice Fox; Milton Weiner; and Theodore Puck.
76. Szilard to Salk, January 14, 1957 (LSP 17/6).
<
br /> 77. Szilard met Salk on January 26, 1957. See Szilard to Salk, January 25, 1957 (LSP 17/6), and Salk to Canfield [cc: Szilard], February 8, 1957 (LSP 70/9).
78. Szilard to Salk, February 12, 1957 (LSP 17/6).
79. Canfield to Szilard, February 14, 1957 (LSP 6/4).
80. Oak Ridge 10th Annual Research Conference, April 8–10, 1957.
81. Szilard to Salk, April 17, 1957 (JSP 23, General Correspondence, 1957, Sk–Sz).
82. Sydney Brenner interview, June 25, 1987.
83. “Memorandum on conversations with Jim Watson on May 4, and with Roger Revelle on May 5, regarding the hypothetical possibility of convincing Jonas Salk to set up a research institute for basic and applied biology at La Jolla in loose affiliation with the University of California at La Jolla,” May 7, 1959 (LSP).
84. Szilard to Salk, May 8, 1959 (LSP 17/6).
85. Szilard to Salk, June 19 and August 4, 1959 (LSP 17/6).
86. Peter Krohn, ed., Topics in the Biology of Aging. A Symposium held at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, California, 1965 (New York: Interscience Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, 1966).
87. John Newhouse conversation, February 17, 1987. Newhouse visited Szilard at the club to discuss ghostwriting an autobiography, a project that never developed.
88. Herman Kalckar interview, January 13, 1987.
89. Szilard to Livingston, October 26, 1958 (LSP 12/9).
90. Frances Racker interview, November 22, 1985.
91. Livingston to Szilard, June 13, 1958 (LSP 12/9).
92. Szilard to Detlev Bronk, June 19 and 20, 1958 (LSP 5/10).
93. Herbert Anderson to Szilard, July 11, 1958 (LSP 4/12). Anderson interview, October 6, 1986.
94. Szilard to Livingston, July 21, 1958 (LSP 12/9).
95. John C. Lilly interview, February 8, 1987.
96. Szilard to Livingston, September 28 and 29, 1958 (LSP 12/9). Szilard to Detlev Bronk, September 29, 1958 (LSP 5/10).
97. John Benjamin to Szilard, October 17, 1958 (EWP).
98. Szilard to Livingston, September 28, 1958 (LSP 12/9). It is not clear that this letter was sent, as the copy in the Szilard Papers contains many handwritten corrections.
99. Szilard to Livingston, October 26, 1958 (LSP 12/9).
100. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 1959, Vol. 45, No. 1, pp. 30–45. Szilard to Norris Bradbury, January 20, 1959 (LSP 5/2).
101. Szilard to Khrushchev, September 6, 1959. Szilard enclosed a copy of his essay “How to Live with the Bomb—and Survive,” noting that he had also sent it to the White House. MIT Vol. III, p. 262.
102. The Way of the Scientist: Interviews from the World of Science and Technology. Selected and Annotated by the Editors of Science and Technology (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966), pp. 29–31. See also International Science and Technology, May 1962, pp. 36–37.
103. Francis Reitel to Szilard, November 4, 1959 (LSP).
104. People and places from Szilard’s “Application for Research Grant,” June 23, 1959 (RG6876), pp. 15–16.
105. “The Control of the Formation of Specific Proteins in Bacteria and in Animal Cells,” pp. 277–92, and “The Molecular Basis of Antibody Formation,” pp. 293–302. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 46, No. 3 (March 1960).
CHAPTER 26
1. March 30, 1960, interview for Small World, CBS Television (LSP 108).
2. Ibid.
3. James J. Nickson note in Szilard’s medical records. Nickson to Feinstein, June 29, 1962 (EWP). Szilard underwent a superpubic cystostomy and fulguration for two tumors.
4. Doctors boosted the maximum dose to 5,300 rem and never gave Szilard less than 4,500 rem. James J. Nickson note with June 29, 1962, Feinstein letter to Szilard (EWP). January 14, 1960, Memorial Center Follow-up and Progress Notes. Szilard medical records (EWP).
5. Nickson note and test result notes (EWP). No sign of neoplasm detected for urine samples on February 19, March 21 and 30, April 6, May 3, June 9, and August 15 and 29. See also Szilard to Joseph Barnes, August 17, 1960 (LSP).
6. “Remembrance of a Genius,” Life, June 12, 1964.
7. Szilard to Urey, January 6, 1960 (Harold Urey Papers, Box 91, University of California, San Diego, Library).
8. See Szilard’s November 21, 1959, note (EWP).
9. Conant Webb interview, January 13, 1987. William Doering interviews, November 12, 1986, and March 9, 1988. Naomi Liebowitz Wood and Ramsay Wood interviews, April 22, 1986.
10. Szilard to Joseph Barnes, August 21, 1960 (LSP). Szilard to Topchiev, August 29, 1960 (LSP 19/4).
11. Various details about Szilard’s year at Memorial Hospital come from interviews with Baruj Benacerraf, January 15, 1987; Bernard Davis, December 17, 1985; Maurice Fox, January 13, 1987; Mariana Heller, January 19, 1988; Rollin Hotchkiss, January 16, 1987; and Werner Maas, May 19, 1987.
12. In January he signed an agreement with Marc Wood International and the National Center for Scientific Research for a venture with Jacob, Monod, Novick, and Meselson to manufacture and market genetic strains. January 12, 1960, contract (LSP).
In May, Szilard’s letter to Nature on “Dependence of the Sex Ratio at Birth on the Age of the Father” was published. This technical explanation of his general theory of aging noted statistics that suggested the ratio of boys to girls at birth decreased with the father’s age. MIT Vol. I, pp. 495–96.
At the end of May, Szilard drafted and revised a “Memorandum on Enzyme Repression” (LSP). But Szilard wrote nothing else in microbiology during his busy hospital year, and except for conversations with visitors such as Jacob, Maas, Howard Green, Novick, Webb, Livingston, Fox, and Doering, he appears to have given the subject little thought.
13. “Memoirs” (LSP).
14. February 21, 1960, “Leo Szilard—Biographical Notes” (LSP).
15. Iseman to Cousins, April 27, 1960 (LSP). NAL, July 3, 1960, agreement and advance, and August 16, 1960, correspondence (LSP).
16. Robert Pick to Szilard, June 2, 1960 (LSP).
17. Szilard to Robert Pick, June 6, 1960 (LSP).
18. “Outline for Book,” June 14 draft (LSP 30/9).
19. The little Szilard dictated about himself appeared after his death as his “Reminiscences” in a Harvard University collection on Perspectives in American History, Vol. II, 1968, The Intellectual Migration: Europe and America, 1930–1960 (Fleming and Bailyn, eds.). Identical and related material appeared in MIT Vol. II in 1978.
20. “Leo Szilard: The Man Behind the Bomb, A Postscript with Gertrud Weiss Szilard,” KPBS-TV, San Diego (LSP 108).
21. For an earlier version, see “Proceedings of Fourth Pugwash Conference of Nuclear Scientists, June 25–July 4, 1959, Baden, Austria,” transcript, pp. 100–123.
22. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, February 1960. Reprinted in Vol. III, pp. 207–37.
23. Edward P. Morgan and the News, American Broadcasting Network, March 7, 1960 (LSP).
24. “THE H-BOMB: ‘Rules’ for Nuclear War,” Newsweek, March 7, 1960, p. 88.
25. Krokodil, April 20, 1960, No. 11 (1589).
26. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 1960. Historically, Szilard’s skepticism about governments’ commitment to test bans is supported by Robert A. Divine, who concludes, in Blowing on the Wind: The Nuclear Test Ban Debate 1954–1960 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), p. 27, that the prevailing pattern became one of “sudden interest in nuclear tests, intense debate and public discussion, and then the equally abrupt dropping of the issue.”
27. “Szilard Bars Operation to Work for Peace. Sees 80% Chance of Nuclear War,” Marguerite Higgins, New York Herald Tribune, April 6, 1960.
28. “Small World,” May 22, 1960 (LSP 108).
29. Transcripts from April 2, 1960, interview with Teller, Watson, and Szilard (LSP).
30. MIT Vol. III, pp. 238–50. Transcript in (LSP 108). New York Post magazine, “Page Four,” November 20, 1960.
31. “Somber Proposa
l from Dr. Szilard,” Marquis Childs, Washington Post, February 17, 1960. “Life of a Man,” Max Lerner, New York Post magazine, “Page Four,” March 4, 1960, p. 34. Marguerite Higgins two-part interview, New York Herald Tribune, April 5 and 6, 1960.
32. New York Post magazine, “Page Four,” November 20, 1960. Newsweek, March 7, 1960, p. 88. Life, May 23, 1960, 48:54. U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pp. 68–71.
33. The Einstein award was sponsored by a memorial foundation honoring Strauss’s parents and was given that year for Szilard’s A-bomb work that had contributed “effectively to the defense of the free world.” Science, March 25, 1960. The “getting better” quote is from “I’m looking for a market for wisdom,” Life, September 1, 1961, p. 76.
34. Killian to Szilard, March 29, 1960 (MIA, MC 10, 3/111). Four recipients, two for 1959 and two for 1960, shared $150,000. The New York Times, May 19, 1960. Nurse’s Notes, March 28, 1960 (EWP). The Research Institute of America gave Szilard its Living History Award on April 27, 1960. See also Nurse’s Notes for April 28, 1960 (EWP).
35. “The Presentation of the Atoms for Peace Award . . . at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. May 18, 1960,” program, pp. 34–37. Szilard’s remarks at a press conference afterward were widely reported the next day. See “Two Scientists Wary on Policing of Atomic-Test Ban,” The New York Times, May 19, 1960.
36. Szilard to Kennedy, April 15, 1960 (LSP 11/5). Kennedy to Szilard, April 27, 1960 (EWP). For details of the postelection study program, see Szilard to Bowles, April 14, 1960, and Bowles to Szilard, April 18, 1960 (LSP 4/36).
37. Conference to Plan a Strategy for Peace. June 2–5, 1960, Arden House, Harriman, New York. “Final Report,” p. 20. First sponsored by philanthropists Tom Slick and Mrs. Albert Lasker, the session eventually became the Stanley Foundation’s annual “Strategy for Peace” conference.
38. Whitmore notes, June 3, 1960, “Memorial Center Follow-up and Progress Notes, 5-8-60 Dr. Nickson” (EWP).
39. Follow-up and Progress Notes and Nurse’s Notes, June 3, 1960 (EWP).
40. June 6, 1960, Health Report (LSP 1/26).
41. Bohlen to Szilard, June 14, 1960, and Szilard to Bohlen, June 16, 1960 (LSP).
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