The interviewer's embarrassment was rising by the moment. Despite having inserted fresh batteries and tested the tape recorder before the interview, she couldn't get the machine to work. Almost instantly Victor McKusick, at 75 the acknowledged founder of modern medical genetics, which focuses on the relationship between genes and human disease, dived below his desk. As the time he had carved from his packed schedule ticked away, he started crawling through a maze of computer cords to try connecting the recorder to an electric outlet.

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