Esther Lederberg

The institution takes the credit, and the person who built the institution is written out.

Esther Lederberg, 1950.

She discovered lambda phage and developed replica plating.

Explain replica plating for someone who's never been in a lab.

The obituary writer looked at her life and saw the kitchen first.

And that's not a small thing.

It's the same mechanism as Esther Lederberg.

The eye goes to the domestic, the supporting role, and misses the actual work.

Some of that's based on things that happened in my own life when I was in graduate school.

I got to know Esther Lederberg quite well.

And so being able to talk about that aspect of things was important to me.

But at the same time, showing the human side of what's taking place.