Frances Arnold Quotes

Frances Arnold

Profession : Scientist

Birth : July 25, 1956

Evolution is good for optimising and that is well understood. But evolution also creates things that no one knew were even possible.

Frances Arnold

In the test tube, I can make any DNA I want, recombining it from monkeys, worms, anywhere. So I can explore new rules of breeding with molecules.

Frances Arnold

I studied mechanical engineering at Princeton and worked on solar energy after graduation.

Frances Arnold

I took mechanical drawing, geometry and typing at high school, the latter because that is what they did with smart girls in those days!

Frances Arnold

I'm an engineer by training.

Frances Arnold

Proteins aren't designed, they're evolved.

Frances Arnold

I wanted to rewrite the code of life, to make new molecular machines that would solve human problems.

Frances Arnold

Bemoaning your fate is not going to solve the problem.

Frances Arnold

Human beings have been manipulating the biological world for thousands of years without understanding how DNA codes function.

Frances Arnold

I love what I do, and I'm grateful for every day I can do it.

Frances Arnold

I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself. There's always somebody who's a lot worse off than you.

Frances Arnold

I know how to do science. I know how to make things. I don't know how to run a company. Now that's a really tough job.

Frances Arnold

I'm interested in using evolution to move forward into the future, to get biology to do a lot of new chemistry for us.

Frances Arnold

I feel a responsibility to encourage everyone to excel in science.

Frances Arnold

We all need friends, and friends are there to hold you up when nothing else can.

Frances Arnold

Isobutanol is not a natural product, but we evolved an enzyme that makes it possible to convert plant sugars to this precursor to jet fuel.

Frances Arnold

Evolution, to me, is the best designer of all time.

Frances Arnold

I tried lots of things and never stopped learning.

Frances Arnold

I was the first female cab driver in the city of Pittsburgh.

Frances Arnold

I was used to being the only woman in everything... I didn't even think about it. Men were my role models - there's nothing wrong with that.

Frances Arnold