Quirky Nobel laureate dies, age 74
Kary Mullis won in ’93 for DNA research
Kary Mullis, who shared a Nobel Prize in chemistry for devising a technique vital in DNA research and technology, and who appeared to be one of the most unconventional winners of the award, died Aug. 7 in Newport Beach, California. He was 74.
The cause was pneumonia, said his wife, Nancy Cosgrove Mullis.
The technique for which Kary Mullis shared the Nobel in 1993 was known as polymerase chain reaction, called PCR for short, and it enabled scientists to make millions or billions of copies of a single tiny segment of the DNA molecule.
Often described as a major milestone of 20th century biochemistry and molecular biology, the PCR technique opened the way for a wide variety of studies and applications of DNA, the celebrated molecule that lies at the foundations of life.
In only one of many applications, PCR was used by evolutionary biologists to study the minuscule quantities of DNA discovered in the fossils of ancient species. The possibilities suggested by this technique inspired the creation of dinosaurs in such fictional films as “Jurassic Park” (1993).
Widely acknowledged for its significance, PCR not only rewarded Mullis with the most coveted prize in science, but also provided a platform that he bestrode with relish for his free-spirited, often quirky ideas and lifestyle.
A writer, a surfer and a restless, questing personality who once turned from science to manage a bakery, Mullis published a memoir titled “Dancing Naked in the Mind Field” (1998).