Frances H. Arnold forges ahead

Frances H. Arnold has spent her career creating enzymes that can accomplish chemistry that nature never intended. C&EN spoke with the busy Nobel laureate and Priestley Medalist about her days as a rebellious teenager, her life as a leader in biochemical engineering, and her time serving her country. In celebrity-filled Los Angeles, Frances H. Arnold can walk down the street in relative anonymity. That’s not to say she’s not famous. Fans of the popular TV show The Big Bang Theory might recognize her from one episode (in which she played herself), and art lovers might have seen her photo in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery. But in Tinseltown, she can go about her daily routine in relative peace. That changes when Arnold— the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology —is among scientists and engineers. When she attends