Kary Mullis

Kary Mullis

Kary Banks Mullis (December 28, 1944 – August 7, 2019) was an American biochemist. In recognition of his role in the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and was awarded the Japan Prize in the same year. PCR became a central technique in biochemistry and molecular biology, described by The New York Times as "highly original and significant, virtually dividing biology into the two epochs of before PCR and after PCR." Mullis attracted controversy for downplaying humans' role in climate change and for expressing doubts that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS.

Quotes

• It’s not even probable, let alone scientifically proven, that HIV causes AIDS. If there is evidence that HIV causes AIDS, there should be scientific documents which either singly or collectively demonstrate that fact, at least with a high probability. There are no such documents.
  • Spin Magazine, Vol. 10 No.4, 1994.

• Years from now, people will find our acceptance of the HIV theory of AIDS as silly as we find those who excommunicated Galileo.
  • Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, 1998.

• Where is the research that says HIV is the cause of AIDS? There are 10,000 people in the world now who specialize in HIV. None has any interest in the possibility HIV doesn’t cause AIDS because if it doesn’t, their expertise is useless. ^{[citation needed]}

• People keep asking me, "You mean you don’t believe that HIV causes AIDS?" And I say, "Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant! I have no scientific evidence for it." I might believe in God, and He could have told me in a dream that HIV causes AIDS. But I wouldn’t stand up in front of scientists and say, "I believe HIV causes AIDS because God told me." I’d say, "I have papers here in hand and experiments that have been done that can be demonstrated to others." It’s not what somebody believes, it’s experimental proof that counts. And those guys don’t have that.
  • California Monthly, September 1994.

External links

• http://www.nobel.se/chemistry/laureates/1993/mullis-autobio.html Official autobiography] from the Nobel Foundation website
• Kary Mullis: Dancing Naked in the Mind Field, Pantheon Books, New York, 1998
• Celia Farber: "Interview Kary Mullis", Spin July 1994. Focuses on his position regarding HIV and AIDS.
• Personal website