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Well, that's something of a mystery to me.

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I seem to have been born a scientistas far as I can tell [laughter]- and who can

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say whether it was in my genes or not.

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My fatherwas an orthodox Rabbi; my mother came from

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a Hassidic Rabbinical family.

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Certainly issuesof learning and quest for truth were paramount

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in my family background, but there were noscientists, no physicians, no academic people

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anywhere in my family ambiance.

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It may havebeen a little bit of a generational revolt

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that I did strike out in that direction.

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And also being asecond-generation immigrant --my father had

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come to America from Israel -but I was themelting pot American.

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Science was the pathway to mobility.

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Outside the family, figures likeChaim Weitzman, who became president of the

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state of Israel and was the leading proponentof Zionism before my birth and during my early

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childhood, but was also a renownedbiochemist.

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And Albert Einstein.

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These were folk heroes in our community.

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So, they mayhave had-not may have-they certainly had significant

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influence in my own career aspirations.