Nobel Prize

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “Some people thought it was a whole load of rubbish. But it didn’t turn out that way.” Richard Robson’s new concept for molecular architecture, which occurred to him while building models for teaching, was the starting point for the burgeoning field of metal–organic frameworks. In this conversation, he recounts…

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “I set out to build beautiful things and solve intellectual problems”  Omar Yaghi was just changing flights when he had heard the news that he had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In this conversation, recorded as he was departing on the next leg of his journey,…

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “I thought there was a grizzly bear nearby” Actually, what Fred Ramsdell’s wife was telling him, while on a hiking trip together, was that he had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In this conversation, Ramsdell speaks about the benefits of working in the environment…

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “My wife is very kind to me, so she didn’t wake me up for a couple of hours.” John Martinis talks about the excitement of learning how to investigate problems with his co-laureates and , four decades ago, and how that experience taught him what to aim for when…

First reactions. Telephone interview with John Clarke, October 2025 “None of this work would have happened without the two of them.” In this interview shortly after the prize announcement, the new physics laureate John Clarke is still stunned by the news. He praises his co-laureates John Martinis and Michel Devoret, whom he worked together with…

Interview with the 2006 Nobel Prize laureates in physics, John C. Mather and George F. Smoot on 6 December 2006. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org. John Mather, George Smoot, welcome to Stockholm. John Mather: Thank you. George Smoot: Thank you very much. When you very kindly spoke to me just after you…

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “It hasn’t quite hit me yet” “My phone rang, and I saw a number from Sweden and thought, well that’s just spam of some sort, so I disabled the phone and went back to sleep.” Mary Brunkow clearly wasn’t expecting the call from Stockholm. This brief conversation with the…

First reactions. Telephone interview, October 2025 “I believe this will encourage immunologists and physicians to apply the Tregs to treat various immunological diseases” Shimon Sakaguchi, 2025 Nobel Prize laureate in physiology or medicine, has always been driven by the desire to find new ways to combat disease. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam…

Interview with the 2019 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry M. Stanley Whittingham on 6 December 2019 during the Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden.  Do you remember a teacher that inspired you?  M. Stanley Whittingham: Two of them in particular got me enthusiastic about science. They were so excited themselves and they really tried to teach…

Interview with the 2020 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, Emmanuelle Charpentier, recorded in Stockholm on 12 December 2022.  Where does your passion for science come from?  Emmanuelle Charpentier: I think it’s a combination of a lot of aspects in my childhood and education, that led me to the science world. Initially, the main interest I…