ABSTRACT
Mary Esther Gaulden presents a personal summary of the activities of Alexander Hollaender, from his days at the National Institutes of Health to his becoming Director of the Biology Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1947. This appealing story deals with many of her reactions to his personality and organizational style. It reflects the atmosphere of science in those days, and her enthusiasm in this vibrant milieu. Next is a brief account by John Jagger of his first meeting with Dr. Hollaender, arrival in Oak Ridge in April 1956, and wedding to Mary Esther six months later at the house of the Hollaenders in Oak Ridge. The third section is an account by Virginia P. White of how she came to Oak Ridge in 1955 and became Dr. Hollaender's Laboratory Administrator. She gives a personal account of the many facets of his managerial style, as well as of the personality of his wife, Henrietta. She also describes one of Hollaender's many avocations, the collection of fossils on Sunday morning hikes in the Cumberland Mountains, accompanied by lab and visiting personnel, and finally comments on the annual research conferences in Gatlinburg TN, for which Hollaender and the lab became very well known, with some closing vignettes on his leadership style.
Subject(s)
Biology/history , Germany , History, 20th Century , National Institutes of Health (U.S.)/history , United StatesABSTRACT
This is a summary of work done, chiefly by the author, in the mid-20th century, when monochromators were a primary tool in identification of molecules involved in biological effects, much as spectrometers were useful for molecular chemistry in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Monochromator types are discussed, as well as production of action spectra fro the chromophores for photoreactivation of ultraviolet biological effects. Two new types of non-enzymatic photoreactivation were found in prokaryotes, in addition to the classical enzymatic photoreactivation.
