Instead of synthesizing new biochemicals from scratch, the Nobel Prize-winning chemist puts nature to the task — with astonishing results.
The engineer’s mantra, said Frances Arnold, a professor of chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, is: “Keep it simple, stupid.” But Dr. Arnold, who last year became just the fifth woman in history to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is the opposite of stupid, and her stories sometimes turn rococo.
by Natalie Angier for the New York Times
photo: Erika Gerdemark for The New York Times
Take the happy images on her office Wall of Triumph. Here’s a picture of a beaming President Obama, congratulating Dr. Frances Arnold in 2013 for winning the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.
That must have been a fun event! Sure, Dr. Arnold said. Except for the part where the minibus that delivered the medal recipients to the event caught fire as it pulled up to the White House door. The cabin filled with smoke, passengers were gasping and crying and staggering toward the exit, the younger ones carrying the older ones — and all were greeted by a phalanx of Secret Service agents, guns aimed at the medalists’ heads.
“They must have thought we were terrorists,” Dr. Arnold said. “We were convinced they were going to shoot us.”
Okay. How about this charming picture of Dr. Arnold with the Queen of England in 2015?
Another fun story! When Dr. Arnold and her 16-year-old son, Joe Lange, landed in London after a 12-hour flight from California, the border agent asked what brought them to the United Kingdom. Dr. Arnold, who was “feeling very hot-stuff,” announced she was going to a reception that evening to meet the Queen.
Is that so? the agent said skeptically, eyeing her slightly disheveled appearance. And you are?
A chemical engineer.
And what, pray tell, is next on your agenda?
Next I’m off to an awards ceremony at the president’s palace in Italy, Dr. Arnold replied.
Madam, the agent said, if you are going to Buckingham Palace, you must have an invitation. May I see it, please?
Oh, I don’t have it on me, Dr. Arnold said. It’s packed away in my suitcase.
That’s it, the agent said, shutting his ledger book and grabbing her and Joe’s passports. Come with me, please.