Dr. Nathan Myhrvold

Science is not my strong suit. As a junior in high school, I passed my Chemistry class thanks to a friend who took pity on me and programmed his TI-82 (a graphing calculator) with answers to all of our exams. My friend had the class in the morning and handed me his answer laden calculator after his class ended, which I happily took with me to my afternoon class. My foolproof system for cheating didn't help when the Chemistry Regents Exam rolled around. I failed miserably, spent the summer with a tutor, and barely passed when I retook the exam. As a senior I was put in Physics first period. This gave me no opportunity to cheat as I had in Chemistry. After struggling through extra-credit projects I passed the class with a low grade (yes, my parents were proud) but failed the Physics Regents Exam. Luckily I didn't need to pass the Physics Regents in order to graduate high school with a Regents diploma- so I spent my summer in the sun instead of with a tutor.

My inability to understand basic science principles leaves me in awe of people like Dr. Nathan Myhrvold. Dr. Myhrvold's work is the subject of a fascinating article in the NY Times. The article discusses how Dr. Myhrvold, armed with a high-tech kitchen and a team that includes a biochemistry graduate and professional chefs, is using science to adapt food industry technologies to restaurant cooking. His findings will be made available in a still untitled cookbook that is currently over 1,500 pages. The cookbook will include information on microbiology, food safety, the physics of heat transfer on the stove and in the oven, formulas for turning fruit and vegetable juices into gels, and more. I am well beyond my high school years and science continues to haunt me- I never thought I would need a tutor to understand a cookbook!