India Abroad - November 25, 2011

A loving father, a caring mentor
Julia Elizabeth, the eldest of Dr Har Gobind Khorana’s three chil- dren, said her father was an
extremely loving person who would
find time to spend with his children
despite his enormous workload and
busy schedule.
Dr Khorana had three children:
Julia Elizabeth, Emily Anne (who died
in 1979), and Dave Roy.
“He clearly was a very loving father;
at home all of us would have dinner
together and we would talk about var-
ious things,” a still shocked Julia, 58,
told India Abroad days after her father
passed away. “My father was a very
curious person, curious about every-
thing around him — students, col-
leagues, friends, nature and what not
— and that curiosity remained with
him till the very end.”
The scientist would go for a walk
every day, and would want to know
about every tree on the side of the
streets.
“He loved trees and sometimes
would bring flowers that he loved,”
said Julia, who is a graphic artist. “My
father had a deep love for Western
Dr Har Gobind Khorana with his eldest daughter
Julia Elizabeth and longtime
colleague and friend Dr Uttam RajBhandary

classical music, thanks to my
mother Esther Elizabeth Sibler
who died in 2001. He would often
go to concerts and listened to
music at home.”
She said her father worked a lot
and often that work had an effect
on his family — in a positive way.
“He would get a lot of foreign stu-
dents and our holidays would often
be spent with students, his col-
leagues and friends. That used to
be exciting,” Julia said. “He was a
very enthusiastic person and that
enthusiasm could be very conta-
gious for people around him. I real-
ly admired him for what he was; we
enjoyed our time together.”
In a statement released by MIT,
Julia said that in addition to his
strong research ethic, Dr Khorana
took pride in mentoring younger
scientists.
‘Even while doing all this
research, he was always really
interested in education, in students
and young people,’ she said. ‘After
he retired, students would come to
visit and he loved to talk to them
about the work they were doing.
He was very loyal to them, and they
were very loyal to him, too.’
— Suman Guha Mozumder
‘A very considerate, most remarkable man’
;Page A7
books, explained to me what he was doing exactly, and told
me, ‘This is your project; take it over.’ There were detailed
notes all over the notebook. Every day he would do experi-
ments, and then he would go home for dinner and then
come back. Every day of the week, he would work for 12
hours or more. He wanted everybody to succeed and want-
ed them to work hard. Everybody who worked with him
knows that.
Did he have the same expectation in terms of work from
everybody or was he considerate or compassionate towards
fellow colleagues or students?
Oh yes. He was a very considerate man. He expected a lot
from people in his lab, but he also knew that they would
have problems, family problems, children problems, etc.
He would be considerate, and his wife Esther was really
very much like him in that regard. She helped him and
cared deeply about the family members of his laboratory
immensely.
Did he have time to pursue other interests besides aca-
demics?
He did whatever he could in his spare time. Although he
used to work 12 hours a day, he was not really so complete-
ly immersed in science that he had no other interest. He
loved Western classical music, thanks to the influence of
his wife Esther I guess. He had a deep passion for nature
and he would go for hiking regularly. He loved walking. His
office and mine at MIT were across from each other on the
sixth floor. He would walk up and down the stairs while I
would always use the elevator. Until a few years ago, he
never used the elevator. He was incredible. He loved swim-
ming as well. In fact he had all kinds of interests. Listening
and especially walking made him feel relaxed and gave him
the opportunity to think deeply about science.

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