In less than a decade, scientists at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) learned how to clone DNA, founded the company that created the field of biotechnology, identified the first cancer genes, and made the heretical discovery that a protein by itself can transmit an infectious disease. The discoveries of Herbert Boyer, Michael Bishop, Harold Varmus, and Stanley Prusiner show that real innovators require freedom and time to tackle hard problems in their own way.
Successively a newspaper reporter, physician, and cell biologist, Henry Bourne has authored scientific articles, reviews, and a recent memoir, Ambition and Delight. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, he is now emeritus professor at the University of California San Francisco.