Aziz Sancar

North Carolina · connectedBorn 1946

Turkish geneticist; Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015

Worked at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

Quotations with a citation

My most pleasant memories from childhood are the flowering of the almond and plum trees in our orchard in the spring. In those early years, I began to learn about Islam and was convinced that Paradise must look like our orchard when the almond trees were in full bloom.

I grew up as, and still am, a Turkish patriot and from the age of about 10 I was also an aspiring, and later practicing, scientist.

I applied to about 50 universities and was turned down by all of them, some without even a reply to my application.

I have had the good fortune of having parents who instilled a strong work ethic in me and a belief in the value of learning.