Linda Buck

That's one of the things I love about doing science.

That's one of the things I love about doing science.

It's really puzzle solving. What you find is so beautiful. Nature's designs are so elegant.

It's really puzzle solving. What you find is so beautiful. Nature's designs are so elegant.

The first question was how you can detect up to 100,000 chemicals in the environment in the nose. How is that done? I became completely obsessed with this. This was it. I had to solve the problem.

The first question was how you can detect up to 100,000 chemicals in the environment in the nose. How is that done? I became completely obsessed with this. This was it. I had to solve the problem.

So I decided that the first step had to be to find out how odorous molecules or odorants are detected in the nose. Nothing else mattered.

So I decided that the first step had to be to find out how odorous molecules or odorants are detected in the nose. Nothing else mattered.

This was actually a very high-risk project, and in retrospect, it was potentially suicidal. I mean, potentially suicidal in terms of a career.

This was actually a very high-risk project, and in retrospect, it was potentially suicidal. I mean, potentially suicidal in terms of a career.

I'm a very empirical scientist. I don't theorize because what usually happens is that the answer, the biological mechanisms that are used, are usually far more elegant than the theories that people come up with.

I'm a very empirical scientist. I don't theorize because what usually happens is that the answer, the biological mechanisms that are used, are usually far more elegant than the theories that people come up with.

Eventually. She figured it out. It was a Saturday night, I think, and I was in my kitchen. Sitting in her house, looking at the results of her experiments, she recognized a pattern. And I had colored pens. And I had written down the sequence. Her life's work. The genomic sequence of the smell receptors in the nose.

Eventually. She figured it out. It was a Saturday night, I think, and I was in my kitchen. Sitting in her house, looking at the results of her experiments, she recognized a pattern. And I had colored pens. And I had written down the sequence. Her life's work. The genomic sequence of the smell receptors in the nose.

It was really beautiful. I remember just being stunned looking at them when I first had the first set of them. Linda couldn't believe what she was seeing. And I had a friend in the other room who was watching TV or something. I kept running back and forth saying, look at this. Can you believe this?

It was really beautiful. I remember just being stunned looking at them when I first had the first set of them. Linda couldn't believe what she was seeing. And I had a friend in the other room who was watching TV or something. I kept running back and forth saying, look at this. Can you believe this?

It was like patchwork quilts, where bits and pieces were exchanged between the different receptors to make proteins that would be able to detect different odorants.

It was like patchwork quilts, where bits and pieces were exchanged between the different receptors to make proteins that would be able to detect different odorants.

That's one of the things I love about doing science.

It's really puzzle solving. What you find is so beautiful. Nature's designs are so elegant.

The first question was how you can detect up to 100,000 chemicals in the environment in the nose. How is that done? I became completely obsessed with this. This was it. I had to solve the problem.

So I decided that the first step had to be to find out how odorous molecules or odorants are detected in the nose. Nothing else mattered.

This was actually a very high-risk project, and in retrospect, it was potentially suicidal. I mean, potentially suicidal in terms of a career.

I'm a very empirical scientist. I don't theorize because what usually happens is that the answer, the biological mechanisms that are used, are usually far more elegant than the theories that people come up with.

Eventually. She figured it out. It was a Saturday night, I think, and I was in my kitchen. Sitting in her house, looking at the results of her experiments, she recognized a pattern. And I had colored pens. And I had written down the sequence. Her life's work. The genomic sequence of the smell receptors in the nose.

It was really beautiful. I remember just being stunned looking at them when I first had the first set of them. Linda couldn't believe what she was seeing. And I had a friend in the other room who was watching TV or something. I kept running back and forth saying, look at this. Can you believe this?

It was like patchwork quilts, where bits and pieces were exchanged between the different receptors to make proteins that would be able to detect different odorants.