3 May 1954

Dr. M. Levy

Secretary for Academic Staff

Technion

Israel Institute of Technology

Haifa, Israel

Dear Dr. Levy:

I am writing in answer to your letter of 4 April, to give information about Dr. Ralph Spitzer, who has applied for the Professorship of Physical Chemistry at Technion.

I have known Dr. Spitzer since 1937. He was an undergraduate student when I gave the George Fisher Baker Lectures in Cornell University, and he impressed me as being the best of the group. He was given an appointment as graduate assistant and later teaching fellow in the California Institute of Technology, and he carried on his work for the doctorate under my general supervision. Since obtaining his doctorate he has held teaching posts in American universities and has carried on research.

I have considered him to be one of the best of the younger physical chemists in the country. He has had thorough training in chemistry, physics, and mathematics, and has also shown an interest in biological problems. His work in the field of molecular structure was first-rate. In this work he has shown considerable originality. One of the most valuable of his contributions has been that relating to the theoretical treatment by quantum-mechanical methods of chemical bonds that are subjected to strain through bending.

Dr. Spitzer is an excellent lecturer, and I feel that he would be satisfactory in every way for the post as professor of chemistry.

He has a fine personality. His wife is a pleasant and unusually capable young woman.

Dr. Spitzer's career has been hampered by difficulty arising from the political situation in the United States during recent years. Some years ago his appointment at Oregon State College was brought to an end because he wrote a letter to the editor of Chemical and Engineering News suggesting that the controversy about genetics, involving Lysenko, might not be completely one-sided, as indicated by the newspaper accounts and statements published in this country. He suggested that American chemists

Dr. Levy -2- 3/5/54

might want to read an account of the arguments on both sides before reaching a final decision. It is my opinion that the Russian biologists have been more one-sided in their attitude than the American scientists were, but that Dr. Spitzer was right in suggesting that we should know about the arguments on both sides of the controversy, and I, as an alumnus of Oregon State College, attempted to get the decision not to reappoint Dr. Spitzer reversed. This attempt was unsuccessful, however, and Dr. Spitzer had to accept an appointment in a university, the University of Kansas City, in which there was practically no opportunity for him to continue his research. In consequence, his record of accomplishment is not so great as it would have been under other circumstances.

I am well acquainted with a number of young physical chemists both abroad and in this country. I feel that I can safely place Dr. Spitzer in the topmost group of these men, and that I can recommend him to you strongly. He is an excellent teacher, and he has already made significant contributions to science. I feel confident that in a university department of chemistry, as professor, lie would soon be recognized as a man of distinction.

Sincerely yours,

Linus Pauling:W