Prizewinning excuse

The fragrant Mary Archer has been given the opportunity to correct two errors she made in the obituary of Max Perutz that she wrote for Chemistry in Britain .

In a letter to this month's issue, she tells how Perutz asked Nobel laureate Linus Pauling why he had missed the discovery that brought Perutz the prize. Pauling said: "I think of most things but not everything" - an excuse that Dr Archer borrowed for herself.