Luis Leloir

Banquet speech

Luis Leloir’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1970

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

The honour which I have received exceeds – by far – my most optimistic expectation.

The prestige of the Nobel Prize is such that one is suddenly promoted to a new status. In this new status I feel rather uneasy on considering that my name will join the list of the giants of chemistry such as van ‘t Hoff, Fischer, Arrhenius, Ramsay, von Baeyer – to name only a few. I also feel uneasy when I think of contemporary chemists that have done great contributions and also when I think on my collaborators who carried out a great part of the work.

In spite of this I am profoundly grateful for having received from Your Majesty this great honour and to the Nobel Committee for Chemistry of the Royal Academy of Sciences for having selected me.

Finally, I might paraphrase Churchill and say: never have I received so much for so little.

From Les Prix Nobel en 1970, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1971

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1970

To cite this section
MLA style: Luis Leloir – Banquet speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Fri. 29 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1970/leloir/speech/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Nobel Prizes and laureates

Eleven laureates were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023, for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. Their work and discoveries range from effective mRNA vaccines and attosecond physics to fighting against the oppression of women.

See them all presented here.
Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.