Unraveling the Sense of Smell (Nobel Lecture)

Abstract

I was born in 1947 in Seattle, Washington, a city surrounded by mountains, forests, and the sea. My mother was the daughter of Swedish immigrants who had come to the US in the late nineteenth century while my father s family had Irish roots on one side and ancestors extending back to the American Revolution on the other. I was the second of three children, all girls. My mother was a homemaker who was exceptionally kind and witty and loved word puzzles. My father was an electrical engineer who, at home, spent much of his time inventing things and building them in our basement. It may be that my parents interest in puzzles and inventions planted the seeds for my future affinity for science, but I never imagined as a child that I would someday be a scientist. During my childhood, I did the things that girls often do, such as playing with dolls. I was also curious and easily bored though, so I frequently embarked on what were to me new adventures. Aside from school and music lessons, my life was relatively unstructured and I was given considerable independence. I learned to appreciate music and beauty from my mother and my father taught me how to use power tools and build things. I spent a lot of time with my maternal grandmother, who told me magical stories about her childhood in Sweden and, to my delight, taught me how to sew clothes for my dolls. I was fortunate to have wonderfully supportive parents who told me that I had the ability to do anything I wanted with my life. They taught me to think independently and to be critical of my own ideas, and they urged me to do something worthwhile with my life, in my mother s words, to “not settle for something mediocre”. I realize now that I internalized those lessons and that they have influenced my work as a scientist. I received my undergraduate education at the University of Washington, which was only a few miles from our home. I had always wanted to have a career in which I would help others, so I initially decided to major in psychology, thinking that I would become a psychotherapist. Over time, my interests expanded and I entertained a variety of different career possibilities. However, none seemed ideal and I was reluctant to embark on something that might prove to be inappropriate. Over the next several years, I intermittently traveled, lived on a nearby island, and took more classes in Seattle. I finally found my direction when I took a course in immunology, which I found fascinating. I would be a biologist. L. B. Buck Nobel Lectures