Born in London, England in 1951 to Leonard George and Elsie Cressy Houghton, he was raised in a working-class family along with elder brother Graham. Educated at an excellent government primary school (Lyndhurst Grove) until the age of 11, he then won a scholarship to Alleyn’s School in Dulwich, London, founded by Edward Alleyn, a…

Iwas born on August 25, 1952 in Sacramento, California to Roberta Helen Rice and Charles Moen Rice Jr. (Fig. 1). My mother originated in Colorado Springs, Colorado, my father from Worcester, Massachusetts. I was the third Charles Moen Rice; we were all only children. I never met my paternal grandparents who were long gone by…

The World Food Programme (established in 1961) is the world’s largest humanitarian organisation saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity, for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change. Read the history of World Food Programme at

Iwas born in Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt, Germany in 1952. My parents and I lived in an apartment right above the physics laboratories of the University, where my father was an instructor. I also started elementary school there. In 1960 my parents moved to southwestern Germany, to the idyllic Black Forest town of Freiburg, bordering…

I never had no Nobel dreams Iwas born in 1935, a pivotal year in American history, although it is possible that my birth had nothing to do with these historical events. In 1935, the US was emerging from the Great Depression and the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932 instilled hope for a new deal.…

Iwas born on February 19, 1964 in Washington, D.C., the oldest of three sisters. My father Martin K. Doudna was a speechwriter for the Department of Defense at the time and my mother Dorothy taught in community college. My family, including my siblings Ellen and Sarah, moved to Ann Arbor where my father pursued a…

Roger Penrose was born on August 8th, 1931 in Colchester, Essex, England. His father Lionel Sharples Penrose FRS was a distinguished medically trained scientist, who worked primarily on human genetics, studying mainly the genetic origins of numerous mental conditions, particularly the issue of Downs Syndrome. He had earlier, in around 1920, studied psychoanalysis, travelling to…

Nobel Prize Conversations  “I try to lead a conversation rather than telling students what to think” ”Sometimes I make a mistake during the lecture, I’ll make an argument that’s not quite right and not even notice it, and a student will catch me. I just love it when students do that.” Economic sciences laureate…

Nobel Prize Conversations  “I guess I was halfway content with the idea that somehow I’d become an economist” Robert B. Wilson didn’t really see himself as an economist until he reached the age of 50. In this conversation, conducted in March 2021, Wilson speaks about his journey to becoming an economist, about how he…

Nobel Prize Conversations  “I am very bad at giving up” Hear Roger Penrose speak about ideas, creativity and what is so special about blackboards. In this conversation, conducted in February 2021, Penrose also shares some stories from his childhood and how he eventually ended up in the field of physics. The host of this…