Nobel Prize

Interview with the 2024 economic sciences laureate James A. Robinson, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. How did your upbringing shape you?  James A. Robinson: I think my upbringing probably did shape me, although it’s hard to unpack it. My father was an itinerant engineer who actually started off working…

Interview with the 2024 economic sciences laureate Simon Johnson, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. What was your childhood like and how did it shape you?  Simon Johnson: I grew up in Sheffield in the north of England. I come from a family that has been in Sheffield for a…

Interview with the 2024 chemistry laureate John Jumper, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. How did your interest in science come about? John Jumper: My childhood, I grew up in Arkansas just outside Little Rock. I grew up on a farm, not really a working farm, but you know, horses,…

Interview with the 2024 physics laureate Geoffrey Hinton, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. How did you first learn about your Nobel Prize?  Geoffrey Hinton: I was more or less asleep in a hotel room in California, and I had by phone upside down on the bedside table with the…

Interview with the 2024 physics laureate John J. Hopfield, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. How big a role did physics play in your childhood?  John J. Hopfield: I don’t know if you have children, but young children learn what their parents do. Parents do something highly visible, a fireman…

Interview with the 2024 literature laureate Han Kang, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. What influence did your family have on your interest in writing?  Han Kang: My father is a writer as well. The most important thing was I could grow up with the books because my house was…

Interview with the 2024 chemistry laureate Demis Hassabis, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. What sparked your interest in science and AI?  Demis Hassabis: My interest in science and AI started with games. I started to play chess from a very young age. I was actually four years old when…

Interview with the 2024 chemistry laureate David Baker, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. What influence did your parents have on you? David Baker: I grew up in a very, very happy family. My parents were very interested in education. We talked about all kinds of things and it was…

Interview with the 2024 medicine laureate Victor Ambros, recorded on 6 December 2024 during Nobel Week in Stockholm, Sweden. How has your childhood influenced your scientific path?  Victor Ambros: I think my childhood experiences were definitely influential in the sense that growing up on a farm in a large family you had a lot of…

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…