All of Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg's photographs and other material used on this web site are copyright protected © as prescribed by the U.S. Copyright Office. Use of these images is available without fee, with the sole requirement that each image carry clear attribution to Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg and this memorial web site. The original photographs and objects in this special collection are part of the Stanford University archive for Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg.
Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg always maintained that Joshua Lederberg was a great scientist. Esther told her second husband, Matthew Simon, that during the Nobel Prize Award ceremony she was seated next to the Queen of Norway. Her highness told Esther that her daughter (a princess) could not attend that night's ceremony. Esther asked why, and the noblewoman explained that her daughter was attending school, studying to become a medical doctor. The queen remarked that the people in her family were just like other people, and did not want to rely upon their titles. Esther told Matthew that this conversation greatly increased her respect for the Norwegian Royal family. Protocol required the men attending the Nobel Prize Award ceremony to wear white tie and tails; women were to wear full-length evening gowns, and needed to carry three different pairs of white gloves, of varying lengths. Esther told Matthew that she neither had the time nor wanted to waste the money to get proper dress for the Nobel Prize Award ceremony. (Perhaps this was due to her early life growing up during the Depression, having barely enough to eat?) She capitulated to the demand for three different sets of white gloves, but instead of buying a full-length formal adult gown, little Esther (barely 5'3" tall) purchased a teenager's "prom" dress for the ceremony. To complete her ensemble, she found a pair of simple 'ballet slipper'-style shoes which she hand-dyed to match. Esther looked beautiful at the Nobel Prize ceremony.
© Matthew Simon, 2006 - 2008