Nobel scientist Carleton Gajdusek, whose travel diaries were the subject of a special report by Claudia Winkler in our Oct. 7, 1996, issue, negotiated a settlement with the prosecutor last week. Gajdusek pleaded guilty to two counts involving sexual contact with one of his adopted sons from Micronesia, and in a signed statement he admitted sexual contact with a second teenage Micronesian in his care. In exchange for the plea, state and federal authorities agreed to end all further investigations into his activities. Now 73, Gajdusek will spend nine months to a year in a Frederick County, Md., jail, followed by five years’ probation during which he will be free to leave the country.
