“I never suffered from that delusion, that conformity was the way to live. I always liked to explore the bleeding edges, and to me then, it’s the nonconformity that really leads to big advances.”
Frances Arnold pioneered the use of directed evolution to create novel enzymes, became a globally recognised chemical engineer, and in 2018 was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Throughout her journey she pushed boundaries, experimented, evolved. She wasn’t afraid to take on the biggest challenges and this is something she passes down to her students.
Growing up, Arnold always wanted control of her life. She left home at 15, took on numerous jobs, but also studied hard. Her path wasn’t always clear to her and initially she studied engineering because of its fewer requirements. Biochemistry came along later, when at Princeton she discovered the beauty of the biological world and her desire to engineer it.
When she subsequently went to Caltech, Arnold set her sights on exploring evolution in biological systems and molecules. Her determination, perseverance, and ability to push the boundaries of what might be possible ultimately led to her winning the Nobel Prize 30 years later.
As a teacher and mentor, Arnold instils in her students a passion for daring exploration. As someone whose work centred around evolution, perhaps unsurprisingly Arnold also emphasises the importance of our own evolution as people. To keep learning. To adapt. Evolve.
Embrace the experiences that life throws at you and don’t conform to what you think is expected. You take control of your life. You choose the path.
Frances Arnold – video transcript
I've always wanted to do what I want to do.
I was an obnoxious teenager. No doubt about it. In fact, I left home when I was 15, because I didn't want to follow the rules of the family. I took on many different jobs to pay the rent, and I got to try different things. And one thing I learned is that I did not want to have to make a living as a waitress, or even as a taxi driver, as interesting as that was. I wanted to have more autonomy and control over my own life. And I went to school some of the time, but I have a stack of truancy letters that my mother left for me, but I love to learn. So I studied hard and I studied the things that I found very interesting, which at that time was mathematics, and I was admitted to Princeton. It was amazing because my GPA was very poor. But back then, you could write an essay and you could make an argument for why you were worthy of this great opportunity to go to college.
I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so I studied engineering because it had the fewest requirements, but I also enjoyed the thought that I could build things, that I could do things, that I could work on the most complicated things on the planet, spaceships, airplanes. And then I didn't realise that, in fact, the most complicated things, the most beautiful things on the planet were not engineered by human beings. They're the products of nature.
I fell in love with chemistry at that point, especially biochemistry, because then I realised I had finally found the world that I wanted to be an engineer of. I wanted to engineer the biological world, because that was the most beautiful functional machines that have ever existed on the planet. Far beyond anything a human could engineer.
When I arrived at Caltech, I finally found a job, the engineering job, that would give me the freedom to explore. I decided to work on something that everyone thought was just crazy, because I knew that evolution was the most powerful design process, and that I could use that to explore the future of biological systems and biological molecules. And so I just did it and it worked, it worked, and I knew it would work.
I won the Nobel Prize 30 years after that. I knew that it was an important invention and that it was an important realisation that I could share with other people. I don't want to change the world. It's a beautiful place, but I would like to make our footprint on this world more compatible with all the other beautiful life forms we share it with.
I'm not sure I have a legacy for the next generation other than to be a teacher. I've been so lucky working at Caltech, that encourages people not just to follow and do incremental work on top of everybody else's, but to really try crazy hard problems. I absorbed that mentality when I came there and I worked with young people who were crazy enough to join me in that. And I think that helped them have fulfilling careers. And that gives me more pleasure than anything else I've ever done.
Many students ask me how they should go about their careers and their lives. I tell them, try things, just don't be paralyzed. Just give it a go, explore it. If you don't like it, try something else. Find what you really love through this process of experimentation.
Most people do what other people do. Many people think that that means you have to conform. I never suffered from that delusion, that conformity was the way to live. I always liked to explore the bleeding edges, and to me then, it's the nonconformity that really leads to big advances.
I think I've been successful because I'm willing to evolve. I'm willing to adapt. And I love that process of learning, and I hope to continue doing it.
If you're lucky enough to live as long as I have, you will experience many losses. You will say goodbye to people that you care about deeply. I lost a son. I lost two husbands. On the other hand, if you're lucky, you also have many joys. I have loved, I have experienced, I have seen the world in ways that very few people get to see it. I experience and I embrace the losses, and I do think on them, but I think more on how lucky I have been.
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Frances Arnold became a globally recognised chemical engineer and a recipient of the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
She pioneered the use of directed evolution to create novel and useful enzymes for applications in medicine, neurobiology, chemical synthesis, and alternative energy.
Her research has resulted in new and more sustainable ways of producing chemicals, fuels and pharmaceuticals, and has created the possibility of developing new products and technologies to change people's lives.
