The first thing Frances Arnold and I do when we meet for lunch in Stockholm’s Nobel Prize Museum bistro is check who is under our chairs. Arnold upturns hers and exclaims: “Oh, I have Jim Allison from 2018!”
It’s a serendipitous discovery. In December that year, Arnold sat alongside Allison in the splendour of the Swedish capital’s concert hall as they waited to pick up their Nobel prizes. Allison won for medicine, Arnold for chemistry — one of a handful of female recipients, following in the footsteps of Marie Curie.
Nobel honorees traditionally leave their autographs on the furniture of the restaurant where we now occupy a quiet side room. Arnold and I briefly discuss searching the premises for hers, but decide that other diners might not share our delight in the hunt.