“I came in… from basically nowhere. That research was being done by biochemists and protein scientists - molecular biologists. And I was a chemical engineer.”
- #wikipedia
- #quote
- #trusted-source
- #www.bbc.com
- #corroborated
Figure timeline
Frances Arnold
Frances Hamilton Arnold is an American chemical engineer and Nobel Laureate. She is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
science · American chemist and academic (born 1956) · biochemist · inventor · university teacher · engineer · also Frances Arnold, Frances H. Arnold, Arnold
Born 25 July 1956 · Q4273363
49 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
2 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Award
2026· 1 entry
2023· 1 entry
Won Perkin Medal (2023).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
2022· 1 entry
Was the guest in an episode of The Life Scientific on BBC Radio 4
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2020· 1 entry
Awarded Foreign Member of the Royal Society (2020).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2019· 6 entries
Pope Francis named her a member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Awarded Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science (2019).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won Benjamin Franklin Medal (2019).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
With Inha Cho and Zhi-Jun Jia, was retracted on January 2, 2020, as the results were found to be not reproducible
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Was named to the board of Alphabet Inc
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: board of directors member (2019).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
2018· 6 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry — for the directed evolution of enzymes.
- #nobel
- #award
- #honour
Awarded BBC 100 Women (2018).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for directed evolution (2018).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
And Fellow of the American Chemical Society
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her work in directed evolution, making her the fifth woman to receive the award in its 117 years of existence, and the first American woman
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2017· 3 entries
Awarded Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award (2017).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Awarded Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Convergence Research (2017).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Arnold was awarded the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in Convergence Research by the National Academy of Sciences, which recognizes extraordinary contributions to convergence research
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2016· 2 entries
Awarded Millennium Technology Prize (2016).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Became the first woman to win the Millennium Technology Prize, which she won for pioneering directed evolution
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2015· 2 entries
Awarded honorary doctor of ETH Zürich (2015).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Her father, William Howard Arnold died in 2015.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2014· 1 entry
Awarded National Inventors Hall of Fame (2014).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2013· 2 entries
Was appointed director of Caltech's Donna and Benjamin M
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And two of her former students, Peter Meinhold and Pedro Coelho, cofounded a company called Provivi to research alternatives to pesticides for crop protection
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2011· 4 entries
Awarded Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
Won National Medal of Technology and Innovation (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Awarded Charles Stark Draper Prize (2011).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
And inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2010· 1 entry
And one of their sons, William Lange-Arnold, died in an accident in 2016
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
2009· 1 entry
Awarded Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2009).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2007· 1 entry
Awarded FASEB Excellence in Science Award (2007).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
2005· 2 entries
Won Garvan–Olin Medal (2005).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
Arnold was herself diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and underwent treatment for 18 months.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #life
- #personal-life
2000· 2 entries
Arnold was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for integration of fundamentals in molecular biology, genetics, and bioengineering to the benefit of life science and industry
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
And the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry in 2017
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1998· 1 entry
Published “LARGE AREA HYDROLOGIC MODELING AND ASSESSMENT PART I: MODEL DEVELOPMENT<sup>1</sup>” in JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association — cited 6,660 times.
- #crossref
- #research
- #work
1994· 1 entry
And they had two sons, William Andrew Lange (1995) and Joseph Inman Lange (1997)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1993· 1 entry
Used the method to engineer a version of subtilisin E that was active in the organic solvent DMF, a highly unnatural environment
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1989· 1 entry
Awarded Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering (1989).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #award
- #achievement
1986· 2 entries
Joined the California Institute of Technology as a visiting associate
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Associate professor in 1992, and full professor in 1996
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1985· 2 entries
Studied at University of California, Berkeley (1985).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #education
And became deeply interested in biochemistry
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1979· 3 entries
With a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University, where she focused on solar energy research
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Arnold worked as an engineer in South Korea and Brazil and at Colorado's Solar Energy Research Institute
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Studied at Princeton University (1979).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #education
1956· 1 entry
Born 1956-07-25.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth