Smstitut Pasteur Paris, le 20 aotit 1974

25, RUE DU DOCTEUR ROUX
(XV" Arrond*)

 

Téléphone : 566 - 58-00

Dr. Joshua LEDERBERG

Stanford University School of Medicine
Department of Genetics

Stanford University Medical Center
STANFORD

California 94305

Dear Josh,

I find your letter upon my return to Paris. All
my congratulations to you and your wife for the birth of your
daughter.

Thank you for your kind words about my book. I am
very pleased that you did like it. Thank you also for the
copy of Joe Fletcher's book. I only had the time to glance
through it. I am going to read it with great interest.

Concerning your two specific questions

1) I send you, under separate cover, a copy of the
French edition of my book.

——

2) I do not think I am in a good position for a cH

appreciation of Avery's work. I became a research scientist
in October 1950 when I entered Lwoff's laboratory. Before

the war, I wanted to become a surgeon. Then I left France

in 1940 to join De Gaulle's Army. I took part in the battle
of Africa and of France when I was severely wounded. After
the war I did not know very well what to do. It took me

three or four years before recovering from the war and from my
wounds. I decided to go in microbial research and microbial
genetics in 1949. The two things which pushed me in this
direction were an article on viruses which I read and a course
which I took in the Sorbonne where the works of Delbriick and
of Avery were mentioned. So, I was very excited by microbial
and phage genetics but I was not in a position to have a
serious estimation about Avery's work.

With best regards.
Yours sincerely,

Cdoove

v