INST. FOR TUMORBIOLOGI 44
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET ,
STOCKHOLM 60

DEPT. OF TUMOR BIOLOGY
KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET

STOCKHOLM 60 November 53,1958
Dear Joshua,

many thanks for your wonderful letter. Let me say again how
absolutely delighted we were that all went off as it did. I shall not deny
that I had a certain amount of hard work to do in reading through your
monumental production and trying xm not only to understand it but also
to interpret it to colleagues in all fields of medicine and in beautiful
Swedish»However,I did sim seldom have a J Ro giny PAbBOES wenn OUTS and satis-
factionsFirst,I have learned a great dealte ‘Ait emhtéh Pt Should never have
had a chance to penetrate really otherwise. Second, my work was not wasted
in the secret files of the Foundation but has led to a more positive result
than I could hope. The reason for this was of course that I had a wonderful
case to put forward,so far from the usual half~enthusiasms and and doubtful
afterthoughts of everyday life. Third,although I share your feelings about
prizes of this kind and am certainly aware of the hopeless difference between
the way the public looks on science and science itself,I am quite positive
that this was a good choice,and if it helps to focus attention on the
tremendous askeix achievements of microbial genetics, the priae has certainly
cerved a good purposee A small case in point in my immediate neighbourhood
is the awakening interest for microbial genetics here,previously non-existent,
as I indicated on my last card(incidentally,I did not get your answer to
that card which you indicate to have sent off last Monday).You can be absolute-
ly sure that our personal friendship played no role whatever in this; I can
safely say that seldom has a candidate with so many important abhievements
been considered as in this case.

I understand from some of the press reports (which must have been
a torture for you as I can well understand; incidentally,we have no idea
about how the information leaks out ahead QF: timee2gd BFouiety annoyed about
it) that you were somewhat worried about thérdivision o ‘the prize between
yourself and Beadle & Tatum. I realized in the beginning that this will
worry you and it did worry me. However,our hands are bound by the will of
the donator,written more than sixty years ago. According to the will,
the maximum number of prise-winners is three. Also,the prize cannot be given
for achievements in general must but a single "discovery" must be picked
outs Under the conditions this was the only possibility and had there been
the slightest disagreement on this point,the result would have been that
some other field would have taken the prize in this strange Monte-Carlo
play between widely diverse,inromparabia and absolutely incomparable areas
of research. So,for the sake of genetics,this was the only wayeIncidentally,
I dont think that it is unjust,but I can see that it might have bothered you.
The same reasons made it impossible to mention a fourth name in addition to
your owne

Now we can relax and look forwardiwith great pleasure to seeing
you both =szmm soon again.dAs to the formalities,you will get plenty of expert
advicesin addition to the Nobel Festival,you will be invited to a dinner
given by the King in his palace and will be taken care of more than enough
by representatives of tha Foreign Ministry,the American Embassy,etc.,etc.
-2-

As you probably know,you will be asked to give one formal lecture about your
work.As to the formal suit,you can certainly rent it in Stockholm and af you

x let us know your measures we shall order it for you ahead of time. Since

you will be the center of continuous attention from the public and its representa-—
tives at the official and the press level(sorry),it may cause you some embarrass-
ment and perhaps difficulties in timing to pick it up and perhaps have it fitted;
so if you can do it without difficulty,it mgith be wiser to bring one with you
(tails with whie waistcoat).However,if there is the slightest difficulty, please
let us know your measures and we shall be very happy to take care of it.Esther
will need a full evening dress for the same ucraszimms formal occasions (that is
the Festival and the King’s dinner.The rest will be informal as to dress. Apart
from dress,nothing is ever informal here as +t you well know).

IfB® there is anything est else you would like to know,please dont
hesitate to aks me about it. We certainly fo hope that we shall have a little
chance to see you in private also. My sympathies will be with you during all
the ceremonies and I shall realise that this is not the thing thecengjay you
enjoy most in life.However,for the sake of genetics I hope you will xg take
it with patience XKH#K (have you heard about the difficult time Faulkmer had?).
Please let us know when you arrive so that we can meet you at the airport.

With love,also to Esther,also from Eva,

Y
u

[ e ~ woe

P,S.The ceremony will be sent by TV through all Europe.On the other hand, there
are many people who feel that the usual celebration after the ceremony in
Town Hall should be less intense and perhaps omitted as a protest because of
Raitxx Pasternak. This has not been finally decided yet.