Fertile Ground

In the 1960s, San Diego, known for its naval facilities, was commonly viewed as an outsider to mainstream American culture and cutting-edge scientific research. However, the Scripps program, in which each principal investigator was free to pursue his/her own research projects, provided fertile ground for both science and recruiting. Within a few years, the SCRF staff had grown to 23 members and over 50 postdoctoral fellows. Among the postdoctoral fellows was Richard A. Lerner, now president of The Scripps Research Institute (front right).