In this interview, David Zierler, Oral Historian for AIP, interviews Robert Tycko, senior investigator in the Laboratory of Chemical Physics in the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Tycko recounts childhood in New York, his undergraduate education at Princeton, and his graduate work at Berkeley, where he studied under Alex Pines and where he completed his dissertation focused on using mathematical non-linear dynamics for constructing radio frequency pulse sequences that would be useful in NMR. Tycko explains how his expertise in NMR developed as he realized this technology could compete with x-ray crystallography, and how he developed NMR techniques at Bell Labs. Tycko discusses his decision to join the NIH, and he provides a brief history of the Laboratory of Chemical Physics, where he has continued to apply NMR techniques to foster better understanding of biological systems across a wide array and human health research studies. At the end of the interview, Tycko explains why the NIH is such an advantageous and productive environment in which to conduct research.