Kary Mullis
Kary Banks Mullis (born December 28, 1944) is a biochemist. In the 1980s, he invented the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a central technique in molecular biology which allows the amplification of specified DNA sequences.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work in 1993.
He has advocated that concentrations be measured in "number of things per milliliter" instead of "moles per milliliter" because of the arbitrariness of Avogadro's number.
Kary Mullis holds several highly idiosyncratic views. In his 1998 essay collection Dancing Naked in the Mind Field he relates experiences that he attributes to space alien visitors. He also claims that the evidence behind astrology has not been adequately appreciated.
Kary Mullis is among a scientific minority that claims that there is not sufficient evidence for stating that HIV causes AIDS (see AIDS reappraisal).
Mullis is also an avid surfer and drug-user, as mentioned in his autobiography.
"We tortured the cows. We sliced apples and slipped them onto the electric fence that contained them in the newer parts of the pasture." (from his Nobel Prize autobiography, about his youth)
Related articles
External Links and References
- Kary Mullis: Autobiography, http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1993/mullis-autobio.html
- Kary Mullis: "Dancing Naked in the Mind Field", Pantheon Books, New York, 1998
- Anthony Liversidge: Kary Mullis, the great gene machine, Omni magazine, April 1992, http://www.omnimag.com/archives/interviews/mullis.html
- Celia Farber: "Interview Kary Mullis", Spin July 1994, http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/data/cfmullis.htm. Focuses on his position regarding HIV and AIDS.
