Snapshots of a life in science: letters, essays, biographical notes, and other writings (1990-2016) Jeremy Nathans Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Department of Neuroscience Department of Ophthalmology Johns Hopkins Medical School Howard Hughes Medical Institute Baltimore, Maryland USA Contents Preface………………………………………………………………………………………………6 Introductions for Lectures or Prizes…………………………..…………..………………………...7 Lubert Stryer, on the occasion of a symposium in his honor – October 2003 Seymour Benzer, 2001 Passano Awardee – April 2001 Alexander Rich, 2002 Passano Awardee – April 2002 Mario Capecchi, 2004 Daniel Nathans Lecturer – May 2004 Rich Roberts, 2006 Daniel Nathans Lecturer – January 2006 Napoleone Ferrara, 2006 Passano Awardee – April 2006 Tom Sudhof, 2008 Passano Awardee – April 2008 Irv Weissman, 2009 Passano Awardee – April 2009 Comments at the McGovern Institute (MIT) regarding Ed Scolnick and Merck - April 2009 David Julius, 2010 Passano Awardee – April 2010 Introduction to the 2013 Lasker Clinical Prize Winners – September 2013 Helen Hobbs and Jonathan Cohen, 2016 Passano Awardees – April 2016 About Other Scientists………………………………………………………………………….…22 David Hogness, scientist and mentor – October 2007 John Mollon – November 1997 Lubert Stryer - October 2006 Hope Jahren – July 2007 Letter to Roger Kornberg about his father, Arthur Kornberg – February 2008 Peter Kim – June 2013 Eulogies………………………………………………………………………………………...…28 Letter from Arthur Kornberg – November 1999 Daniel Nathans (1928-1999; family memorial service) – November 1999 Nupur Thekdi (1977-2001; Johns Hopkins memorial service) - March 2001 Robert Nathans (1927-2010; family memorial service) – June 2010 Howard Hughes Medical Institute……………….……………………………………………..…31 Letter to David Clayton – November 2005 Comments on the Janelia Research Campus – November 2009 Letter to the HHMI International Early Career Scientist competition team – October 2011 Letter to Jack Dixon requesting additional funds – May 2012 Comments on the Drosophila Olympiad Project at the Janelia Research Campus – June 2012 Johns Hopkins……………………………………………………………………………………..35 Comments on the inauguration of the Daniel Nathans Professorship – December 2003 2 Letter to Joe Coppola regarding the Johns Hopkins response to property crimes – May 2005 Open letter to Johns Hopkins Medical School faculty – April 2006 Letter to Chi Dang regarding core laboratory assessments - January 2009 Letter to Ed Miller and Lloyd Minor regarding support for Carol Greider – October 2009 Thank you to a Johns Hopkins security officer – October 2009 Letter regarding speakers at the Brain Sciences Institute symposium - July 2010 Letter to Ed Miller and Janice Clements regarding support for Carol Greider – September 2010 Letter to Carol Greider regarding downsizing glassware washers in MBG – January 2011 Letter to Sin Urban and Carolyn Machamer regarding graduate admissions – December 2011 Letter to Paul Rothman regarding a proposal to advertise on the JHMI web site – November 2012 Letter to Ron Daniels and Jonathan Bagger regarding Bloomberg Professors – March 2013 Letter to Paul Rothman regarding the Brain Sciences Institute – November 2013 Letter to Hamilton Smith regarding an award in his name – January 2014 Letter to Carol Greider regarding departmental reviews – February 2014 Letter to Steve Desiderio regarding a new Bloomberg Professor – April 2014 Letter to Carol Greider regarding financial transparency at Johns Hopkins – October 2014 Letter from a first year medical student – December 2014 Letter to Steve Desiderio regarding financial transparency at Johns Hopkins – February 2015 Letter to Paul Worley and Shan Sockanathan – March 2015 Letter to Steve Desiderio regarding the distribution of endowed professorships – April 2015 Letters regarding microscope thefts – September 2014 – April 2015 Trying to Move Mountains……………………………………………………………………..….55 Problems with the International Office at Johns Hopkins Medical School – July 1991 Design and construction – November 2015 Fighting the plague of Material Transfer Agreements – November 2015 – September 2016 Unsuccessfully requesting published materials – October 2015 to February 2016 Correspondence with the Johns Hopkins finance office – February 2014 to December 2016 Support for Science and Scientists, Especially Young Scientists…………………………………73 Letter to Michael Bloomberg regarding support for young scientists – August 2013 Letter to Art Levinson regarding the Breakthrough Prize – September 2013 Advice for Students and Colleagues………………………………………………………...…….76 Notes on First Year Medical Student Teaching for the Curriculum Committee – December 2003 Wilmer Research Meeting – July 2004 Advice for a biomedical engineering graduate student - October 2005 Johns Hopkins Medical School White Coat Ceremony – May 2006 Advice for a biomedical engineering graduate student - December 2006 Job interview advice for the teenage son of a member of the housekeeping staff – December 2006 Notes on teaching – August 2007 Letter to Sin Urban – August 2008 Science Integrity – October 2008 Correcting errors in the lab – September 2009 Advice for young scientists – May 2011 JHMI Dean’s Lecture on mentoring – September 2012 Letter to Hao Wu – August 2014 3 Letter to Chris Potter – January 2015 Commencement Remarks, Biology Department, JHU – May 2015 Letter to Lucas Hua – September 2015 Letter to a student who was not accepted at Johns Hopkins for graduate school – March 2010 Publishing, Apportioning Credit, and Other Scientific Sociology Issues…………………..……101 Letter to Al Lazen, National Research Council – April 1997 Letter to Robert Simoni (Editor, Journal of Biological Chemistry) – November 2003 Letter to Nick Cozzarelli (Editor-in Chief) and Diane Sullenberger (Managing Editor) (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) – June 2005 Letters to Peter Lawrence and Makoto Kuro regarding scientific credit – November 2008 Letter to the editors of Cell regarding our manuscript – January 2009 Letter to Sol Snyder (Editor, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) - April 2010 Letter to King-wai Yau – June 2011 Letter to Susan Wessler (National Academy of Sciences Home Secretary) - March 2013 Letter to Science regarding Chinese Academy of Sciences – April 2013 Letter to Thomas Walchli – July 2015 Letter to Richard Nakamura regarding grant review issues at NINDS – December 2015 Letters to the Editor……………………………………………………………………………...114 Letter to The Virginian Pilot – June 2004 Letter to Johns Hopkins Medical News – January 2006 Letter to Science: “Written in Our Genes?” – June 2005 Letter to the Baltimore Sun regarding ground rent – December 2006 Letter to Science regarding China’s One Child Policy – December 2010 Letter to Johns Hopkins Magazine editors regarding Syria – June 2011 Letter to The New York Times regarding population and resources - April 2014 Letter to The New Yorker regarding Egypt – December 2016 Letter to Science regarding recessive disease – December 2016 Miscellaneous Letters……………………………………………………………………………121 Letter to Roel Nusse – June 1995 Letter to Semir Zeki – May 1996 Letter to Elizabeth Turner – February 1998 Letter to Sandra Wighton, Baltimore City Schools Assistant Superintendent – June 1998 Letter to Leon Kass - March 2005 Letter to Ralph Cicerone (President of the National Academy of Sciences) regarding a manned mission to Mars – September 2005 Letter to Lisa Thomas – September 2005 Letter to Ben Barres – October 2005 Letter to Dean Bok – July 2006 Letter to the Foundation Fighting Blindness regarding donors and research subjects – April 2010 Letter to Wenlan Wang – April 2011 Letter from a Korean engineer regarding curly hair – May 2011 Letter to Henry Bourne – November 2013 Letter to Jerry Crabtree – August 2014 Letter to Wayne Hendrickson – October 2014 Letter to Richard Mains – October 2015 4 Letter to Vanitha Ramakrishnan – November 2016 Politics and Society…………………………………………………………………………..….138 Letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation – September 2001 Islamic Terrorism and the West – October 2001 Letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation – October 2004 Letter to the Obama campaign – August 2008 JN’s philosophy on investing in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown – January 2009 Letter to Bill Foster after his congressional defeat – November 2010 Letter to President Obama regarding gay marriage – May 2012 Letter to Jimmy Carter about how Jews are treated in Arab countries – December 2012 The Physics of Extremism – December 2015 Climate Change……………………………………………………………………………….…148 Letter to Graeme Davis (University of California, San Francisco) - April 2010 Letter to Menqing Xiang (Rutgers University) – September 2015 Letter to Martin Stratmann (President, Max Planck Society) – November 2015 Letter to the senior leadership of the Society for Neuroscience – January 2016 Editorial correspondence with Science magazine – November and December 2016 Essay in eLife (co-authored with Peter Sterling) – March 2016 Autobiographical items………………………………………………………………………..…157 Recollections of my time with David Hogness – September 2007 Comments at a reception for the Champalimaud Award at Johns Hopkins – October 2008 Comments at Stanford Medical School – May 2013 Comments on the inauguration of the Samuel Theobald Professorship – June 2013 Transcripts of Lectures………………………..…………………………………………………162 Presentation to the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions Board of Trustees – March 2002 The Vertebrate Retina (iBioSeminars video transcripts) – August 2008 One Amazing