NOBEL THOUGHTS: John Kendrew

Profound Insights of the Laureates

by Marc Abrahams

Sir John Kendrew was a member of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. In 1962, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in determining the structure of the complex protein myoglobin. This interview was conducted in 1991. Dr. Kendrew died in 1997.

Q. How often do you ride motorcycles?

A. The last time was during the war in what is now called Sri Lanka. I'd never ridden a motorcycle before. I was scared stiff. With a motorcar, if you take your hands off it, it keeps going, but with a motorcycle you can't be so sure. I found this so scary that I took it back to the transport people and said, "For God's sake, give me a jeep." And they did. So how often is: once in a lifetime.

Q. Do you own a leather jacket?

A. Yes, I do. In the English climate you need it from time to time.
Q. If you had a tattoo, what would it be?
A. What I deplore about tattoos is that they're virtually irremoveable. What that suggests is that they're about something you're never going to change your mind about. And I can't think of anything like that.
Q. Do you have any advice for young people who are entering the field?
A. I can tell you the advice I got from my advisor, [Lawrence] Bragg. For God's sake don't spend too much time reading the literature, because if you do you'll find it's all been done before.
Of course the other advice is get into a field that nobody else is in, because then you can work quietly and do whatever you want to do. And there's something to be said for working on a problem that seems to be impossible to solve, because then probably there won't be anyone else working on that problem, and there won't be people breathing down your neck all the time and racing for publication and all that stuff.

NOBEL THOUGHTS: John Kendrew
Profound Insights of the Laureates
by Marc Abrahams

Sir John Kendrew was a member of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England. In 1962, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in determining the structure of the complex protein myoglobin. This interview was conducted in 1991. Dr. Kendrew died in 1997.

Q. How often do you ride motorcycles?
A. The last time was during the war in what is now called Sri Lanka. I'd never ridden a motorcycle before. I was scared stiff.
With a motorcar, if you take your hands off it, it keeps going, but with a motorcycle you can't be so sure. I found this so scary that I took it back to the transport people and said, "For God's sake, give me a jeep." And they did.
So how often is: once in a lifetime.
Q. Do you own a leather jacket?
A. Yes, I do. In the English climate you need it from time to time.
Q. If you had a tattoo, what would it be?
A. What I deplore about tattoos is that they're virtually irremoveable. What that suggests is that they're about something you're never going to change your mind about. And I can't think of anything like that.
Q. Do you have any advice for young people who are entering the field?
A. I can tell you the advice I got from my advisor, [Lawrence] Bragg. For God's sake don't spend too much time reading the literature, because if you do you'll find it's all been done before.
Of course the other advice is get into a field that nobody else is in, because then you can work quietly and do whatever you want to do. And there's something to be said for working on a problem that seems to be impossible to solve, because then probably there won't be anyone else working on that problem, and there won't be people breathing down your neck all the time and racing for publication and all that stuff.

 

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