Frances Arnold

I've done that my whole life - I've taken the way people think and turned it on its head. ”

So many things in my life have gone awry. ”

Silicon-based life on Earth doesn't make sense, but perhaps it would in some totally different environment. ”

I wanted to rewrite the code of life, to make new molecular machines that would solve human problems. ”

Inside of a living cell there are thousands of proteins that enable it to make more of itself and make your malaria drug, for instance. We don't understand those. We don't understand how they work together. ”

I was very head-strong, and this was the Vietnam War era - You did not listen to your parents or other authority figures. You didn't share their values. No one did in my circle. It was OK to rebel. ”

Pittsburgh was a wonderful place to grow up - diverse and complex, one could go from one culture to a completely different one in just a few blocks. It was a whole world in one city. ”

I care about this beautiful planet that we all share. This is a home that we have to leave in good shape for the next generations. ”

I wanted to develop a career where I could use my engineering background to have a positive effect on society. ”

I thought to myself: What are the most important problems that society faces that I could contribute to? And it was clear that finding new sustainable sources of energy was the most important. ”