Paul Nurse

Nurse's mother went from London to Norwich and lived with relatives while awaiting Paul's birth (at the age of 18){{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/aug/09/paul-nurse-birth-certificate-not-mothers-name|title=Sir Paul Nurse: 'I looked at my birth certificate. That was not my mother's name'|website=TheGuardian.com|date=9 August 2014}} in order to hide illegitimacy. For the rest of their lives, his maternal grandmother pretended to be his mother, and his mother pretended to be his sister.{{cite web |last1=Al-Khalili |first1=Jim |title=Paul Nurse - life and work |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015n3b7 |website=The Life Scientific |access-date=13 October 2021}}

Paul was brought up by his grandparents (whom he took to be his parents) in North West London. He was educated at Lyon Park school in Alperton and Harrow County Grammar School. He received his BSc degree in Biology in 1970 from the University of Birmingham[http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/ouralumni/Our-alumni.aspx Our Alumni] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421034854/http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/alumni/ouralumni/Our-alumni.aspx |date=21 April 2015 }} – website of the University of Birmingham and his PhD degree in 1973 from the University of East Anglia for research on Candida utilis.{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |first=Paul Maxime|last=Nurse |title=The spatial and temporal organisation of amino acid pools in Candida utilis |publisher=University of East Anglia |date=1974 |url=http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.467339|id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.467339}}|oclc=500529574}} He then pursued postdoctoral work at the University of Bern, the University of Edinburgh and the University of Sussex.

Nurse did not know that his "sister" was in fact his mother until he was in his 50s. His "parents" had both already died and his "sister" Miriam, eighteen years his senior, had died early of multiple sclerosis. His application for a green card for US residency while president of Rockefeller University was, to his surprise, rejected, despite his being a Nobel Prize winner, president of a university and a knight; this was because he had submitted a short-form UK birth certificate which did not name his parents. When he applied for a full birth certificate he discovered the truth, to his astonishment.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/aug/15/sir-paul-nurse-the-uk-has-taken-a-leap-several-decades-into-the-past |title=Sir Paul Nurse: 'The UK has taken a leap several decades into the past' |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Andrew Anthony |date= 15 August 2020}}

Nurse continued his postdoctoral research at the laboratory of Murdoch Mitchison at the University of Edinburgh for the next six years (1973–1979).{{Nobelprize|accessdate=28 April 2020}} including the Nobel Lecture Nobel Lecture 9 December 2001 Controlling the Cell Cycle{{cite journal|author1= Fantes PA |author2=Hoffman CS| title = A Brief History of Schizosaccharomyces pombe Research: A Perspective Over the Past 70 Years.|journal = Genetics| volume = 203| issue = 2| pages = 621–9|date=2016| pmid = 27270696| doi =10.1534/genetics.116.189407| pmc = 4896181}}

Beginning in 1976, Nurse identified the gene cdc2 in fission yeast{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1007/BF00268085

| last1 = Nurse | first1 = P.

| last2 = Thuriaux | first2 = P.

| last3 = Nasmyth | first3 = K.

| title = Genetic control of the cell division cycle in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe

| journal = Molecular & General Genetics

| volume = 146

| issue = 2

| pages = 167–178

| year = 1976

| pmid = 958201

| s2cid = 24156567 }}{{Cite journal

| last1 = Nurse | first1 = P.

| title = Wee beasties

| doi = 10.1038/432557a

| journal = Nature

| volume = 432

| issue = 7017

| pages = 557

| year = 2004

| pmid = 15577889

| bibcode = 2004Natur.432..557N

| s2cid = 29840746

| doi-access = free

}} (Schizosaccharomyces pombe). This gene controls the progression of the cell cycle from G1 phase to S phase and the transition from G2 phase to mitosis. In 1987, Nurse identified the homologous gene in human, Cdk1, which codes for a cyclin dependent kinase.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Lee | first1 = M. G.

| last2 = Nurse | first2 = P.

| doi = 10.1038/327031a0

| title = Complementation used to clone a human homologue of the fission yeast cell cycle control gene cdc2

| journal = Nature

| volume = 327

| issue = 6117

| pages = 31–35

| year = 1987

| pmid = 3553962

| bibcode = 1987Natur.327...31L

| s2cid = 4300190

}}

Working in fission yeast, Nurse identified the gene cdc2, which controls the transition from G1 to S, when the cell grows in preparation for the duplication of DNA, and G2 to M, when the cell divides. With his postdoc Melanie Lee, Nurse also found the corresponding gene, CDK1, in humans. These genes stop and start cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) by adding or removing phosphate groups.{{cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001 - Illustrated Lecture |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2001/7743-the-nobel-prize-in-physiology-or-medicine-2001/ |website=The Nobel Prize |access-date=14 October 2021}}

In 1984, Nurse joined the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF, now Cancer Research UK). He left in 1988 to chair the department of microbiology at the University of Oxford. He then returned to the ICRF as Director of Research in 1993, and in 1996 was named Director General of the ICRF, which became Cancer Research UK in 2002. In 2003, he became president of Rockefeller University in New York City{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2003/sep/18/scienceinterviews.science |title=Paul Nurse talks to Ian Sample about money, moustaches, and his move to Manhattan |newspaper=The Guardian |date=17 September 2003 |first=Ian |last=Sample}} where he continued work on the cell cycle of fission yeast. In 2011 Nurse became the first Director and Chief Executive of the UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation,{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcmri.ac.uk/press/press_release6.html |title=Project Press Release |access-date=11 August 2010 |publisher=UK Centre for Medical Research and Innovation web site |date=15 July 2010 }}{{dead link|date=September 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} now the Francis Crick Institute.

On 30 November 2010, Nurse succeeded astrophysicist Martin Rees for a five-year term as President of the Royal Society until 2015.

Nurse has said good scientists must have passion "to know the answer to the questions" that interest them, along with good technical ability, and a set of attitudes including mental honesty, self-criticism, open-mindedness and scepticism.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_kijV323VQ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111014005420/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_kijV323VQ |archive-date=2011-10-14 |url-status=dead|title=Unavailable private video|website=youtube.com}}

In addition to the Nobel Prize, Nurse has received numerous awards and honours. He was elected an EMBO Member in 1987{{cite web|url=http://people.embo.org/profile/paul-nurse|title=EMBO profile: Paul Nurse|website=people.embo.org}} and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1989{{cite web|title=Fellowship of the Royal Society 1660–2015 |url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |publisher=Royal Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015185820/https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RVVZY00MZNrK2YCTTzVrbTFH2t3RxoAZah128gQR-NM/pubhtml |archive-date=15 October 2015 |url-status=live }}{{cite web|url=https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo==%27EC%2F1989%2F23%27) |author=Anon |year=1989 |title=EC/1989/23 Nurse, Sir Paul Maxime |publisher=The Royal Society |archive-date= 3 September 2014 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140903124654/https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=show.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo=='EC/1989/23') |location=London |url-status=dead }} and the Founder Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 1998. In 1995, he was awarded the Pezcoller-AACR International Award.{{cite web |title=THE PEZCOLLER FOUNDATION – AACR INTERNATIONAL AWARD AND THE NOBEL PRIZE |url=https://www.pezcoller.it/en/awards/the-pezcoller-foundation-%E2%80%93-aacr-international-award-and-the-nobel-prize/ |website=Fondazione Pezcoller - Pezcoller Foundation |access-date=14 October 2021}} he received a Royal Medal and became a foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1998. Nurse was knighted in 1999. He was awarded the French Legion d'Honneur and the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 2002.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#science-exploration}} He was also awarded the Copley Medal in 2005. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences – one of the top honours – in April 2006. He is a member of the Advisory Council for the Campaign for Science and Engineering.{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm |title=Advisory Council of the Campaign for Science and Engineering |access-date=2011-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828110110/http://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/about/who/advisory.htm |archive-date=28 August 2010 }} Nurse is the 2007 recipient of the Hope Funds Award of Excellence in Basic Research. He is a Freeman of the London Borough of Harrow. In 2013, he was awarded the Albert Einstein World Award of Science by the World Cultural Council.{{cite web|title=World Cultural Council 30th Award Ceremony|url=http://neworldacademicsummit.com/videos/31317593|publisher=Nanyang Technological University|date=2 October 2013|access-date=2 October 2013}} {{dead link|date=August 2016}} In 2015, he was elected a foreign academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,{{cite web|url=http://www.cas.cn/tz/201512/t20151207_4488383.shtml |title = Announcement of the list of elected academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015 关于公布2015年中国科学院院士增选当选院士名单的公告|website = Chinese Academy of Sciences|access-date=2021-10-14}} and won the 10th annual Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research, in Ottawa, Canada.{{Cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-eminent-dr-nurse-1.3442102|title=The Eminent Dr. Nurse |website=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=2016-02-26 }}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-2015-henry-g-friesen-international-prize-in-health-research-is-awarded-to-sir-paul-nurse-a-geneticist-and-cell-biologist-and-president-of-the-royal-society-of-london-517702201.html |title=The 2015 Henry G. Friesen International Prize in Health Research is awarded to Sir Paul... – TORONTO, May 4, 2015 |website=Cision - Friends of Canadian Institutes of Health Research |access-date=2016-02-26}} He was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2022 New Year Honours for services to science and medicine in the UK and abroad.{{cite web |url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/notice/3956040 |title=Order of the Companions of Honour |publisher=The London Gazette |date=1 January 2022 }} In November 2022 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.{{Cite web |last=His Majesty The King |date=2022-11-11 |title=New Appointments to the Order of Merit |url=https://www.royal.uk/new-appointments-order-of-merit |access-date=2022-11-11 |website=royal.uk}}

Nurse has received over 60 Honorary Degrees and Fellowships, including from the University of Bath in 2002, the University of Oxford in 2003, the University of Cambridge in 2003, the University of Kent in 2012, the University of Warwick (Doctor of Science){{cite web|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/warwick_honorary_degrees_for_stars_of_gavin__stacey__hustle_rsc__royal_court_artistic_directors_scientists_historians_philanthropist___a_us_government_adviser1/|title=Warwick honorary degrees for stars of Gavin & Stacey & Hustle, RSC & Royal Court Artistic Directors, scientists, historians, philanthropist & a US government adviser |publisher=University of Warwick|date=28 June 2013|access-date=30 October 2013}} the University of Worcester{{cite web|url=http://www.worcester.ac.uk/community/sir-paul-nurse-graduation-2013.html|title=Worcester honorary degrees and Fellowships|publisher=University of Worcester|date=21 November 2013|access-date=21 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403021719/http://worcester.ac.uk/community/sir-paul-nurse-graduation-2013.html|archive-date=3 April 2014|url-status=dead}} (Doctor of Science) in 2013, City, University of London{{cite web |title=Honorary graduates 2014 |url=http://www.city.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates/honorary-graduates-2014 |website=Archived from City University London website in Wayback Machine Internet Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202030625/http://www.city.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates/honorary-graduates-2014 |access-date=14 October 2021|archive-date=2 February 2015 }} (Doctor of Science) in 2014 and McGill University{{Cite web | url=https://www.mcgill.ca/channels/news/mcgill-honorary-doctorates-2017-267838 |title = McGill Honorary Doctorates 2017|website=McGill University}} (Doctor of Science) in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded an honorary degree from the Mendel University in Brno in the Czech Republic.{{cite web |last1=Polčáková |first1=Petra |title=A top scientist very often moves on the edge of failure, says Nobelist Nurse |url=https://www.universitas.cz/en/people/4722-a-top-scientist-very-often-moves-on-the-edge-of-failure-says-nobelist-nurse |website=Universitas - magazine for universities |date=2 March 2020 |access-date=14 October 2021}}

He was also appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (HonFREng) in 2012{{cite web|title=List of Fellows|url=http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?fa=n|website=Archived from Royal Academy of Engineering on Wayback Machine|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140812054314/http://www.raeng.org.uk/about-us/people-council-committees/the-fellowship/list-of-fellows?fa=n|access-date=14 October 2021|archive-date = 12 August 2014}} and Honorary Fellow of the British Association (HonFBA) in 2013.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/our-honorary-fellows|title=Our Honorary Fellows|website=British Science Association|date=28 February 2018 |access-date=14 October 2021}} In July 2016 it was announced that he will be the next Chancellor of the University of Bristol.{{cite web|title=University of Bristol press release|url=http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/july/new-chancellor.html|website=University of Bristol|access-date=14 October 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-38483368 |title=Sir Paul Nurse becomes Bristol University chancellor |website=BBC News |date=1 January 2017 |author=}} He is an Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers.{{cite web |title=Honorary members - Honorary Liverymen of the Company |url=https://www.wcsim.co.uk/about/honorary-members/ |website=The Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers |access-date=15 October 2021}} On 23 November 2024 he was elected the 169th President of The Birmingham & Midland Institute by its members.

Nurse married Anne Teresa (née Talbott) in 1971; they have two daughters – Sarah, who works for ITV, and Emily,Emily Nurse's {{ORCID|0000-0001-6905-1285}} a physicist based at University College London and CERN. He describes himself as a sceptical agnostic.

Nurse has been a member of the Labour Party for nearly 40 years and is a patron of Scientists for Labour, a socialist society affiliated to them.{{Cite web|url=https://www.scientistsforlabour.org.uk/about-sfl|title=About SFL}} In September 2020, he was a co-author on a letter in Nature alongside the former prime minister Gordon Brown highlighting the importance of EU funding in the fight against COVID-19.{{Cite journal|last1=Fernando|first1=Benjamin|last2=Brown|first2=Gordon|last3=Thomas|first3=Emily|last4=Head|first4=Michael|last5=Nurse|first5=Paul|last6=Rees|first6=Martin|date=2020-09-22|title=COVID-19 shows UK–EU collaborations are irreplaceable|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=586|issue=7828|pages=200|doi=10.1038/d41586-020-02687-6|pmid=32963368|bibcode=2020Natur.586..200F|doi-access=free|url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9802ef8c-7dc0-4e7b-b673-371f61c35f2c/files/sgb19f609d}}

As an undergraduate student at Birmingham, Nurse sold Socialist Worker, and participated in an occupation of the vice-chancellor's office.{{cite web |last=McKie |first=Robin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/oct/24/profile-paul-nurse-dna-genes|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305081022/http://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2010/oct/24/profile-paul-nurse-dna-genes|archive-date=2016-03-05 |title= Paul Nurse: Home truths for the gene genius |publisher=The Observer |location=London |date=2010-10-24 |website=theguardian.com }}{{cite news |last=Brooks |first=Michael |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2011/06/british-science-nurse-society |title=The Science Interview – Paul Nurse |work=New Statesman |location=London |publisher=Progressive Media International |date=2011-06-09 |access-date=2015-07-13 }} As a graduate student at East Anglia he continued to sell Socialist Worker, and was sympathetic to the International Socialist Tendency but never formally joined the movement.{{cite news |url=https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/somehow-i-knew-id-see-you-again-you-bastard/177668.article |title=Somehow, I knew I'd see you again, you bastard |work=Times Higher Education |publisher=TES Global |date=2003-06-27 |access-date=2015-07-13 }}

Nurse has criticised potential Republican Party candidates for the US presidential nomination for opposing the teaching of natural selection, stem cell research on cell lines from human embryos, and anthropogenic climate change, even partially blaming scientists for not speaking up.[https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128302.900-stamp-out-antiscience-in-us-politics.html Stamp out anti-science; it's time to reject political movements that turn their backs on science], Paul Nurse, New Scientist, 17 September 2011 He was alarmed that this could happen in the US, a world leader in science, "the home of Benjamin Franklin, Richard Feynman and Jim Watson".

One problem, Nurse said, was "treating scientific discussion as if it were political debate," using rhetorical tricks rather than logic. Another was the state of science teaching in the schools, which does not teach citizens how to discuss science – particularly in religious schools, even in the United Kingdom. Nurse has written that "we need to emphasise why the scientific process is such a reliable generator of knowledge with its respect for evidence, for scepticism, for consistency of approach, for the constant testing of ideas." Furthermore, Nurse feels that scientific leaders "have a responsibility to expose the bunkum". They should take on politicians, and expose nonsense during elections.

In August 2014, Nurse was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/aug/07/celebrities-open-letter-scotland-independence-full-text |title=Celebrities' open letter to Scotland – full text and list of signatories |work=The Guardian |location=London |date=7 August 2014 |access-date=26 August 2014}}

Nurse believes that scientists should speak out about science in public affairs and challenge politicians who support policies based on pseudoscience.{{cite web|last=Nurse |first=Paul|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128302.900-stamp-out-antiscience-in-us-politics.html|title=Stamp out anti-science in US politics|website=New Scientist}}

• What Is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology (2021), W. W. Norton & Company{{cite book|last=Nurse |first=Paul|title=What Is Life?|date=2 February 2021 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-0393541151 }}

• List of presidents of the Royal Society

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Wikiquote}}

• {{Nobelprize}} including the Nobel Lecture Nobel Lecture 9 December 2001 Controlling the Cell Cycle
• [https://themoth.org/storytellers/paul-nurse-hoffman Stories told by Paul Nurse] at The Moth
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015n3b7 Paul Nurse on the premiere episode of The Life Scientific] (BBC Radio 4), originally aired: 11 Oct 2011, 30 minutes in length

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