NEWPORT BEACH — 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."
