Eight months later, having left Columbia, I was studying physics in a summer program and working in Colorado when I decided to enroll as a graduate student in biophysics.

For our immediate family and relatives, Canada was a land of opportunity.

Nevertheless, as is a frequent occurrence in science, a general hypothesis was constructed from a few specific instances of a phenomenon.

I was born in Montreal in 1939, the second son of poor immigrants.

The RNA World referred to an hypothetical stage in the origin of life on Earth.

Indeed, we are privileged to have been afforded the opportunity to study Nature and to follow our own thoughts and inspirations in a time of relative tranquillity and in a land with a generous and forward-looking government.

I should mention that while I was growing up, Einstein was presented as a worthy role model for a young boy who was good at his studies.