Chapter 7: A Field of Their Own

The genetics building in the College of Agriculture looked like an over-grown log cabin, and when Lederberg arrived at Madison during the fall of 1947, his laboratory was a small 20 × 30-foot room in the basement. The university remodeled a new laboratory of about the same size for him by the spring of 1949. It was on the second floor right under the eaves and crowded with glassware, autoclaving and media preparation equipment, and a few benches. Laboratory space was just not that important for experimental breeding, which was the main focus of the genetics department then. As most of that work was in the field, their laboratory was outdoors…