Correspondence between Pontecorvo and Dr Francis Harry Compton Crick concerning an "annonymous" article submitted to the Cambridge Review

The article was said to be written by Sir Nevill Francis Mott, a physicist at the University of Cambridge, and based on the difficulties Pontecorvo experienced when applying for the Arthur Balfour Chair of Genetics at the University of Cambridge. A draft typescript copy of the article is included. It is written in the style of a letter addressed to a new Professor of Biochemics (starting out at Cambridge) from an experienced Cambridge Professor, and comments on the lower salary at Cambridge compared to the professor's current "Northern University", problems with accommodation and establishing a new department, generous offers from universities abroad, (possibly Harvard), and the administrative management of the University. There is definitely an ironic tone to the letter.

Also includes a draft copy of a letter from Pontecorvo to Crick explaining the resons why he first became interested in moving to Cambridge, the hope that he might have taken over Professor Haldan's Chair at University College London as Professor Peter Brian Medawar desired, the fact that all other geneticists encouraged him to move to Cambridge, and how he was initially keen to accept the challenge. He also discusses the factors that encouraged him to withdraw his acceptance.