K.C. Nicolaou, Cypriot-American organic chemist, born July 5th, 1946, photographed in his laboratory. Since 1989, Nicolaou has been joint Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, San Diego and at the Scripps Research Insitute. In 1994 he was the leader of one of 2 groups that announced the synthesis of taxol, the promising anti-cancer drug derived from the bark of the Pacific yew tree. In 1992 he reported on the synthesis of enediynes, a new class of DNA- splitting compounds that have significant and selective anti-cancer properties. This portrait was taken in 1993.