Kary Mullis and the machine that made him famous

When Kary Mullis developed the idea for a machine that “clones” DNA while driving at night in northern California, he knew he was on to something big.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is going to make me a famous guy, if it works,’” Mullis told The State in 1993.

He was right.

Ten years after having that thought, Mullis – a world-renowned scientist who grew up in Columbia and was educated in Columbia schools – was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for creation of the polymerase chain reaction machine.

The machine can make millions of copies of a single, microscopic strand of DNA within hours. It allows doctors and scientists to use Mullis’ process to diagnose infections, find the causes of hereditary diseases and recover DNA from fossils (an idea brought to life in Jurassic Park). Police use the method to identify criminals through the DNA in a drop of blood, speck of skin or single strand of hair.

A 1962 graduate of Dreher High School, Mullis became known as much for his whimsical nature as his intellect.

After winning the Nobel Prize, Mullis told The New York Times, “I’ve become more or less directed by my own wants and not by what somebody else might be thinking. I’m not considering that now I need to do something bigger and better. PCR was a singularity in my life.”

Five years later, Mullis was criticized by The New York Times following the 1998 publication of his autobiography in which he disagreed with scientific evidence supporting climate change and evidence that HIV causes AIDS, and expressed his belief in astrology.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 6:00 AM.