Intellectual Feast at Nobel Banquet

It has been 34 years since Francis Crick joined the rarefied ranks of Nobel laureates for his work unraveling the secrets of DNA, so the genetics pioneer has had a great deal of time to mull the impact of the prestigious prize on his life.

“Do you want to know what it does?” the 80-year-old scientist whispered with an impish grin at a Thursday night banquet for California’s Nobel Prize winners. “When you walk in a room, young people look upon you as a giraffe in the corner.”

The irascible Crick and eight other California winners of the prize joined Gov. Pete Wilson at the Four Seasons Hotel banquet to kick off this weekend’s rare gathering of laureates. Fifteen Nobel researchers are attending, with seven scheduled to deliver back-to-back lectures today at UC Irvine’s Barclay Hall.

Organizers say the event, scheduled to coincide with this year’s season of Nobel presentations, is unprecedented in its scope and lineup.

“The mental energy of an event like this and the mood it creates, the excitement, makes it a truly extraordinary occasion,” said Francisco J. Ayala, director of the Bren Fellows Program at UC Irvine. “The brain power of this state is very impressive.”

Indeed, three dozen Nobel laureates for the sciences--one third of all those living--are affiliated with California institutions. Ayala said it only took one day of phone calls in March to reach all the participants.

The attendees represent the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine and economics. They include Crick--now senior scientist at the Salk Institute in San Diego-- who worked with James Watson to deduce the structure of DNA in the 1950s, and F. Sherwood Rowland and Frederick Reines, the two UCI professors who took separate prizes last year for their studies in chemistry and physics, respectively.

“I think it was a brilliant idea on the part of the university to do this as a celebration,” Rowland said. Commenting on his life since receiving the prize, Rowland smiled and said, “It’s been a change. I do a lot more traveling now.”

UC Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening joined the governor in welcoming the researchers, and as she watched the celebrated scientists gather for a group photo she tried to describe the value and impact of a Nobel.

“It’s hard to capture the importance of the Nobel and the stature of the laureates,” Wilkening said. “It’s like the Emmys, the Oscars, the Country Music Awards, the Pulitzer and every other award all rolled up into one. For students, it’s very inspiring. It raises everyone up.”

Crick, in between chatting with his colleagues about travel and the weather, said that while the Nobel is “important to administrators and nonscientists,” the prize shouldn’t be the only benchmark of scientific success.

“It’s a lottery, really,” he said. “I know lots of people who deserve one that don’t have one. Scientists like to have one or two around though, just to feel cozy.”

Still, the assemblage of Nobel talent and intellect in California shows the overwhelming potential and expertise found throughout the state’s academia, Wilson said. The governor joked that he felt humbled by the crowd and that he himself is “not even a political scientist.”

“I wish I could be a fly on the wall during all the lectures,” Wilson, a lawyer by training, told the scientists at the reception. “That is assuming I could understand what I was hearing.”

Wilson said the powerhouse standing of California’s science leaders is an inspiration to students and younger researchers and a magnet for industry and opportunity. “I’m proud California is home to such a tremendous gathering.”

The seven scientists speaking today will detail their groundbreaking discoveries and research that led to their Nobel prizes. The scheduled speakers and their topics are:

* J. Michael Bishop, of UC San Francisco, who won the 1989 physiology and medicine prize, will speak on “Opening the Black Box of Cancer”;

* Edward B. Lewis of the California Institute of Technology, who won the 1995 physiology and medicine prize, will speak on “Master Control Genes”;

* George A. Olah of USC, who won the 1994 chemistry prize, will speak on “Oil, Gas and Hydrocarbons Into the 21st Century”;

* Charles H. Townes of UC Berkeley, who won the 1964 physics prize, will speak on “What’s Going on in the Center of Our Galaxy”;

* Paul Berg of Stanford University, who won the 1980 chemistry prize, will speak on “The Origins of Biotechnology: A Personal View”;

* F. Sherwood Rowland, of UCI, who won the 1995 chemistry prize, will speak on “Our Atmospheric Future”;

* and Rudolph A. Marcus of the California Institute of Technology, who won the 1992 chemistry prize, will speak on “Electron Transfers in Chemistry and Biology--From Solar Energy Conversion to the Color of Germs.”