Decades later, sunlight still fascinates. He and his team are developing vaccines based on their discovery that blue wavelengths in sunlight activate proteins that drive the spread of brucellosis, an infectious disease that costs the Brazilian and Argentinean cattle industry $100 million a year.

The peak moments come, Goldbaum says, when the rewards of the lab and the playing field converge. “One match I'm still proud of was during the first congress of the Protein Society's Latin American chapter, in Angra dos Reis, Brazil. We organized a match between the Brazilian and the Argentinean researchers. Brazil produces some of the best players in the world, so you can imagine how my team felt when, at the end of the congress, they announced the final score: we beat Brazil, 6 to 3, on their home ground.”

As a fan, he says, “I've always followed the Buenos Aires team called Racing Club. They went for many, many years without a championship. Finally, in November of 2001, they won the local cup for the first time in almost 40 years—exactly when I received my first HHMI fellowship. Now, that was a time for celebration.”

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