January 6, 1971 
Dr. Theodore H. Bullock, Chairman 
National Advisory Board for R/V Alpha Helix 
University of California 
San Diego, California 
Dear Dr. Bullock: 
With the W.H.O.-P. A.H.O. meetings on vaccine prevention on disease, and the 
heavy holiday schedule, I have been hopelessly behind in my work and am far too 
late to attend to the matter of my comments on the use of the Alpha Helix and my 
proposals for an expedition based on its use in 1972. As I understand your 
needs from your letter of December 17th and from several telephone 
conversations, you could use a general statement from me about my ideas of how 
the vessel might best be used, and a second more specific proposal for its use 
for a period of two to four months in 1972. 
I am attaching both herewith and hope there will be some way of getting 
this to you on time. I hope that my extreme delay and procrastination has not 
jeapordized completely the possiblity of our being considered for the use of 
the ship in *72, since 1 think I could plan a wholly justified expedition in 
which the vessel would be an indispensable component, unlike the situation in 
which the ship has been used on some of its recent trips, about which I know 
little. 
I am very grateful to you for bringing the matter to my attention and have 
already profited greatly from my discussions with you about it, and I hope it 
will prove possible to work with you and the Alpha Helix next year. I wish you 
good luck with your conferences with the National Science Foundation. 
Sincerely, 
D. Carleton Gajdusek, M.D 
