Nobel Prize Conversations

“We weren’t sure it was true!” Drew Weissman’s research partner and co-laureate Katalin Karikó called him early this morning with some incredible news – they had both been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The two have a 20 year history of working together. "We both have sleep disturbances," he says in this conversation with the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith, "so usually around 3 to 5am we would be emailing each other with new ideas." Speaking just after he had heard of the award, he stresses that despite his new found notoriety and all the claims on his time, "Nothing distracts me from my work." As to the effect of the Nobel Prize: "This just encourages us more!"

The call from Stockholm woke Katalin Karikó at her home outside Philadelphia. Initially in disbelief, in this interview with Adam Smith, recorded soon after she had learnt of the award of the Nobel Prize for discoveries that accelerated the introduction of vaccines for Covid-19, she recalls her journey from Hungary and some of the setbacks on the path to the mRNA vaccines. "10 years ago I was here in October, because I was kicked out and forced to retire!" Her advice is to not to dwell on the problems: "You have to focus on the things you can change."

Each year in October, Adam Smith takes on the challenge of reaching the brand new Nobel Prize laureates for a telephone interview. In this new bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, Adam takes us behind the scenes for even more of these calls and his favourite moments. The host for this episode is Karin Svensson, the producer of Nobel Prize Conversations.From October 2-9, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2023 Nobel Prize laureates.

“If you're interested in something, you'd be amazed what interest can do.” – So says Barry Sharpless, the only living individual that has been awarded two Nobel Prizes. In this rare and uniquely wide-ranging conversation, Sharpless opens up about curiosity, creativity and how he comes up with all these new ideas. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.

”You have to reinvent yourself every couple of years. It's absolutely important. It's necessary for me to make my life interesting. Life is too short.” – Meet physics laureate Anton Zeilinger. With an endlessly curious mind, he loves exploring new paths in the scientific field of quantum physics. He also speaks about his love of sailing and why the number 42 holds a special place in his heart. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.

"I settled a debate between Bohr and Einstein – which is not bad!" – Meet physicist and 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Alain Aspect, who speaks of his respect for both of these giants of physics. He also opens up about his love of teaching and explaining difficult things and shares how his teachers as well as Jules Verne's novel L'île Misterieuse sparked his interest in science and convinced him that with science and engineering you can build a new world. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.

"The first thing I did to see if it at all would have a chance was to buy a piece of liver in the food store close to the Institute and just dry it in the laboratory." – In this episode, 2022 medicine laureate Svante Pääbo describes the start of his scientific career. He also speaks warmly about his mother and how she encouraged him to pursue his childhood interest, archeology. Eventually that interest would put him on the path to a Nobel Prize for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans.The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.Through their lives and work, failures and successes – get to know the individuals who have been awarded the Nobel Prize on the Nobel Prize Conversations podcast. Find it on Acast, or wherever you listen to pods. https://shows.acast.com/nobelprizeconversations

”I was just curious about everything. Everything was interesting and I always felt like I didn't have enough time to learn all the interesting things. And I think that was a big strength that I had.” – In our newest podcast episode, economist Philip Dybvig tells us how his parents encouraged his interest in the world. He shared the 2022 economic sciences prize "for research on banks and financial crises." Together with co-laureate Douglas Diamond, he developed theoretical models that explain why banks exist, how their role in society makes them vulnerable to rumours about their impending collapse, and how society can lessen this vulnerability. These insights form the foundation of modern bank regulation. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.