Each family had its own house on a vast plot of shared land. They ate together, worked together, played together. They were of all races and religions, though the founders were Quakers. In that "fairly conservative area," they were viewed with suspicion.

He had his first sit-down meal ever the day he arrived. Someone passed him a bowl of peas and he ate it all. He didn't know he was supposed to pass it on.

He spoke not one word of English but started third grade the next day.

Learning by doing

At Antioch College, Capecchi was a political science major with a minor in mathematics — for one quarter. "I found not much science in political science."

Antioch was unusual. Students studied for a quarter, then worked for a quarter, starting with broad-interest jobs that gradually narrowed to reflect the student's developing interest. Capecchi's was science.

By the time he got to Harvard for postgraduate work, he had plenty of working experience in it. As a graduate student, he was in on the early steps of an exciting, developing field, molecular biology.

When he graduated, he immediately joined the Harvard faculty.

It was "the place to be," he laughs. "They were shocked when I came out here."

His mind was busy. He longed to "work on things I knew would take a long time to develop." The University of Utah wooed him in 1973 with the promise that he could take that time. Harvard back then, he recalls, was the land of quick results. And he was not fond of the rivalry between many of the Ivy League school's staff. It was too competitive, at times mean-spirited. He had come from a gentle community where everything was done, from raising food to hand-digging a swimming pool, by working together. "When you don't get along, it's kind of glaring."

He believed — still believes — that "caring human contact is important in terms of human health." Utah seemed to promise that. And wide-open spaces, as well.

A new family

Capecchi and Laurie Fraser met at the University of Utah. An art-major-turned-biology-major from California, she even worked for a time in Capecchi's lab.

The childhood they forged for their daughter, Misha, was very different from Capecchi's. He is, he admits, protective. But he brought one quality he learned in Italy to parenting. He wanted Misha to be self-sufficient. She is.

She grew up near Salt Lake City, in an unpretentious but unusual home in the mountains, where snowfall meant a brisk walk uphill to the front door.

Misha learned to amuse herself and was good with crafts, with her hands.

When she was a little older, they worried about her socialization, so they moved to a house in town. They still own both.