Interview with Herschel K. Mitchell

Abstract

Interview in 1997 with Herschel K. Mitchell, professor of biology, emeritus. George W. Beadle brought Mitchell to Caltech with him in 1946 from Stanford as a senior research fellow, along with Norman Horowitz, Mary Houlahan, Adrian Srb, and August Doermann. The group worked on Neurospora. Mitchell recalls teaching the biochemistry course with Henry Borsook; recalls Beadle's style as chairman of the Division of Biology. Recalls his earlier work on pantothenic acid and folic acid as a graduate student with Roger Williams. Comments extensively (in mid-interview and again toward the end) on the dubious work done by Lawrence Burton and Frank Friedman as research fellows in the mid-1950s, their consequent dismissal from Caltech, and their later careers in highly controversial immuno-augmentative cancer therapy. Recalls instituting athletic activities at Caltech for graduate students and refers to many of his successful PhD students--among them Bruce Ames, who invented the Ames test for detecting mutagens and potential carcinogens; Mogens Westergaard, with whom he devised a medium favoring sexual reproduction in Neurospora; and Ernst Hadorn, with whom he worked on Drosophila mutants.