Krzysztof Matyjaszewski: 'In science, one needs to have a vision'

The reason I became a chemist was partly because of my mother. After her first year studying at university, the second world war started, and the universities in Poland were closed. Maybe in the back of my mind I wanted to continue what she started, although I probably didn’t realise that until some time later. The other part of the reason is Marie Skłodowska Curie, Poland’s most famous chemist and, I think, a very unique person.

When I interviewed for a position at the Polish Academy of Sciences, Stan Penczek, my boss at the time said ‘Do you know anything about polymers?’ I said no. So he said, ‘I can give you a book by Michael Szwarc. We’ll talk about it in two weeks.’ This was maybe five days before my wedding and I took the book on honeymoon. My wife was not very happy about this. (On my return from honeymoon my boss asked me, ‘Did you read the book?’ I said, yes. Then he asked, ‘Did you like it?’ I said, yes. He said, ‘You’re hired!’) When Szwarc came to Pittsburgh 15 years later we all met for dinner and she said to him ‘So you’re the man with whom I spent my honeymoon!’ After she explained, we all laughed and they became very good friends.