Neighbors basking in Nobel glory

Richard Schrock's street in Winchester is dotted with graceful, century-old Victorians with broad verandas.

Neighbors estimate there are a dozen PhDs, and at least that many Volvos. It's probably one of the most intellectually accomplished neighborhoods in the United States. Schrock, who shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry last week, isn't even the first Nobel laureate in the neighborhood.

In 1979, Allan MacLeod Cormack, who lived three blocks away, won the Nobel for Medicine for his research on X-ray tomography, which led to the development of the CAT scan. Cormack died in 1998.

Schrock was born in Indiana, grew up in California, earned his doctorate from Harvard, taught at MIT for 30 years, and has lived in Winchester for 22. He said he moved to town with his wife, Nancy Carlson, of 34 years and two sons (now 24 and 26) for the same reason that just about everyone else moves to Winchester: to be in a community that cares about education.

''People come here because of the quality of the education, and accomplished academics demand that," said Beverlee Vidoli, a realtor with a $1.25 million listing on Schrock's street.

So how much is the prestige worth to have a Nobel laureate next door? Enough to make Schrock's neighbors appreciate his accomplishment that much more.

''Well, if you're telling me there's that level of education, and there's two Nobels here, I'd have to say it boosts the value of a home at least $100,000," said Vidoli. ''Those are some pretty impressive people."

Schrock has spent the better part of his 60 years in a laboratory figuring out ways to break apart chemical compounds and restructure them with fewer ingredients: a process that has opened up new vistas in chemical engineering.

He said he was awake and already at work at home when the call from Sweden came at 5:30 last Wednesday morning. Though he was not entirely surprised -- he has been on the Nobel short list for five years and knew his work was being considered again -- he was momentarily discombobulated. Schrock's mother is 92, living in Montana, and he thought something could be wrong.

Nothing, of course, was. ''I couldn't stop shaking when I heard," he said.

An hour later the announcement was on the news wires and being read over the radio. Shortly after that, the television trucks began to arrive at his house.

''It was like an out-of-body experience," he said. ''You watch it all happening and say, 'Is it really me down there?' "

For a little grounding Schrock called his mother, who is a bit hard of hearing. He said ''Mom, I won a Nobel! She said, 'A what?' "

Schrock's drowsy Winchester neighbors woke up just as confused with a phalanx of news trucks parked in front of their homes.

''I heard it on radio when I was half asleep but thought, 'That couldn't be Dick,' " said Ellen Curran, who lives across the street. Then, when she saw the trucks she called her neighbor, Harry Werlin. Werlin said he had gone over to the Schrocks' a bit earlier to ''borrow an egg and bust his chops."

''Of course I didn't need an egg," said Werlin, who has jogged with Schrock most mornings for more than a decade. ''I just needed an excuse to go over there."

Werlin, who owns a Cambridge photography store, said he didn't know how smart his neighbor was.

''How could I?" he said. ''I mean, I knew he was a little above the average guy and even the average professor, but I've asked what he does 30 times and I still couldn't explain it to you."

By mid-afternoon, Curran's 7-year-old daughter, Grace Lees, had written and delivered a new edition of Grace's News, her very own newspaper, which has a circulation of one. The headline: ''Richard Schrock wins the Nobel Prize, Hurrah Hurrah!"

By the afternoon of the announcement, Schrock was being interviewed by ABC, BBC, NPR among others. The MIT press office, already well versed in this media minuet (Schrock is the school's 60th professor to win a Nobel), was putting on hold interview requests from New Zealand and Brazil.

''First things first," said Heather Manning, who works in the school's press office. Then there were the champagne toast and the flower deliveries from far-flung colleagues.

The day after the initial hubbub last week, in his office at the end of a hallway at MIT known as Infinite Corridor, Schrock said he did not yet know what he would do with his one-third share of the $1.3 million that comes with winning the Nobel. Nor had he figured out how he will leverage his new status to promote more research in his field. But he said he hopes to use his position to try to lobby for more research money for chemistry.

''The war in Iraq has sucked resources out of research," he said. ''But this is a civilized society and we have to all contribute. We really have to invest in science."

Douglas Belkin can be reached at dbelkin@globe.com.