I had D minuses in chemistry and all of the sciences, and now I'm known as a molecular gastronomist.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A molecular gastronomist is really just someone who explores the world of science and food.
When I began playing around at being a physical chemist, I enjoyed very much doing work on the structure of DNA molecules, something which I would never have dreamed of doing before I started.
I dropped chemistry. I practically blew up the lab in college.
Later in the fifties I got involved in kinetic studies using my long forgotten math background.
From an early age, I knew I would become a scientist. It may have been my brother Sam's doing. He interested me in the laws of falling bodies when I was ten and helped my father equip a basement chemistry lab for me when I was fifteen. I became skilled in the synthesis of selenium halides.
My special fascination has been to understand better the world of chemistry and its complexities.
I fell in love with science and decided to continue for my Ph.D., and from there on, I was a scientist.
My doctoral work was completed by the end of 1950 and, at the age of twenty-two, I joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an instructor in chemistry under the distinguished chemists Roger Adams and Carl S. Marvel.
At Harvard I majored in chemistry with a strong inclination toward math.
Right now, I am doing the reverse of molecular gastronomy. I'm working with scientists to find ingredients and produce that are proven to be good for you.