The Strands of a Life: The Science of DNA and the Art of Education (Alfred P.Sloan Foundation)

349 Pages·1994·1.62 MB·English

by  Robert L. Sinsheimer

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title : The Strands of a Life: The Science of DNA and the Art of
Education
author : Sinsheimer, Robert.
publisher :
isbn10 | asin : 0520082486
print isbn13 : 9780520082489
ebook isbn13 : 9780585184371
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Page iii
The Strands of a Life
The Science of DNA and the Art of Education
Robert L. Sinsheimer

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Page iv
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 1994 by
The Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sinsheimer, Robert.
The strands of a life: the science of DNA and the art of
education. / Robert L. Sinsheimer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-520-08248-6 (alk. paper)
1. Sinsheimer, Robert 2. Molecular biologistsUnited States
Biography. 3. College administratorsUnited StatesBiography.
I. Title.
QH31.S573A3 1994 93-13122
574.8'8'092dc20 CIP
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information
SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.

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Page v
To Karen

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Page vii
CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Preface xv
Introduction 1
The Imprinting
1 7
Boyhood and YouthThe Molding
2 17
Transition 1
3 19
MITThe Shaping
4 35
World War IIThe Radiation Laboratory
5 52
Transition 2
6 54
Graduate School
Science, The Open Door
7 67
Iowa StateThe Young Professor
8 75
Iowa StateResearch and Discovery
9 80
Max DelbrückA Caltech Interlude

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Page viii
10 86
A Sidelight on Watson and Crick
11 91
Iowa StateAt Full Speed
12 95
Transition 3
13 98
fX
14 110
The Caltech YearsThe Fulfillment
15 121
Of Honors, Awards, and Prizes
16 129
Transition 4
17 133
Science and SocietyToward Wider Horizons
18 143
The Caltech YearsThe Chairman
19 157
Transition 5
UC Santa Cruz: The Anomalous Campus
20 163
The Prologue
21 179
The Education of a Chancellor
22 192
The Club of Nine
23 200
Two Presidents
24 208
The Regents
25 220
The Faculty
26 236
The Students
27 245
The Community
28 250
"What Does the Chancellor Do?"
29 257
The Telescope and the Genome
30 271
Transition 6

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Page ix
Ending Well
31 277
Return to Science
32 283
"We Happy Few"
Glossary 295
Selected Personal References 301
Index 313
Illustrations follow p. 156

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Page xi
FOREWORD
This book was commissioned as part of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Science Book Series. The Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation has for many years had an interest in encouraging public understanding of science. Science in this
century, has become a complex endeavor. Scientific statements may reflect many centuries of experimentation and
theory and are likely to be expressed in the language of advanced mathematics or in highly technical terms. As
scientific knowledge expands, the goal of general public understanding of science becomes increasingly difficult to
reach.
Yet an understanding of the scientific enterprise, as distinct from data, concepts, and theories, is certainly within the
grasp of us all. It is an enterprise conducted by men and women who are stimulated by hopes and purposes that are
universal, rewarded by occasional successes, and distressed by setbacks. Science is an enterprise with its own rules
and customs, but an understanding of that enterprise is accessible for it is quintessentially human. And an
understanding of the enterprise inevitably brings with it insights into the nature of its products.
The Sloan Foundation expresses great appreciation to the advisory committee, now retired. Its members included the
chairman, Simon Michael Bessie, copublisher, Cornelia and Machael Bessie Books; Howard Hiatt, professor, School
of Medicine, Harvard University; Eric R. Kandel, university, professor, Columbia University College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and senior investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Daniel Kevles, professor of history,
California Institute of Technology; Robert Merton, university professor emeritus, Columbia

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Page xii
University; Paul Samuelson, institute professor of economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Robert
Sinsheimer, chancellor emeritus, University of California, Santa Cruz; Steven Wemberg, professor of physics,
University of Texas at Austin; and Stephen White, former vice-president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Previous
members of the committee were Daniel McFadden, professor of economics, and Philip Morrison, professor of
physics, both of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; George Miller, professor emeritus of psychology,
Princeton Univcrsity; Mark Kac (deceased), formerly professor of mathematics, University of Southern California;
and Frederick E. Terman (deceased), formerly provost emeritus, Stanford University. The Sloan Foundation has been
represented by Arthur L. Singer, Jr., Stephen White, Eric Wanner, and Sandra Panem.
THE ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION

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