KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Katherine Esau A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Katherine Esau A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Katherine Esau with David E. Russell Davidson Library Oral History Program University of California, Santa Barbara KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Copyright © 1991, by Katherine Esau and The Regents of the University of California KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS David Russell is Director of the University of California, Santa Barbara, Oral History Program. Katherine Esau—A Life of Achievements is part of an ongoing project dealing with UCSB faculty. KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Contents Introduction — i Part One My Life and Work I RUSSIA Schooling — 2 Leaving Russia — 3 II GERMANY Resumption of Education — 5 Work Experience — 6 III AMERICA Oxnard, California — 9 Spreckels, California, 1924-1927 — 10 Planning a Change of Occupation, 1927 — 13 Davis, California — 14 Back to School — 15 Change in Research Direction — 17 Completion of Work for Degree — 20 IV UC DAVIS Buildings, Accommodations, and People — 24 Developments in Research, Based on Selected References — 28 V UC SANTA BARBARA Staff and Facilities — 42 Review of UCSB Research — 46 The Saga of Vladimir the Virus — 65 KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS An Interim Summary — 71 Some References that Round out my Research — 80 Part Two A Conversation with Dr. Esau VI THE FORMATIVE YEARS Family Background— 82 Religious Influences— 94 Early Education — 95 Golitsin Women‘s Agricultural College— 97 World War I — 98 Russian Revolution— 102 Escape to Germany — 108 Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule, Berlin — 110 Summer Internships— 113 Work Experience in Germany — 114 VII EARLY CAREER Immigration to the United States — 117 Ellis Island — 118 Arrival in California — 119 First Job in Agriculture — 120 Spreckels Sugar Company — 123 Breeding Resistant Beets — 125 First Publication— 126 The 1929 Depression — 127 Decision to Leave Spreckels — 128 VIII UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UC Davis — 130 Living and Working Environment at Davis — 132 Initial Research at Davis — 134 Change in Research Direction — 134 Association with Dr. Crafts — 136 Doctoral Program — 123 Dissertation — 140 KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Appointment to Davis Faculty — 141 Teaching — 142 Laboratory Equipment — 143 Working Conditions at Davis — 145 Growth of Department — 146 Developing a Graduate Program — 146 Photomicrography — 147 Progression of Research — 148 Electron Microscopy — 149 Publishing — 150 Academic Promotion — 152 Dr. Vernon Cheadle — 153 UC Santa Barbara — 153 Research Conditions at UCSB — 155 Graduate Assistants — 156 The Saga of Vladimir the Virus — 157 Administrative Problems — 158 Phi Beta Kappa — 159 National Academy of Science — 159 National Medal of Science — Campaigning for Ray Evert‘s Election — 163 Women in Science — 163 Impact of Molecular Biology — 164 Part Three Commentary IX CHANCELLOR VERNON CHEADLE Biographical Note — 167 First Impressions — 169 UC Davis — 170 Administration — 173 Dr. Esau‘s Contributions — 178 X PROFESSOR RAY EVERT Early Career — 185 Teaching Methods — 195 KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Contributions — 196 Qualifying Exams and Dissertation — 198 Decision to Move to UC Santa Barbara — 202 XI DR. JENNIFER THORSCH Decision to Study with Dr. Esau — 204 Research Methodology — 207 Writing and Presenting Papers — 211 Dissertation — 216 A Kind and Considerate Mentor — 218 Dr. Esau‘s Lifestyle — 219 Friendship with Dr. Esau — 221 Work for Academy of Sciences — 222 Culminating Achievements — 223 INDEX — 224 AFTERWORD— 225 KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Professor Katherine Esau KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Illustrations Katherine Esau frontispiece FACING PAGE Russian high school documents 80 Document of attendance at Golitsin Women‘s College 83 German school documents 96 Russian passport 104 Refugee passport and visa 104 Certificate of Naturalization 105 Ph.D final exam program 127 Letter of congratulation 127 KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Part One My Life and Work Katherine Esau KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS I Russia I was born in the city of Yekaterinoslav (March 4, 1898) (Ekaterinoslav; to be referred to further as E.), now called Dnepropetrovsk. The city was originally named after the Zarin Katherine the Great who promoted agriculture in the steppes of the Ukraine by inviting settlers from Germany, among them the Mennonites. My family are Mennonites. Our family on the Esau side dates back to my great- grandfather Aron Esau, who immigrated in 1804 from Prussia. Grandfather Jacob Esau was dealing in grain commerce and lived in the so-called colony (name for an immigrant settlement) Gnadenfeld (see map). The name of the town was Halbstadt, where my father, John Esau, was born. My father and his older brother, Jacob, left the colony to study in Russian schools in E. After advanced studies in other cities, the brothers settled in E., Jacob Esau as an eye doctor, John Esau as a mechanical engineer involved in city management and other administrative activities. He made substantial improvements in the city and was honored by the government more than once. Mother (born Margarethe Toews) was born in E. Her great-grandfather on mother's side, Heinrich Heese, came from Prussia, and we have many relatives with the surname Heese. The two Esaus were the first in that settlement to go to Russian schools. KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS Schooling I could read and write when I entered a primary school: a Mennonite parish school, which I attended for 4 years. We had a female Russian teacher for the Russian language (in our family, we spoke Russian at home, but father and mother used a Low-German dialect with one another.) The Russian teacher also instructed us in such subjects as arithmetic, geography, history, and natural science (I do not remember in what else.) The minister of the church taught us German (High German) and Bible stories. One of the parishioners taught us choir singing. The Russian Greek-Orthodox church did not favor the Evangelical churches established by immigrants from the West, especially since some Orthodox Russians also adopted the Evangelical dogma. When the Mennonites came to the Ukraine, they were allowed to have their churches and schools in their colonies (eventually, as in E., also in Russian cities to which they moved.) But they were warned to abstain from trying to convert the Russian peasants to their religion. As the Mennonites became prosperous, they began hiring Russian peasants to work on their land. The concern of the Russian church was well-founded. When I was 11 years old, I entered the Gymnasium (a secondary school preparing one for teaching or college), which I finished in 1916. It was a school for girls. Throughout the country, boys and girls had separate secondary schools. In the fall of 1916, I entered the Golitsin Women’s Agricultural College in Moscow, starting with natural sciences, physics, chemistry, and geology. The latter attracted me most because of a fascinating lecturer, Professor Mil’kovich. Perhaps I should mention here why I chose agricultural sciences. It was not a well-considered plan. I liked working with plants, and agriculture appeared to deal with them in a more interesting way than botany, which seemed to be mainly naming plants—an impression I gained from one of my relatives enrolled in the University of Saint Petersburg. Sometimes, in later years, I questioned the wisdom of my KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS choice but, with all the perturbations in my life, I decided to finish at least one thing that I had started. The Golitsin College had connections with the men's agricultural college in the Moscow region, the Petrowsko-Rasumowskoe. We were supposed to attend some agricultural courses there, but the Revolution interrupted our schooling after the first year, at the end of 2 semesters (1916-1917). Travel became impossible and I remained in E. waiting for further developments. In the meantime, I studied English, took piano lessons, attended a gardening school, collected plants for a herbarium we were supposed to present at school in the 2nd year, etc. Leaving Russia The war came close to home when the German army advanced and succeeded in occupying the Ukraine. Actually, most of the peaceful population welcomed this turn of events. It saved us from occupation by the Bolsheviks or from invasion by the unorganized bands that were massacring people and destroying property in the countryside. When the war ended, the German officers warned that the population would be in great danger after the army left and advised us to flee with them to Germany. We and many other people followed this advice and our family of four departed. We were placed in a third-class wagon with wooden benches, together with the officers, the injured, and some other refugees. The uninjured soldiers rode in freight wagons. All passengers received food out of large kettles. Because of various difficulties and of obstacles put in our way by the revolutionary governments in the cities through which we passed, the journey lasted two weeks. We departed on December 20, 1918, and arrived in Berlin on January 5, 1919. The day after we left E., posters appeared in town proclaiming that the new city “Managers” were looking for father, evidently to take care of this “representative of the old regime.” Moreover, we belonged to the “counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie” and were “enemies of the country.” KATHERINE ESAU: A LIFE OF ACHIEVEMENTS II GERMANY Resumption of Education In Berlin, we stayed in a hotel for a while. We had some money from the “last minute” sale of our house. As soon as possible, I registered in the Berlin Landwirtschaftliche Hochschule. Fortunately, I had all my school documents with me (including the impressive one from the Gymnasium stating that I had earned a gold medal for my schoolwork; the medal, however, was not presented in kind because of the war conditions.) The school was starting the spring semester.