CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

PASADENA
   4

Dr, %rren btaarer
The Rookefeller rocmbtioa
49 weat 4th %JOrssrf
Ilew York, Aew York

     &en X wao in 81~ York in labruary f watimsd ta Dr. h.mon ~b plan
for poet-war remarch whluh I have been thinking a%out reoently. 1 m now
outlining this plan to you la order thet ! my have the benefit of y~?ar advice.

     Dr. Robert B. Corey anA 1 are rqmr+iring a war research project at
thie Institute on Which siboaf f'urtg ahemirts, with &mhelor(e or h3tot*r
dagmecs, am employed.  Tha work which is bira;C dose ir in L 1-e $ar% pretty
rrapotabla sofent&fic rem.ruh.  WC, haaa an 0rgAnitertion whfuh ie IDQW luQrkin&
with *xtrQass rff ieicmcy.  The mm carry on their work under a ryrtem of or&err
and reportrt ordera for Snditidual invemiigatioss &m iseued by 3~. %rey,
rad tha invesbigatorr then prepare reports on their work.

     1 suqlgecat that, when ths war oomt to an and and prseaartb3.y a large
number of well-trained young aoientirts will be lookiM for urtglopent, we
set up a teoearch project designed to opamte in thir mee effiuimat way, for
the parpose of aarlrtng a veq tig:orous ottmk on the problelp of tile lrtnauture
of prote%ar md related eubttuncen.

     We have amflable ia the Ostor and Crellia hbomtorfer spparatur
for x-ray tnvesti$atiua Of Wy#taf8 aad th8 d&taWm~~tfOn Of the 6bFrratUm of
lgrr uoleeules~ by eleutron diffraation.  &II also have e set of puaahed aarda
and punohed card meohinos far uarrying out the numerical oaloulatlone that are
aetsssary ia x-~y and eleatron diffraotion work in a far sore effioient way
than has been availabls hitherto.  Phs yeara of oxpsrlenue whiah we have had
in the x-ray field, with sapecial attention pahid to the protein problem in
maant years, grarides ua with sufficient bdc.gmpm4 to anzrble us to nbake
plans for a rehsearmh prqnr which wltll without doubt proride a great arenat
of information.  We know what uan be d~as by Qiffraet~on mathode--ve know
that it ir pcruiblo to duternine ia oorplete dstail the o ???????? of ary&als
of amino aei:?s, peptibrr, prosthetic mupr of prohelm each am th heme ~onp,
and other relatirsly eisple rnbetanarr related to proteins, and that also a
great deal of information prrmrably muld be obtained About proteimthea-
eelvea, by dlreot attack.  Wa also know that ths amount of Labor reqaired to
obtain thla information ir very great, amd that p~ress till be oem'e~oadi~ly
slow unleae sore vl(prous aethodr are ueed thaa have been usad in the past.
Dr. Corey, war$inl: full-time, with the afd of OIMB arrirtsnt, was able to B&C?+
R complete rtruuturs detemlnation of sn amino acid oryrtal la betwen one and
two years.  I believe that, tith the aid of the labor-rratilryg derieea whfch


Dr. Nrren hmar

August 18, 1944

wa ham dorsloped, a ~011 trained full-time rswmuh as& atrnt w&iug WA&JF
careful sugasnlrion uoulA be sxpeated to oarry out an equlrcrlrnt job now in
about ont8 yew.  The Q mm~cl, of ag plan ia thst ve would have pn~haps twenty
muh rsrsaroh aaristmtcl wmkin(r; on a unified yrogrm under the direct md
dtrtail8d mp~~Ir10n of a. `:c;refr, PrufeaeOr J. 8. %urdivtmt. ) Dr. %mMr
bubomeker, end uqrmlf, with the labor apportioned ammg the rsrtmruh aaai&mts
w an to get the UC& dour in the mart sfffcient wy.

     In additioa to thie atnmtuml WA, w wouM m&s studio of
po??phyrlnr and their mata~ rsrltr anB. other prorthetia groupr of oonjaplte&
protaim by ohroraAtog;rs@ic aad speatraphotometria mathada, would carry out
inrm&lgatlanr of verlous physioochemlm.1 gropartfee of he@tOglQbin am& Chloro-
phyll, and would uw sli a$)proprlats te&niques fsr ls;l,w~lnf: A$ mxch aa posrlble
sbuut the nature of thc?rw lmvortant oubotanoea m5 otltare of biological
el~nlfluanc~.

     The prom vhi& P iravrs iar aind is + then, me which invalmr a staff
of perhaD@ twenty full-tine aomirtanta, Incl~~Iin~ people with Ijachrrlorle or
DOUtQX't4 dOglr86, a ooupla of typiet e to take ewe of tha or&rr: and reporta,
and coaputars lsrnd routine ad atchnts.  The pro#mt would pre#IUaHbly be&n
Imediately eftcsr the en% of the wcm, when aen am being dropped from WRD
proajectr; It arhould, I think, aontinue for at `ia&& three pmre. `Pm tort
of the pro jeat fox 8 thrbbgsnr period would be anpmximtslp $15;*<, TN.

     f a0 enthuriaatia about the porribilities for fundmental aulentiffc
pro&rem which thie plan affords.  The groteLn pmblsna is R &met one, md itr
solution will net be easy.  This plan is ndt going to solvs the pmblasl. I think
that the prablefa cm ba salved anly by R very grant amtmt of srtr;g hard work.
Yo know enawch about the s~erriwmtal anabhndr of stmmtural ubemistry to be
sure that a large wmmt of pmgmss can b rtwada by a;~~,lyiag thsroo mthodw, and
w know that the pro#re~s will bu mde on2r by puttint: in e greet mount of
effort; my proporal Is that thlr effort br, applisd In three ymrs, Inettmb
nf In twenty.

     I mhall be very glad to kna~r whather or net you thiak t-hat thfr plrpn
11 a arensible one.  % you think that It would be wcwth while far the blifcmla
Institute of Teehxwlogy to rubllrit a raqued to "Ma 8aclkafellar Pcmndntiaa for B
grant, to be IS&IO for the purpor of carrying. ft out? If so, would it be
a~proprlste far the raqurrrt to be aa before the and of the wear, in order t?mt
the plan might be put in uperntlan immediately fit the end of the wed

     I t&all be plegasd whrn It again becomas poerlble for me to eee+ you
oocaelomslly and to talk to you.

Slnusmly yours,