My intention was to enroll at McGill University but an unexpected series of events led me to study physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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.

About seven years later I was given a book about the periodic table of the elements. For the first time I saw the elegance of scientific theory and its predictive power.

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

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 spent eighteen months as a graduate student in physics at Columbia University, waiting unhappily for an opportunity to work in a laboratory and wondering if I should continue in physics.