To have the recognition of your colleagues is great. The public attention is a mixed blessing.

When I was in high school, I became interested in cytochemistry: chemical analysis under the microscope, and trying to understand the composition of cells.

I got my Nobel Prize for my lab work.

Try hard to find out what you're good at and what your passions are, and where the two converge, and build your life around that.

I don't believe anybody can really grasp everything that's even in one textbook.

A Swedish newspaper reporter called and said, You've been awarded the Prize. I was quite sure it was a practical joke.

My ambitions were already very clearly fixed by the time I was 6 or 7.