96 | December 2021 www.facs.website Eiichi Nakamura is an old friend. We first met in 1977 at Columbia University when he had just started his postdoctoral research with Gilbert Stork, and I was on my way to Madison, Wisconsin, to begin my postdoctoral research with Barry M. Trost. Over the following 44 years, we have had many opportunities to meet in various countries. I have always enjoyed Eiichi’s original science and Baroque flute music. He and his wife Yoko Nakamura visited my family at our home in Israel, and I had a chance to spend time in their beautiful home in Tokyo. Hence, I found it peculiar to conduct a friendly conversation over Zoom. But electronic communication has become an integral part of our life during the Covid19 pandemic. It was a relaxed weekend in late October 2021, early morning in Israel and afternoon in Tokyo. It was as close as possible to a face-to-face meeting, spending a couple of hours together while staying in our home offices. By Ehud Keinan https://doi.org/10.51167/acm00029 EK: As a science educator, I’ve always been looking for ways to attract the young generation to science. So, I am curious to know what had attracted you to science. I know that you came from a highly educated family, and your father was a mining engineer. Undoubtedly, you had a good start at home, and yet, much of the credit probably goes to your teachers who influenced you in elementary school, junior high, and high school. How early in your life did you decide to become a scientist, and why? EN: First, I’ll tell you the reason why I may not have become a chemist. When I was 20 years old, during my third year in college, I was so interested in studying railways that I almost decided to study railway history, particularly the British colonial railways. I thought of taking that as a serious hobby while making my living working in a chemical company as an engineer. This plan would not have allowed me to become a university professor. The second reason was my severe injury when I was a fourth-year undergraduate student in Mukaiyama’s lab, just two months after joining him. I had a big explosion of silver perchlorate, and the whole flask exploded in my face. This unfortunate injury could be a good reason to abandon chemistry forever. Nevertheless, somehow these events worked in different ways. A Scientist and A Musician Tête-à-tête with Eiichi Nakamura Ehud Keinan Professor Keinan of the Technion is President of the Israel Chemical Society, Editor-in-Chief of AsiaChem and the Israel Journal of Chemistry, Council Member of the Wolf Foundation, and past Board Member of EuChemS. He was Dean of Chemistry at the Technion, Head of the Institute of Catalysis, and Adjunct Professor at The Scripps Research Institute in California. His research program includes biocatalysis, organic synthesis, molecular computing, supramolecular chemistry, and drug discovery. He received the New England Award, the Herschel-Rich Award, the Henri Taub Prize, the Schulich Prize, the Asia-Pacific Triple E Award, AAAS Fellowship, the ACS Fellowship, and the EuChemS Award of Service. Since 2022 he is IUPAC VP and President-elect.
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