Dan U. Gerstel Papers 1868-1997

Cytogeneticist Dan U. Gerstel, Ph.D., served as a professor of crop science at North Carolina State University, 1950-1980. He specialized in the study of tobacco and cotton.

Son of Else and Dr. Alfred Gerstel, Dan Gerstel was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1915. His father served as the President of the Prussian Supreme Court, where he was known for his contributions to labor law. Gerstel's mother was among the first women in Germany to study for a doctorate. When Hitler came to power, Gerstel fled to Palestine where he worked on a kibbutz.

It was in Palestine that Gerstel met his wife, Eva. Dan Gerstel performed all the duties required of kibbutz residents and developed an interest in agriculture. In 1938 his bent for agriculture led him to study genetics at the University of California, Berkley, where he earned a Ph.D. In 1950 Gerstel joined the faculty of the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Engineering (later North Carolina State University). Over the course of his career he published nearly a hundred papers and received numerous acknowledgements for his teaching and research including the William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professorship in Agronomy and Genetics.

Gerstel witnessed and participated in the evolution of the State of Israel as he returned numerous times to the Middle East, and worked in the genetics department of the Weizmann Institute of Science (Mekhon Vaitsman le-mada) in Rehovot, Israel. Dan and Eva Gerstel had two children, David and Naomi. Dan U. Gerstel died on June 8, 2003, at the age of 88.

This collection contains numerous scientific publications collected by Dan U. Gerstel during his career as a member of the faculty of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences of North Carolina State University and in the genetics department of the Weizmann Institute of Science (Mekhon Vaitsman le-mada) in Rehovot, Israel. The publications are on a variety of topics related to the study of genetics, cytology, plant pathology, and crop science. The material is international in scope and covers a period of six decades. In addition to scientific publications, the collection contains personal and professional correspondence, a diary, genealogical research materials, newspaper clippings, and articles related to stamp collecting.

This collection is organized into two series: Correspondence and Ephemera and Publications and Scientific Papers.

North Carolina State University does not own copyright to this collection. Individuals obtaining materials from the NC State University Libraries' Special Collections Research Center are responsible for using the works in conformance with United States copyright law as well as any donor restrictions accompanying the materials.

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.

[Identification of item], Dan U. Gerstel Papers, MC 00358, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

Received in 2003 (Accession no. 2003.0022)