Mario Molina Interview (page: 4 / 8) Nobel Prize in Chemistry	Print Interview

What do you think turned that childhood curiosity into that obsession? What drove you to achieve such greatness in this field?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Mario Molina: In order to really pursue research -- if you want to -- in order to really find new things, you have to be very motivated, and I was. Just having had experiences with discoveries, even things that had been discovered previously, but finding out for myself, for the first time, how something works, is really an enormous driving force. So to me it was, well, really liking very much what I was doing. And eventually, I saw an evolution in this passion to do science, that at the same time it could be something valuable for society. So there's no conflict in this. To me, it was marvelous just to realize that I could actually be doing the things I like and at the same time getting paid for it and earn a living that way. But even once one step beyond, that this knowledge that one can acquire through research could actually benefit society. Of course, science itself is not good or bad. It can be misused, but developing the proper responsibility to society and so on, I could see ways in which one can actually use this knowledge to benefit the people around.

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Were you a gifted child?

Mario Molina: Well, I had no problems in school. In school, I believe I was practically always the first in my class, so it was relatively easy for me. In fact, one of the problems is that it often was rather boring and I found some of the routine classes uninteresting. So early on I did not have as a goal just to get good grades. And in fact, in college I really took off and studied mostly on my own, and not always went to class. But in fact the point is, the important thing for me was to learn, to pursue knowledge and research, and that was what motivated me.

You mentioned some books already that you read early on. What books did you read when you were young that especially inspired you?

Mario Molina: It was probably a series of biographies of scientists like Pasteur, or even earlier ones -- Leeuwenhoek inventing the microscope and Madame Curie. I forget how many others, but it was really just, for me, a fascination to learn about these great heroes. At that time, of course, they were totally inaccessible, almost non-human, to me. It became very interesting to me.

Are there particular scientists that you especially admire and look up to?

Mario Molina: Well, there are really very many. Again, as a child, it was obviously those scientists which had lived in the past that had made such an important mark in science history. But later on, there were really many others, and I got to know some of them eventually. I remember as a student in Berkeley, for me, the thrill it was to be able to meet so many Nobel Prizes. And perhaps the most important contact with scientists for me was my mentors, some of them. A mentor in my Ph.D. studies, Professor Pimentel, was really a marvelous person that really helped me out and formed me as a scientist. So there were a number of people that I was very close to that had an enormous influence on my career.

Can you recall a particular encounter you had, as a student, with one of the Nobel Prize winners that particularly inspired you?

Mario Molina: I don't recall very specific names or instances, but just to see how open-minded the scientists were. They were really looking at the big picture. They were ready to tackle large problems, and they were also ready to admit that they didn't know everything that there was to know. Those aspects of their attitude made a very big impact on me.

While we're on the subject, now that students are approaching you as a Nobel Prize winner, what do you tell students to interest them in your field?

Mario Molina: First, I explain to them that doing research is indeed a fascinating activity. But I clarify that it's not always easy. It's sometimes frustrating. You carry out many experiments, not all of them work, and so you have to be patient. But in the end it's extremely rewarding. I also try to explain this other aspect that it can be very rewarding when you realize that as a consequence of what you do in science, you can benefit other people. It's really a very important aspect of the work we do, which I see through teaching. When I have students that work with me, and I see the progress they make, I see how I affect their lives. That's a very important aspect of doing research.

Thinking back now, which teacher most challenged you, or opened up new possibilities for you?

Mario Molina: I had a number of very good teachers in high school, in fact. Some mathematics teachers that perhaps allowed me the freedom to go beyond the normal routine of the class and to explore some more advanced areas. The same thing happened in college. I was able to communicate with a few of my teachers and professors, and go beyond the normal expectations. And then, as I mentioned before, Professor Pimentel, my mentor for graduate studies, was really influential in terms of the influence that he had for me.

Was there any other person who inspired you when you were young?

Mario Molina: When I was very young -- after I became interested in the chemistry sets -- I had an aunt who was a chemist, and she really helped me with more sophisticated experiments, so we went well beyond the chemistry sets. Even in my first year in high school, I remember, we did experiments that were really college level. For me, that really opened up my eyes, that in principle I could do these other things as well.

What kind of experiments did you do in those days? Like many kids, making smoke bombs and that kind of thing?

Mario Molina: I started doing those, but I really moved fast into experiments with analytical chemistry, trying to find the chemical composition of all sorts of things around us. There were some very systematic ways of doing that. Perhaps that's when I first realized how fascinating research can be. Finding out, sometimes through hard work, what sort of chemicals are in various things that we use. That was an awakening for me.

Was there any other experiment or experience that was a revelation to you, that further motivated you into pursuing this?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Mario Molina: Perhaps the earliest experiences that I had -- I can think of -- where I realized the beauty of science, is playing with toy microscopes and discovering that I could get some water and let this rot, very bad smelling things. But the fascination of finding things moving there, and then discovering all the paramecia, and all the life that you cannot perceive just with your naked eyes -- but then going beyond that, and actually trying to follow and see how these small living things reproduce, what they eat, and so on -- it was just fascinating for me. It was not accessible with your naked eyes. It's something that you have to do something about to learn.

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