Interview with Arthur W. Galston - Caltech Oral Histories

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Galston–iiTABLE OF CONTENTSINTERVIEW WITH ARTHUR W. GALSTON1-6Growing up in Brooklyn during the Depression. To Cornell, intending to enter veterinaryschool. Discovers an interest in botany, thanks to Professor L. Petry. Graduates in 1940. ToUniversity of Illinois for graduate work. Biochemistry seminar with H. Carter. Joint major inbotany and biochemistry. PhD in 1943. To Caltech to work with J. Bonner on wartime guayuleproject. July 1944, drafted into U.S. Navy. To Yale as an instructor in 1946. Bonner inviteshim back to Caltech as senior research fellow in Biology Division, 1947. Teaches plant biology,with S. Wildman and G. Laties. 1950, Guggenheim Fellowship to Karolinska Institute to workwith H. Theorell. 1951, awarded tenure at Caltech. Friendship with G. Beadle, chair of BiologyDivision. Works under Bonner. Conflict with Bonner. 1955, accepts offer from O. Tippo toreturn to Yale as a full professor.6-10Recruitment by T. H. Morgan, earlier head of Biology Division, of several Dutchmen: F. Went,C. J. Wiersma, A. Van Harreveld. Later arrival of A. Haagen-Smit. Recalls teaching withBeadle. Supports L. Pauling, along with M. Meselson and G. Streisinger. Membership inHICCASP, the Hollywood Independent Citizen’s Committee for the Arts, Sciences andProfessions. Attitude of L. DuBridge. Interest of M. Delbrück in his work on vitamins and lightabsorbtion. Interaction with R. Feynman. Writes Principles of Plant Physiology with J. Bonner.Friendship with R. Owen. Visits A. Tyler at marine laboratory at Corona del Mar.10-18Earhart Plant Research Laboratory and phytotron, the first of its kind, designed by F. Went atCaltech. World renowned, but expensive to run; its eventual demolishing. Recollections of N.Horowitz and A. Haagen-Smit. Meeting T. H. Morgan in 1943, during first visit to Caltech.Evaluation of Haagen-Smit as acting head of Biology Division before arrival of Beadle.Recollections of A. Sturtevant, E. Lewis, and graduate student L. Labouriau. Helps discourageadoption of loyalty oath at Caltech in early 1950s. Runs Caltech Y’s speakers program.Discussion of his current bioethics program at Yale. Reasons for his involvement in politics.His interest in things political unique in Biology Division at the time. Comments on Beadle’schairmanship and conflict with “the Dutchmen,” who felt Beadle was favoring Neurosporagenetics over everything else. Neurospora group at Yale. Later switch to E. coli.18-25Contacts with former Caltech colleagues after going to Yale. Disappointment with R. Owen.Golden age of biology at Caltech in late ’40s and early ’50s. NSF as new source of funds.Interaction with people in other divisions, especially geochemists, at Athenaeum. His currentactivities at Yale. Friendship with N. Leonard. Meeting R. A. Millikan and lunch at theMillikans’ house. R. Emerson’s work with interned Japanese during the war.http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Galston_A
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYORAL HISTORY PROJECTInterview with Arthur W. GalstonNew Haven, Connecticutby Shirley K. CohenOctober 8, 2002Begin Tape 1, Side 1COHEN: I’m happy to be here to talk to you about your days at Caltech. Give us a quickbackground about how you came to be there.GALSTON: OK. I was a graduate student at the University of Illinois, Champaign, in the years1940 to ’43. As the war started in the middle of my graduate student career, I had to go through,full steam, three years without a break. I would have enjoyed a longer graduate student career,but I had to do it that way if I wanted to finish or else I had to go into military service. So Iworked through the three years, got my degree in June of ’43. I had a joint major inbiochemistry and botany. That was an innovative thing to do in those days; there weren’t manybotanists thinking about biochemistry. I was prepared to go into service, but I happened to havemade the friendship of a young biochemistry faculty member—Herbert Carter—who wasimpressed by the fact that when I came to his seminar, I talked about plants.COHEN: What made you so interested in plants? Where did your botanical interest come from?GALSTON: Oh, that’s another story. I can give you a reprint on that—an article I wrote for thePlant Physiology Society, entitled “An Accidental Plant Biologist.”The story is briefly this: I was born in Brooklyn and grew up there. Grew up as a goodJewish boy in a household in Brooklyn, where parents aspired to have their sons become either adoctor or a lawyer. But I had the bad luck to mature in the midst of the Depression. My fatherhad been out of work for several years. My sisters had to quit school to go to work to support thefamily. I was the baby, and I knew there was no way on God’s green earth that I could get thehttp://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechOH:OH_Galston_A
Page 7 and 8: Galston-3He did, and Bonner did. At
Page 9 and 10: Galston-5I had been an appreciated
Page 20 and 21: Galston-16liberties and whatnot. So
Page 22 and 23: Galston-18COHEN: So these other peo
Page 24 and 25: Galston-20COHEN: Was there any inte
Page 26 and 27: Galston-22So that was one of the st
Page 28 and 29: Galston-24patrol the Straits of For

Interview with Arthur W. Galston - Caltech Oral Histories

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?