Paul D. Boyer
My Ph.D. degree was granted in the spring of 1943, the nation was at war, and I headed for a war project at Stanford University.
Paul D. BoyerI participated on debating teams and in student government, and served as senior class president.
Paul D. BoyerA painstaking course in qualitative and quantitative analysis by John Wing gave me an appreciation of the need for, and beauty of, accurate measurement.
Paul D. BoyerDuring my early years at Minnesota I conducted an evening enzyme seminar.
Paul D. BoyerThe experience reminds me of a favorite saying: Most of the yield from research efforts comes from the coal that is mined while looking for diamonds.
Paul D. BoyerI am told that I had a bad temper, and remember being banished to the back hall until civility returned.
Paul D. BoyerIf our society continues to support basic research on how living organisms function, it is likely that my great grandchildren will be spared the agony of losing family members to most types of cancer.
Paul D. BoyerFamily trips to Yellowstone and to what are now national parks in Southern Utah, driving the primitive roads and cars of that day, were real adventures.
Paul D. BoyerI recall mother's tolerance when she allowed me, at an early age, to take off the hinges and doors of cupboards if I would put them back on.
Paul D. BoyerThe war project at Stanford was essentially completed, and I accepted an offer of an Assistant Professorship at the University of Minnesota, which had a good biochemistry department.
Paul D. BoyerMountain hikes instilled in me a life-long urge to get to the top of any inviting summit or peak.
Paul D. BoyerIn marked contrast to the University of Wisconsin, Biochemistry was hardly visible at Stanford in 1945, consisting of only two professors in the chemistry department.
Paul D. BoyerHer death contributed to my later interest in studying biochemistry, an interest that has not been fulfilled in the sense that my accomplishments remain more at the basic than the applied level.
Paul D. BoyerI have a tendency to be lucky and make the right choices based on limited information.
Paul D. BoyerPerhaps this temper was later sublimated into drive and tenacity, traits that may have come in part from my mother.
Paul D. BoyerA different type of education came when as a member of a medical corps in the National Guard I spent several weeks in a military camp in California.
Paul D. BoyerThe information exchanged and gained at scientific conferences and visits has been tremendously important for progress in my laboratory.
Paul D. Boyer
