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250 6 Life in North America during World War II
Laboratory and, through his fund-raising skills, inspiration and the ability to
attract able researchers, raised that institution to even greater reputation as a center
of advanced studies. In 1953 J. Watson and F. Crick had discovered the structure of
the genetic material and, in 1956, Watson “arrived [at Harvard] with a conviction
that biology must be transformed into a science directed at molecules and cells and
rewritten in the language of physics and chemistry […]. He treated most members
of the Department of Biology with a revolutionary’s fervent disrespect” (Wilson
1994: 219).
“Not surprisingly,” Mayr told me, “Watson made quite a few enemies. One of
them was young E. O. Wilson who attempted to join Watson’s group. But Watson
brushed him off rudely. This offended Wilson deeply, who was always friendly
and obliging. Now he hated Watson. This is why in his biography [1994: 219] he
calls Watson the ‘Caligula of biology.’ This reveals his anger but not a particular
knowledge of the classical literature. To the best of my knowledge, Watson never
indulged in any of the vices attributed to Caligula. 1
Contrary to much gossip Watson was not unfavorable to organismic biology.
Afterallhehadbeenanardentbirdwatcherinhisyoungeryearsandhadsupported
in Cold Spring Harbor natural history courses for the children of the scientists.
When the three rooms in the Blackford dining hall were given names, Watson was
responsible for having one named the ERNST MAYR room. This, I am sure, was
to recognize the contribution I had made in the 1940s to the general intellectual
atmosphere at Cold Spring Harbor. Even though in most years I did not run a lab,
it is at CSH where I did much of my scientific writing in those years.”
Blackford Hall was renovated and enlarged in 1991–1992. Its new reading room
was named for Efraim Racker (1913–1991), noted biochemist, molecular biologist,
and artist, and the two new upstairs dining rooms were named for molecular biologist
and geneticist Rollin Hotchkiss (*1911) and for Ernst Mayr. The dedication
ceremony of these rooms took place on October 4, 1992. The entire Blackford
dedication in early 1993 was part of a celebration honoring the 40th anniversary
of the discovery of the structure of DNA. The Racker Reading Room and both
upstairs dining rooms, Hotchkiss and Mayr, are adorned with portrait sketches of
scientists working at CSH, drawn or painted by E. Racker, such as those of Ernst
Mayr, M. Delbrück, A. Hershey, R. Hotchkiss, J. Monod, B. Wallace, J. Watson,
and several others. All these facts document the friendly relations within the CSH
community over more than half a century.
Citizenship
Trying to open avenues for Mayr to return to Germany, Erwin Stresemann recommended
him strongly as the Director of the Zoological Museum in Dresden in
a letter written on 28 May 1940 (Haffer 1997b, pp. 932–933). But this was in the
1 Caligula (12–41 A.D.) was Roman emperor from 37 to 41 A.D., in succession to Tiberius.
Accounts of his reign by ancient historians are biased against him. He displayed wild,
despotic caprice, pretense to divinity and is accused of torture, blasphemy and murder.