First, who is Katalin Karikó? She is the primary scientist who showed how mRNA can be synthesized to create a vaccine. Why is that important? This technology enabled the COVID19 vaccines, which recently carried the world out of a pandemic. So Karikó’s impact and legacy are tremendous. What’s more is that she has a meaningful, inspiring life story that overcame the odds both in her native Hungary and in the halls of academe in America’s Ivy League. This book conveys that tale in her own words, from her earliest days through years of obscurity to gratifying worldwide impact.
Karikó opens and closes her memoir with overtures to teachers and scientists, both of whom are near to her heart and are often forgotten by popular culture. She tells her story that started as a butcher’s daughter in Hungary who fell in love with the life sciences. She tells of meeting her eventual husband at a disco while in college. She talks of getting a PhD and then having to emigrate to Philadelphia to continue her science.
She had a difficult path at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), particularly dealing with the capitalist framework that American research science labors under. She was pursuing uniquely trailblazing work, but she was unable to attract funding for her explorations. A lack of funding in academic research translates to a lack of career advancement. I wish she would have received some early mentorship about how to attract funding. These skills should have been taught to her during her post-doctoral fellowship, but she missed that opportunity seemingly because of some harmful relationships with her advisor. After she left UPenn, she translated her knowledge to a leadership job at BioNTech before the pandemic hit.
Fortunately, Karikó persevered, and her insights eventually reversed a pandemic’s descent. As an aside, I appreciated that her daughter Susan impressively won two gold medals in rowing in two successive Olympics. Evidently, she passed on some of her discipline and work ethic. Katalin Karikó inspires people who work to advance knowledge through non-traditional paths – that is, people like me. I appreciate how she figured out how to advance her work around perpetual hardships. Most scientists will not be on the Time 100 list of the most impactful people of a given year like Karikó, but all can appreciate the determination of this Hungarian immigrant to advance meaningful science.
Breaking Through: My Life in Science
By Katalin Karikó
Narrated by Eva Magyar
Copyright (c) 2023
Random House Audio
ASIN B0BVWM62V1
Length: 11:03
Genre: Memoir, Science
www.amazon.com