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

What do you know about achievement now that you didn't know when you were younger? Did you ever picture this accomplishment?

Mario Molina: Certainly not. As a young child, I remember just dreaming about the Nobel Prize, but that was just a dream. It's not something I would have ever thought was possible for me. So achievement, to me, is something that just comes with this attitude of doing your work the best you can in a passionate way. It's not something that you have to expect. It's something that's a consequence of what you do, but it's certainly important. We talked about perseverance, hard work, motivation, and the realization that you are working together with other people, not just yourself. For it is the collection of efforts from groups of people that makes all this possible.

Could you share with us your thoughts on the day you actually received the Nobel Prize?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Mario Molina: I remember just going to work in my laboratory at MIT and receiving a call from Sweden. I didn't know what it was about, and so they told me about the Nobel Prize. I guess my first reaction was disbelief. I was not prepared for that. But I have a good colleague in the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden who also was on the phone and talked to me, so I realized it was for real. And of course I was very happy for me and my colleagues, and for the fact that the Nobel Prize could be given also in the environmental sciences. Of course, we were showing that one could do first-rate science and at the same time in a new field, a field that had not been singled out for Nobel Prizes in the past. So it was, of course, just a wonderful day for celebration with my students and with other colleagues.

Did you go to Sweden to receive the award?

Mario Molina: Yes, yes, and in Sweden it's an incredible experience. It's over a week of partly celebration, partly participating in discussions, round tables and formal dinners, but also parties with students. So it's really an extraordinary event, almost like a fairy tale.

What did the award mean to you?

Mario Molina: Well, I see the award as carrying with it some responsibility. I see that I have to really motivate young people, to strive to do very good work, and to motivate people in the environmental sciences. They can do very good science there. Furthermore, motivate people in my country of origin, Mexico and also in Latin America, that everything is possible. You can do very good science and achieve the highest levels, doesn't matter where you come from. So it is a new responsibility that I feel, to try to communicate all these important aspects of being a scientist.

Have you gone back to Mexico and given back to your community?

Mario Molina: Yes.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. On my way from Stockholm, before coming to the United States, I spent a few days in Mexico. And just a few weeks ago, I went back once more to Mexico to initiate the scholarship program which is targeted to students from Latin America to do research, particularly in the United States, so that they come and then go back. And it was really initiated partly with some of the Nobel Prize money that I received, but I was very pleased to also see a large increment to be seed money from the Mexican government, as well as from Mexican industry. So they are very eager to help, and to get these sort of programs started, because there are very few scientists in developing countries that can tackle these very large problems that we were talking about before. So I think it's important to facilitate the formation of even more of them. So these type of programs I see as potentially very important ones.

The U.S. and Mexico cooperate on many issues. Mexican astronaut Rodolfo Neri flew aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its maiden flight in 1985. Are you pleased with this development, seeing the U.S. and Mexican scientists working closely on global concerns?

Mario Molina: Very much so. I think it is very important that we have cooperation, Mexico and the United States. Sharing the border, it's very important, obviously, for problems at the border. But it's also important for global problems. It's important not just with Mexico, in this case, but with the rest of Latin America, to have this cooperation, to begin to think about these very big problems that we have. And again, I see it as a good sign, this interest that the young people have. In fact, I see these environmental issues as a type of issue where young people all around the world are united. It's something that unifies them, and that they see that it's going to be very important to take care of the planet, and for that they all have to work together. That's why I'm an optimist. In spite of the magnitude of these problems we have, there's some hope that the new generations will try to solve these problems even more vigorously than we have in our own generations.

We have just a few more questions for you. What one book would you select to read to your grandchild?

Mario Molina: Oh, that's a difficult question! There are so many books that I would like to think of that I would be hard-pressed to select just one book. Perhaps I would just do what motivated me as a child, to read them some biographies of the great scientists, to try to communicate this enthusiasm of trying to find out new things, trying to find out ways that you can actually do some good things for people around you.

What advice would you have for students? What studies should they undertake? What's the essential foundation for achieving greatness in your profession?

Mario Molina: The advice I would give is, first of all, to find a field that you like. If you are good at mathematics and physics, then you can move in that direction. Physical chemistry, for example. But it's important to have a very good foundation if you want to do scientific research in one of the basic sciences. But at the same time, the advice that I would give is that -- in parallel to that very basic foundation -- to also learn about some other aspects of science, and aspects about the way society functions, the humanities and so on. In other words, to tie together a broad liberal education and a solid foundation -- in my case, in one of the sciences. I understand that's a challenge. But it's important not just to do science and only science. It's also important not to try to learn about everything, and then not be good at any one particular aspect of knowledge. One has to achieve the right balance between these two goals.

Is there any other advice you have for students, general advice?

Mario Molina: Oh, the general advice is really to try to keep working hard, to care about your communities, care about the world, and care about other people, how everybody lives, and to try to give everybody the opportunity to achieve the higher qualities of life.

Thank you very much for taking the time to be with us today.

Mario Molina: You are welcome. It's a pleasure.

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