India, Oct. 7 -- Karl Deisseroth has won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine along with German scientists Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries that led to optogenetics, a technique that lets researchers control the activity of specific nerve cells using light. But science was not always his only interest.

Before becoming a Nobel-winning neuroscientist, Deisseroth had wanted to be a writer. He told The Guardian that writing was his "first love".

Born in Boston in 1971, Deisseroth grew up in a family with strong scientific roots. His father was a physician and professor, while his mother was a high school chemistry teacher. But science was not his only early interest. According to Stanford Medicine, he was an avid reader of prose, ...