me and I was invited to come down. I did. And through that, spending two
years there at Oak Ridge, I becameinterested in radiation biology.

BERGE:

Whatkindsof things did you do while you were at Oak Ridge?

KOHN:

I worked with rats and investigated the changes in their blood

chemistry following single doses of x-rays. I understand that people
subsequently have had difficulty in confirming ourresults.

BERGE:

Anything else you want to say about that time period?

KOHN:

WhenI arrived in 1949, there waspractically no Biology

Division left, but a laboratory building of good size was being renovatedfor it
10 Dr. Hollaender from the USPHS wasthe director of the division. He
spoke with a German accent and was not an impressive person scientifically.
However, he knew the value of money and heused his position to build up a
good lab. But as a person, he was in my opinion not to be admired. He was
amazed when I told him thatI would be transferred to San Francisco. I'm
sure he had planned to surprise me bytelling me that Dr. Jacob Furth, a
pathologist, would be taking over my quarters and I would betransferred to
the garret. Hollaender hated people with medical training. When I tried to
tell Furth on his arrival that he might have trouble with Hollaender, he
looked down his nose at me. But some years later, when we metin Boston,
he remarked in a somewhat apologetic tone that I had been right..
[2. San Francisco]
Kohn: Well I was then in the Public Health service. I wanted to have some

RY

experience with man, so I asked for permission to visit Dr. Stone's Division

Select target paragraph3