Interview with David Baltimore - Caltech Oral Histories

Baltimore-73
been about somebody else, but he was certainly careful. And I wanted him to be. That was
really the only reason why I was willing to entertain the idea, because I wanted to be absolutely
sure that they knew what they were getting into. Of course, Dan Kevles [Koepfli Professor of
the Humanities, 1986-2001] was here, and Dan knew more about me than I know about myself.
[Laughter].
LIPPINCOTT: He’d already interviewed you for his book.
BALTIMORE: Well, he’d already written his book, I think. Remember, the New Yorker article
came out before the resolution. 8
Then it was resolved, and then later on his book came out.
LIPPINCOTT: So Kip talked to Dan, too, probably. Or maybe not, if you say Kip held it closely.
BALTIMORE: Oh, but I think Kip must have talked to Dan. And Dan was chairman of the
faculty at that point, so he had actually appointed Kip. No, I’m quite sure he talked to Dan.
LIPPINCOTT: Do you know who any of the other candidates were
BALTIMORE: I’ve since heard about a couple of them.
LIPPINCOTT: Were they all biologists
BALTIMORE: Well, the ones I’ve heard about are biologists. I don’t know the full list. I once
asked Kip to tell me who the finalists were because I didn’t want to be in the position of talking
to them and not knowing they had been finalists. He told me at the time, and I’ve now forgotten
most of them. [Laughter] You can ask Kip.
LIPPINCOTT: OK. Well, how did these conversations go, with the search committee at the Bel-
Air Hotel
BALTIMORE: I guess they went well because they asked me back.
8 “The Assault on David Baltimore,” The New Yorker, May 27,1996, pp. 94-109.