Kary Mullis

thumb|right|Kary Mullis Kary Banks Mullis (December 28, 1944 – August 7, 2019) was an American biochemist. In recognition of his role in the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and was awarded the Japan Prize in the same year. PCR became a central technique in biochemistry and molecular biology, described by The New York Times as "highly original and significant, virtually dividing biology into the two epochs of before PCR and after PCR." Mullis attracted controversy for downplaying humans' role in climate change and for expressing doubts that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS. Quotes It’s not even probable, let alone scientifically proven, that HIV causes AIDS. If there is evidence that HIV causes AIDS, there should be scientific documents which either singly or collectively demonstrate that fact, at least with a high probability. There are no such documents. Spin Magazine, Vol. 10 No.4, 1994. People keep asking me, "You mean you don’t believe that HIV causes AIDS?" And I say, "Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant! I have no scientific evidence for it." I might believe in God, and He could have told me in a dream that HIV causes AIDS. But I wouldn’t stand up in front of scientists and say, "I believe HIV causes AIDS because God told me." I’d say, "I have papers here in hand and experiments that have been done that can be demonstrated to others." It’s not what somebody believes, it’s experimental proof that counts. And those guys don’t have that. California Monthly, September 1994. Dancing Naked in the Mind Field Kary Mullis: Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, Pantheon Books, New York, 1998 I once heard, and I think it is true, that only one man in the world—some Indian mathematician—understood the mathematics of string theory in eleven-dimensional space, and he dreamed it. Mullis, Kary B - Dancing Naked in the Mind Field-Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group_Vintage Books (2010) Years from now, people will find our acceptance of the HIV theory of AIDS as silly as we find those who excommunicated Galileo. Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, 1998. External links http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1993/mullis-autobio.html Official autobiography] from the Nobel Foundation website Celia Farber: "Interview Kary Mullis", Spin July 1994. Focuses on his position regarding HIV and AIDS. Personal website 113927681 n/94/51134 73953601 Category:Biochemists Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry Category:People from North Carolina Category:Scientists from South Carolina Category:1944 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Articles with bare URLs Category:Nobel laureates from the United States Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni