Steel, glass, and wood, 60” x 32” x 32” (150 cm x 80 cm x 80 cm)

Photo: Dan Kvitka

"Birth of an Idea" is based on the structure of the potassium channel protein. The sculpture was commissioned by Roderick MacKinnon, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry "for structural and mechanistic studies of ion channels". Ion channels are of deep significance to us since they form the tiny pores in our nerve cells that let charged atoms go through to ensure that the cells ‘recharge’ in order to fire repeatedly, which is the process at the basis of all our intellectual and emotional responses to the world and our creative powers.

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Philip Ball's article in the British journal 'Chemistry World' (March 2008) features 'Birth of an Idea':