Professor Denies Giving Name for Rosenberg Plea

George A. L. Sarton, professor of History of Science, emeritus, said yesterday he never gave permission for use of his name in a pamphlet urging clemency for the Rosenbergs, atomic spies sentenced to death.

The pamphlet is currently being distributed throughout Greater Boston by the National Committee to Secure Justice in the Rosenberg Case. Sarton's name was listed under the heading: "Notables who have spoken up for the Rosenbergs."

Contacted by phone yesterday, Sarton said, "I am opposed to capital punishment. I dislike the death penalty because it is final. If any error is made it cannot be corrected. I am generally opposed to capital punishment, not just in this case, but in any case--especially one of a political nature. It is society revenging itself."

He cited the seeming disparity between the death sentence given the Rosenbergs and the mere jail sentence dealt Klaus Fuchs, British physicist who confessed to what Sarton termed "worse crimes."

About ten days ago Sarton received a letter from a New York lawyer asking his opinion of the Rosenberg sentence. The letter made no mention of the pamphlet. He replied, "I believe the sentence is excessive."

Sarton is chairman of the Struik Defense Committee, organized to gather funds for the defense of Dirk Jan Struik, M.I.T. professor of Mathematics, indicted last year for conspiring to overthrow the government.