Lederberg on bacterial recombination, Haldane, and cold war genetics: an interview.

Joshua Lederberg (1925-2008), was one of the pioneers of molecular genetics perhaps best known for his discovery of genetic recombination in bacteria which earned him a Nobel Prize in 1958 (shared with George Beadle and Edward Tatum). Lederberg's interests were broad including the origin of life, exobiology (a term that he coined) and emerging diseases and artificial intelligence in his, later years. This article contains the transcription of an interview in excerpts, docu- menting the interactions between Lederberg and fellow biologist J.B.S. Haldane wlich lasted from 1946 until Haldane's death in Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1964.