Nobel Prize Winner Gets Dedicated Bike Rack Spot Since He’s Not Such a Great Driver
Reserved parking spots for local VIPs are nothing new. But what about a dedicated spot for your bike?
University of Missouri chemistry professor George Smith, Ph.D., was one of three researchers honored with this year’s Nobel Prize. He and a British chemist, one of the other winners, “harnessed the power of evolution,” as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences put it, with a process called phage display that “can combat autoimmune diseases and in some cases cure metastatic cancer.”
According to The Kansas City Star, University of Missouri officials were struggling to come up with the right way to honor Smith, the university’s first faculty member to win a Nobel Prize. Turning to other schools for ideas, they noticed a reserved parking spot was a common reward. There was only one problem: Smith lives less than a mile away from his workplace on campus, and bikes to work every day. In fact, he’s an admitted poor driver.
“I’m not a good driver, so it’s more out of necessity,” he told the newspaper. “I drive very seldom.”
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When a university official proposed a reserved spot on a bike rack instead of a parking spot, it was the perfect solution. “Everyone in the room lit up and thought it was a wonderful idea,” University of Missouri spokesperson Christian Basi told The Kansas City Star.
Basi also pointed out the bike rack serves a dual purpose of promoting sustainability-and helps reinforce the fact that no one who lives within a mile of campus should be driving, not even university royalty.
And royalty he is. Smith, who will walk away with a third of the $1 million pot of prize money, instantly became a local celebrity after the announcement. He often gets stopped to take selfies with admirers when walking across campus, he told the newspaper.
This isn’t the first time a university has chosen to honor a Nobel laureate with a dedicated spot for their bike. Northwestern University, for example, installed a reserved bike rack for Scottish chemist Sir Fraser Stoddart, Ph.D., after his win for chemistry in 2016, albeit with much less fanfare.
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