November 29, 1938

Dr. Robert Millikan

California Institute of Technology

Dear Professor Millikan:

I have spent some time thinking about the question raised by Stuart Mudd's letter to you and I have also talked with Professor Morgan about it.

It is my opinion that the Institute cannot make any arrangement for Dr. P. A. Levene to carry on his work after his retirement.

Dr. Leonor Michaelis is a very active man still, and his interests at present lie close to our own interests in structural chemistry. In fact, for a few months I carried on some work in collaboration with him, by making magnetic measurements on substances which he had prepared and sent on to me. This work was dropped because of the inconvenience of cooperation across the country, and Dr. Michaelis made arrangements with some men in the Physics Department at Columbia to continue the magnetic measurements. During recent months, Dr. Michaelis has written often to me about the progress of his research, which is of interest to me because it involves the resonance phenomenon and other aspects of structural chemistry. I am sure that if it were possible for us to make arrangements for Dr. Michaelis to continue his work here, he would be a very productive research man. On the other hand, I feel that we should not take money from the Rockefeller fund to provide him with assistants because our primary obligation is to develop organic chemistry of biological substances in a satisfactory manner, and our secondary obligation of carrying on work in structural chemistry is being fulfilled satisfactorily with our present staff.

It seems to me that the Institute would, on the other hand, profit immensely if it were possible for Dr. Karl Landsteiner to continue his work in the field of immunology here for a few years. While in the East two years ago and again one year ago I spoke in a very tentative manner with Dr. Landsteiner about his coming to the Institute, and he expressed interest in this possibility. Dr. Landsteiner is, I think, really a great man, and I feel that the work in organic chemistry and in biology would benefit by his presence here. He is, of course, accustomed to having very liberal support for his work, but it is my opinion that if he were provided with an organic chemist and an immunologist as assistants, together with laboratory space, but with no salary for himself, he would be willing to come here. I imagine that the minimum amount required for this work would be about $10,000.00 a year. This sum could not be taken out of the Rockefeller fund in chemistry, because Dr. Landsteiner's field really falls outside of the field of the grant, and Professor Morgan has told me that there would be no possibility of including support for Landsteiner in the biology budget. As I see it, the only possibility of bringing Landsteiner here would be to raise outside, possibly again from the Rockefeller Foundation, a special fund of say $50,000.00 to provide $10,000.00 annually for a period of five years.

To summarize this letter, I would say that it would be good if it were possible to arrange for Dr. Michaelis to carry on his work in the Chemistry Department of the Institute, but that it would be really fine if Landsteiner could be brought here, and I myself hope very much that something might be done toward this end.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling

LP:jr