Sturtevant and Dobzhansky, Two Scientists at Odds: With a Student's Recollections

The account is, at the outset, largely anecdotal, detailing a series of amusing or otherwise interesting events occurring during decades of work in the field of genetics. These could be palatable to any reader. This is followed by an autobiographical account of the early days of the author, which is presented to show the activities and thought processes of a young boy, with a logical-mathematical orientation, growing up during the depression years of the 1930's, and the sequence of events that led to a career in the field of genetics. During the period of graduate work which was started under Th. Dobzhansky and finished under A.H. Sturtevant, the writer became familiar with the personalities and work styles of both. Eventually they fell apart and engaged in an open confrontation. A personal view of this was initially the main thrust of the presentation.

The next segment concerns, an account of some of the unique triumphs and failures encountered in the pursuit of solutions to problems in this area followed by thoughts of the author and several others on the nature of research in science. Finally we have included the reprints of several articles pertinent to the overall presentation, including an unusually perceptive analysis by Prof. Richard Lewontin on the research style of Th. Dobzhansky and an article by Prof. A. H. Sturtevant commenting on several of his papers.