Weekly Insider (Noble Nobels)

We’ve got some amazing upcoming interviews to share with you--all of whom happen to be part of my Lux Capital partner Larry Bock’s USA Science Festival. In the past week, I’ve sat down with Nobel Prize winning chemist Karry Mullis who invented PCR (polymerase chain reaction for amplifying DNA sequences); Nobel Prize winning physicist John Mather who helped prove the Big Bang Theory (with cosmic background radiation); Nobel Physicist Carl Weiman who discovered the Bose-Einstein condensate. And Nobel Chemist Alan Heeger who invented conductive polymers (think: OLEDs or plastic light).

Here’s one preview factoid gleaned yesterday while sitting with Nobel laureate Bob Grubbs talking about chemistry and war. When people remember World War II and the Battle of Britain in 1940, few remember the role of chemistry. A Northwestern University chemist invented a catalyst that gave the Allies a huge edge. The chemist was able to turn useless crude into 100-octane gasoline replacing the 87-octane everyone was using. The British Royal Air Force's Spitfires and Hurricanes could now go 30mph faster than the Germans. Outmatched, the military balance tipped to Britain and Hitler abandoned the British invasion and turned east. Just months earlier, the same British planes were being beat handily by Germans in battles over France. Same planes, different fuel: super fuel.