Prizes (64 page)

Dr. Jack Strominger, Higgins Professor of Biochemistry at Harvard, was patient, hospitable, and generous with his time and expertise. He knew both the dynamics of science
and
the psychodynamics of the world of scientists. Merely to be in his presence and hear him discourse was an education—and a pleasure. Indeed, as I was concluding this novel, yet another of his students—Dr. Richard Roberts—received a Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

One of the new breed of geneticists—Dr. Tali Haran of the Technion, Haifa—was exceptionally articulate in conveying the thrill of scientific revelation.

A great discovery
I
made in the course of writing this book was that my Harvard classmate W. French
Anderson ’58 had made medical history: on September 1, 1990, he performed the first official gene-therapy trial on a human patient.

The Anderson team at NIH successfully infused a four-year-old girl suffering from a severely compromised immune system with cells which had been altered, thus giving the promise of life to this otherwise doomed child. French has since gone on to other triumphs. He welcomed me into his lab, let me join his (unbelievably hectic) life and talk with his inspired and dedicated staff.

How could I have known that the quarter-miler with the locker next to mine would someday prove to be
the
Doctor of
the
Class?

The “humanoid mouse” that saved the Boss’s life is actually the invention of another student of Jack Strominger’s, Dr. Mike McCune of Systemix, Inc. Mike and I had many a conversation when it was five
A.M.
California time. True researchers, I suppose, never do sleep.

For the astronomy, physics—and his constant friendship—I have Earl Dolnick of the University of California at San Diego to thank. He has the rare gift of being able to make the most complex ideas accessible to the simplest of laymen.

And as for Stockholm, I am pleased to record my debt to Birgitta Lemmel of the Nobel Foundation—for whom no question was too difficult—or too trivial.

Erich Segal
is the author of seven novels. After the legendary
Love Story
came
Oliver’s Story
and
Man
,
Woman
,
and Child
, all of which were international bestsellers and major motion pictures.
The Class
won literary prizes in Italy and France;
Doctors
was #1 on the
New York Times
bestseller list.

Erich Segal has published widely on Greek and Latin literature—subjects he taught at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. He is married and has two daughters.