With his successor, David Baltimore, waiting in the wings, Joshua Lederberg, president of the Rockefeller University in New York, can now think about his retirement. Lederberg, who has served as president since 1978, says he’s “looking forward to another change.” Lederberg will retire at the end of June, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65 in May. As for the future, “I’m still making my plans,” he says. “I’ll remain here [at Rockefeller] as a university professor. I’ll set up a small lab of my own, so that I can remain hands-on in the work I do.” Lederberg says that he plans to continue his work in both computer systems and molecular biology. He primarily wishes to bring these two fields together. “There’s a number of unresolved questions,” he says. “Lots of gaps But the field is ready for that jump.”
When most scientists prepare for field work, they ...
