Naguib Mahfouz

By the end of the millennium, despite the continuing excitement of the field, almost thirty years of a detour from chemistry to medical imaging began to pall, and I changed my focus to a field of chemical research, just in time for my past to catch up with me in the form of a Nobel Prize. All detours should be so productive!

I haven't gotten jobs because I'm famous or I have a big Twitter feed - it's primarily directors. People employ me because I'm right for the part. But then, everybody needs a bit of luck, being in the right place at the right time. You just gotta be in that place for that opportunity to come by.