Not many children dream of winning a Nobel Prize when they grow up, but Demis Hassabis did. The Google scientists were recognised for using artificial intelligence AI to predict the structure of virtually all the million proteins that researchers have identified.
Their AI model, AlphaFold 2, has already made an impact in fields such as drug discovery and combating plastic pollution. The Nobel Prize is only the latest achievement for the year-old polymath. He was a child chess prodigy before teaching himself to code. At 17, he helped to create a video game that sold millions. After graduating with top honours in computer science from the University of Cambridge, he got a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from University College London.
Dr Hassabis and his team then worked on protein structures, leading to AlphaFold 2. Because he is likely to talk about chess, the team has helpfully brought along a chess set as a prop for the photo shoot. I have a minute slot at 4pm.
Dr Hassabis arrives carrying a paper cup of coffee. He has an amiable, unassuming manner and when he smiles — which he does often — his boyish face lights up and his eyes twinkle behind blue-framed spectacles. As we settle into our chairs, he glances at the chess set and nods, approvingly. The pieces have been arranged correctly.
His year-old mother, Angela, was born here. She went to Britain in the early s to train as a nurse to special needs children and is now a naturalised Briton. His father, Costas, 78, is Greek Cypriot. His mother, who was raised by her grandmother, often visited the older woman in Singapore. Up till when he was about 10, when his great-grandmother died, the young and precocious Dr Hassabis would visit Singapore every summer for two- to three-month stretches.
