A biology professor at the University of Missouri named George Smith won a Nobel Prize last year for something he came up with in 1985 called “phage display.”
It’s a technique that’s led to revolutionary therapies involving viruses attacking bacteria. (If you want to learn more, here’s some info.)
Anyway, his Nobel win came with a $250,000 prize. But this week, he announced he’s giving ALL of that money to the University of Missouri to launch a new scholarship fund.
The school is kicking in another $300,000, and matching other people’s donations dollar-for-dollar. And they’re starting a new tradition where they’ll donate another 100 grand every time a faculty member wins a Nobel Prize. George is their first, by the way.
He did ask for one thing in exchange though. He rides his bike to school every day, and wanted to know if they’d give him his own reserved spot on the BIKE RACK outside his office. So yeah, they’re doing that for him.
