Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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The Man Who Missed the Nobel Prize
October 10, 2008 4:57 PM
Douglas Prasher played a key role in the work that won the
Nobel Chemistry prize this week. Prasher did not share in the $1.4 million
winnings.
Instead, we're told he drives a courtesy van at Bill Penny Toyota in Huntsville, Alabama.
The prize was awarded to three men: Osamu Shimomura, then at
Princeton; Martin Chalfie of Columbia; and Roger Tsien of the University of
California at San Diego. Their accomplishment: developing Green Fluorescent
Protein, or GFP, a key tool scientists now use to observe biological processes
in living things.
Where did they get GFP? From Prasher.
Prasher, according to people in the field, "was the first person to realize the potential of GFP as a tracer molecule. In 1987 he got the idea that sparked the GFP revolution. He thought that GFP from a jellyfish could be used to report when a protein was being made in a cell." The fish in the picture above glow brightly (and harmlessly, we're told) because of GFP, which has made it possible for scientists to see how diseases spread or respond to treatment.
In the 1980s, working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, he cloned the protein--but then ran out of grant money. When Chalfie and Tsien called him some years later, he willingly shared his work. His story is nicely told by Steve Doyle of the Huntsville Times. Prasher moved there to work for a NASA contractor, but has not been able to find work since in biochemistry.
"Of course, I want to get back into science; that's a no-brainer," Prasher tells Doyle. "But in this town, I don't think it's going to work."
How did he end up driving a courtesy van at a car dealer? He needed to pay his bills, he says. His $10-an-hour pay doesn't quite do it, but he has family reasons for staying in Huntsville.
Bob Grant, Associate Editor of The Scientist, asks, "Is there anyone out there who might have a research position open for him?"
Prasher, through it all, insists he is not angry at the Nobel winners. "I'm really happy for them."
October 10, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (24)
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I agree with Pete “Survival of the stupidest, apparently.” Sad brilliant people, Prasher should go to see Tsien’ uncle, Tsien Hsue-shen and Hu insread of Bush.
Posted by: Tim | Oct 16, 2008 12:22:47 AM
Some on here have brought up Bush and Sarah Palin, but haven't explained why they are in good positions but our scientist is a shuttle driver and whether it has any relevence.
Our scientist is a driver because there is an oversupply of scientists and researchers in our country. Why is that? He is a casualty of H-1B visas.
Norm Matloff reports:
All of this ties in directly with H-1B. The reason PhD wages aren’t worth the years of study are that the NSF, as I’ve stated before, advocated bringing in foreign scientists for the express purpose of holding down PhD salaries. This also suppresses graduate stipends for doctoral students, and post doc wages too. As was pointed out in the NPR piece by Shirley M. Malcom, head of education and human resources at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, these low wages, 15-year training periods, poor career prospects and so on are direct evidence that we have an OVERsupply of scientists, not a shortage as claimed by the lobbyists. And again, this oversupply was deliberately planned for by the NSF, back when it asked Congress to establish the H-1B program. [Glowing Gene's Discoverer Left Out Of Nobel Prize, NPR, by Dan Charles October 9, 2008]
The only reason Bush needs to be brought into this is that he greatly expanded immigration, legal and illegal. Nothing is really known about Palin's views, but her husband is a believer in realism so there is hope with her.
Posted by: Emma | Oct 22, 2008 5:54:56 PM
It is ironic that someone is blaming immigration instead of the US government. So much money has been spent in wars and research funding has been cut significantly. It is easy to forget the fact: Among the three American scientists who won the Nobel prize, Shimomura is Japanese and got all his academic training in Japan; Tsien was born into a Chinese immigrant family. Without something similar to H1B, Tsien's parents and Shimomura could never have come to US.
Posted by: Charles | Oct 27, 2008 5:53:21 PM
This is in line with Paul (I'm a shill for the state) Krugman winning economics and Henry (destruction of southeast Asia) Kissinger for peace.
Krugman is a dirtbag and Kissinger is a war criminal
Posted by: george | Nov 3, 2008 1:50:18 PM
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