John Hartwig: ‘There’s a lot of distrust of science’
The catalysis innovator on the thrills of heading to the mountains and having a reaction named after him
I love to be outside. My family and I go backpacking and hiking frequently, and I go cycling often. If you live in Berkeley, you’re just minutes away from a very large park in the hills. There are miles and miles of hiking and redwood trees and open space. We go skiing when the snow is good. Since we moved to California, we’ve been going to the Sierra Nevada mountains for backpacking trips.
Many decades ago, I went to India for about a month and went to the mountains with another group that I had met there. But they turned out to be too mellow. I then went out for a few nights with just a guide and porter and told them to make it tough. It was pretty brutal. It got to the point where I wasn’t sure I was going to make the next step before falling off.