'Genius' recalls Menlo Park youth 'Genius' recalls Menlo Park youth (September 28, 2005)

By David Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

An education, it is said, is what you make of it. Pehr Harbury, an alumnus of Oak Knoll Elementary and Hillview Middle schools in Menlo Park and a student for two years at Menlo School in Atherton, has made something extraordinary of his.

On September 15, Mr. Harbury, now 40 and a biochemistry professor at Stanford University, learned of his selection as a MacArthur Fellow -- often called the genius award -- and a cash gift of $500,000 given over five years to spend as he chooses. He is one of 25 recipients of the award this year.

The money will fund his research at Stanford's School of Medicine, he said, adding that he doesn't know if his research is the basis for the award because the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation does not explain the reasoning behind its choices.

In his current research, Mr. Harbury said he is simulating natural selection in a collection of molecules, with the goal of isolating molecules with properties that may be useful in drug design.

He talked with the Almanac about his experiences growing up in Menlo Park.

"I think (Oak Knoll and Hillview teachers) inspired curiosity that led to the things I wanted to work on as an adult," he said when asked about his school days. He also recalled an "excellent" chemistry course at Menlo School taken before he moved to Chicago for his junior and senior years.

There were other influences. His dad was an engineer, while his mom practiced hematology at Stanford Hospital. Before a trip in the family car, he said his dad would assign him and his siblings destinations along the way to research and report on. The family would also take turns reading aloud from classics such as Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island.

He said he did not have a child's chemistry set, but he did frequent a hobby shop in what is now the British Bankers Club and spent many happy hours flying rubber-band-driven balsa-wood airplanes with his dad in Fremont Park.

While at Hillview, he said he enjoyed a class project making hot-air balloons from tissue paper and seeing whose traveled the highest.

Asked for advice for students interested in scientific careers, Mr. Harbury replied: "You're not going to make a zillion bucks being a scientist, but you're not going to find a career that's more fun. It's just really enjoyable. At the end of the day, that's what's important."

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