βΌ CORRECTION: KARY MULLIS DIED IN AUGUST 7, 2019, NOT A COUPLE MONTHS AGO, RIGHT AROUND THE TIME REPORTS OF THE **COUGH COUGH** BEGAN CIRCULATING OVERSEAS. I MISSPOKE. A FEW MONTHS AGO, IT WAS THE 1-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF HIS PASSING. β THUMBNAIL: KARY MULLIS, American Biochemist, and INVENTOR OF THE PCR (polymerase chain reaction). β He won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and also was awarded the Japan Prize the same year.