People are not the only interesting organism on earth. From the point of view of scientific or commercial value, there are lots of interesting organisms.

At every stage of my career I have had interesting and cordial colleagues, some of whom are close friends.

My parents came to the United States in the early years of this century as part of a wave of Russian Jewish immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity in the New World.

As I look back on the last few decades of my life, I am struck by the good fortune that came my way.

First of all, many human diseases are influenced by, if not caused by mutations in genes.

And of course, identifying all human genes and proteins will have great medical significance.

My education began in the public schools of Wilmington. During most of these years, from about age 10, I also worked at some job or other after school, on weekends, and in the summer months.