Neutrons, Magnets, and Photons: A Career in Structural Biology

The purpose of Reflections articles, it seems, is to give elderly scientists a chance to write about the “good old days,” when everyone walked to school in the snow. They enjoy this activity so much that your editor, Martha Fedor, must have known that I would accept her invitation to write such an article, no matter how much I demurred at first. As everyone knows, flattery will get you everywhere. It may comfort the apprehensive reader to learn that there is not going to be much walking to school in the snow in this story. On the contrary, rather than thinking how hard I had it during my scientific career, I find it inconceivable that anyone could have had a smoother ride. At the time I began my career, science was an expanding enterprise in the United States that welcomed the young. Only in such an opportunity-rich environment would someone like me have stood a chance. The contrast between that world and the dog-eat-dog world young scientists confront today is stark.