Moshe Alafi Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2025-033

Staff Only

Scope and Content

The Moshe Alafi Collection contains professional materials collected by Moshe Alafi. The collection’s contents consist of an original letter from John L. O’Gara to Alafi regarding a transcript of Alafi’s interview with Robert E. Tharp, a photocopy of Alafi’s handwritten letter to Metin Colpan and Karsten Henco concerning Alafi Capital Company’s agreement to finance the start-up of the biotechnology company QIAGEN N.V., and Alafi’s bound copy of the business plan for the start-up of the biotechnology company Cetus Scientific Laboratories (later renamed Cetus Corporation).

Dates

Creation: 1967-1984

Creator

Alafi, Moshe, 1923- (Person)

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes and the collection is open to the public.

Copyright Information

The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Moshe Alafi Collection. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Background Note

Moshe Alafi (1923-2023) was an Iraqi-American biotechnology entrepreneur and venture capitalist. An Iraqi Jew, Alafi was born in Baghdad, Iraq on February 12, 1923. He moved to Mandatory Palestine (present day Israel) during World War II, where he was a member of Haganah, an activity for which he was imprisoned by the British occupation authorities in 1946. In 1947, Alafi immigrated to the United States to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his B.S. (1951) and his M.S. in Physiology (1958).

Alafi got his start in business while still in graduate school, owning a chain of hosiery stores in California. In 1962, he founded his first scientific startup, Physics International Company, an x-ray technology firm. While still working at Physics International, he founded his first venture capital firm, R&D Capital Company. Between the early 1960s and early 1970s, Alafi went on to found and fund several other science technology firms, including Berkeley Scientific Laboratories and Chromatronix, Incorporated.

In 1971, Alafi co-founded his first biotechnology start-up, Cetus Scientific Laboratories (later renamed Cetus Corporation), which specialized in developing pharmaceuticals using recombinant DNA technology. From here, he went on to become a prominent investor in the biotechnology industry. In the mid-1980s, he founded the venture capital firm Alafi Capital Company, which is currently owned by his children Christopher Alafi and Shireen Alafi. By the time he was 90 years old, Alafi founded and funded more than 60 biotechnology companies, including Biogen, Incorporated, Amgen, Incorporated, and QIAGEN N.V. In addition to his business activities, Alafi was the recipient of several awards, including the Science History Institute’s Biotechnology Heritage Award (2015).

Moshe Alafi passed away on April 28, 2023.

Sources

Alafi, Moshe, “Moshe Alafi, Biotech Pioneer and Entrepreneur.” Interview by Sally Hughes in 2003, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013.

Moshe Alafi Collection, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“Moshe Alafi, February 12, 1923-April 28, 2023” San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2023.

Extent

0.10 Linear Feet (1 Folder.)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Correspondence and business plan collected by Iraqi-American biotechnology entrepreneur and venture capitalist Moshe Alafi.

Acquisition Information

The Moshe Alafi Collection was donated to the Science History Institute by Christopher Alafi in November 2025.

Related Materials

The oral history “Moshe Alafi, Biotech Pioneer and Entrepreneur” is preserved at the University of California, Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office in Berkeley, California.