Barney Graham’s work with other scientists on coronavirus paved the way for vaccines

In the world of academic science, often dominated by people with big brains, big egos and loud voices, Graham is soft-spoken and spare with his words. Graham, 68, tends to talk more about others’ contributions than his own. He rose to become deputy director of the Vaccine Research Center, but seems most at ease when slowly rotating colorful, 3-D printed models of viruses in his hands, describing with grandfatherly warmth how the spiky protein on the coronavirus surface rearranges its loops and bumps to invade a human cell.