Interview with David Baltimore - Caltech Oral Histories

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Baltimore-69 DAVID BALTIMORE SESSION 3 November 25, 2009 LIPPINCOTT: We got you up to 1996 last time. And you had just barely surfaced from the Imanishi-Kari case when the Caltech presidential search committee and Kip Thorne approached you about the presidency of Caltech. What was the timing there Do you remember when he came to see you and what the circumstances were BALTIMORE: No, actually I don’t remember a lot. Let’s see if I can reconstruct that. LIPPINCOTT: Was Thorne the one who approached you first BALTIMORE: I believe so. I believe he called. LIPPINCOTT: Did you know him BALTIMORE: No. LIPPINCOTT: He’s a physicist, so you wouldn’t have had any truck with him. BALTIMORE: [Laughter] Right. I think I sort of knew about him, and maybe had met him. In fact, I had been interviewed for the presidency of Caltech in the previous round. It would have been ten years earlier. LIPPINCOTT: When they got [Thomas E.] Everhart [Caltech president, 1987-1997] BALTIMORE: When they got Everhart. And I had said no at the time. For some reason I was on the West Coast, in San Diego, and we met in San Diego—something like that. I met with a couple of members of that search committee.
Baltimore-70 LIPPINCOTT: Were they trustees, do you remember, or faculty Because there were two separate committees. BALTIMORE: Well, they were faculty. There are two separate committees, but the trustees’ committee doesn’t do any of the searching, although they may enter into interviews, I suppose, with the faculty. But the faculty does all the research, which is a remarkable process. There’s no other school I know of where the trustees trust the faculty so completely to bring them the right candidates. And I said no, I really didn’t want to, at that point, take on Caltech. But people remembered that interview, because I guess I was fairly candid about some things. [Laughter] I’ve heard about it since. And then when Kip called—I think it was Kip who called—it was a total surprise because I wasn’t looking for another job. I’d pretty well decided that I wasn’t going to run anything anymore. LIPPINCOTT: Was this because of your battering BALTIMORE: Yes, the experience around Rockefeller and the Imanishi-Kari situation really left me feeling— First of all, it seemed unlikely that anybody would want me, given the trouble that I had gotten into. LIPPINCOTT: Well, the publicity, some of which was not very flattering— BALTIMORE: That’s right. That’s right. So I guess I, without thinking about it terribly hard— because I had never defined myself around my administrative activities—I defined myself around the science I was doing. And MIT had very kindly given me the opportunity to continue my science in a quite effective situation. So that seemed like a good life. LIPPINCOTT: I’ve just remembered, now, that when I looked at Mel [Melvin I.] Simon’s [Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences, emeritus] oral history, I think he said he got in touch with you. Did he bring this up with you I think he says something about that in his oral history. Does that ring any bells
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DAVID BALTIMORE (b. 1938) INTERVIEW
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CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
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Baltimore-iii 51-55 1975 Nobel Priz
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Baltimore-2 BALTIMORE: The family w
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Baltimore-4 LIPPINCOTT: Oh! That wa
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Baltimore-6 BALTIMORE: Suburban, si
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Baltimore-8 I remember a big thing
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Baltimore-10 college at that point;
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Baltimore-12 BALTIMORE: Yes. That e
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Baltimore-14 BALTIMORE: No, I don
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Baltimore-16 BALTIMORE: I did not w
Page 23 and 24: Baltimore-18 BALTIMORE: Yes, that
Page 25 and 26: Baltimore-20 LIPPINCOTT: How big a
Page 27 and 28: Baltimore-22 BALTIMORE: No, this wa
Page 29 and 30: Baltimore-24 BALTIMORE: That’s ri
Page 31 and 32: Baltimore-26 BALTIMORE: I spent all
Page 33 and 34: Baltimore-28 BALTIMORE: No, I think
Page 35 and 36: Baltimore-30 BALTIMORE: Polio and i
Page 37 and 38: Baltimore-32 LIPPINCOTT: So your Ph
Page 39 and 40: Baltimore-34 BALTIMORE: No, I’m n
Page 41 and 42: Baltimore-36 BALTIMORE: Oh, yes, I
Page 43 and 44: Baltimore-38 BALTIMORE: It was year
Page 45 and 46: Baltimore-40 LIPPINCOTT: No, it was
Page 47 and 48: Baltimore-42 DAVID BALTIMORE SESSIO
Page 49 and 50: Baltimore-44 BALTIMORE: The Cookery
Page 51 and 52: Baltimore-46 appears in Howard’s
Page 53 and 54: Baltimore-48 BALTIMORE: Yes, it’s
Page 55 and 56: Baltimore-50 The experiment I descr
Page 57 and 58: Baltimore-52 room and they didn’t
Page 59 and 60: Baltimore-54 LIPPINCOTT: OK. Renato
Page 61 and 62: Baltimore-56 all the pictures that
Page 63 and 64: Baltimore-58 and the profits from t
Page 65 and 66: Baltimore-60 contemporary. So that
Page 67 and 68: Baltimore-62 BALTIMORE: And that’
Page 69 and 70: Baltimore-64 BALTIMORE: No, it was
Page 71 and 72: Baltimore-66 understand that. Becau
Page 73: Baltimore-68 BALTIMORE: I still had
Page 77 and 78: Baltimore-72 BALTIMORE: This was—
Page 79 and 80: Baltimore-74 LIPPINCOTT: You don’
Page 81 and 82: Baltimore-76 a biology school, in s
Page 83 and 84: Baltimore-78 LIPPINCOTT: OK. So on
Page 85 and 86: Baltimore-80 Judy’s book calls it
Page 87 and 88: Baltimore-82 never came to pass for
Page 89 and 90: Baltimore-84 BALTIMORE: I don’t b
Page 91 and 92: Baltimore-86 BALTIMORE: Well, he wa
Page 93 and 94: Baltimore-88 BALTIMORE: We intervie
Page 95 and 96: Baltimore-90 about this, but when I
Page 97 and 98: Baltimore-92 to announce it.” Gor
Page 99 and 100: Baltimore-94 BALTIMORE: I don’t r
Page 101 and 102: Baltimore-96 BALTIMORE: Yes. LIPPIN
Page 103 and 104: Baltimore-98 LIPPINCOTT: You mean h
Page 105 and 106: Baltimore-100 LIPPINCOTT: OK. In th
Page 107 and 108: Baltimore-102 BALTIMORE: I had no i
Page 109 and 110: Baltimore-104 BALTIMORE: So I was g
Page 111: Baltimore-106 BALTIMORE: Well, not
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Interview with David Baltimore - Caltech Oral Histories

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