Nobel Prize

Ilya Prigogine’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1977 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is now a little more than eighty years ago that Alfred Nobel decided to create the Nobel Foundation responsible for the attribution of the Nobel Prizes. These eighty years have seen important and sometimes tragic events…

William Lipscomb’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1976 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, The award this year of the Nobel Prize in chemistry for research in pure inorganic chemistry is an important event. It is a reminder that we know even now considerably less about most of the chemical elements…

John Cornforth’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1975 Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, My old friend Vlado Prelog has asked me to offer, from both of us, our thanks to the Royal Academy of Sciences and to the Nobel Foundation for the honour conferred on us. Our backgrounds, and the…

Paul J. Flory’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1974 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, Acknowledgment of the privilege of receiving the Nobel Prize in words commensurate with the distinction it conveys overtaxes the resources of language. It must suffice to say that I am profoundly grateful to the Royal Swedish…

Stanford Moore’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1972 Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, Christian B. Anfinsen, William H. Stein, and I have the honor of co-authoring the response of three chemists to your toast on this memorable occasion. This ceremony and the intellectual aura associated with the Nobel Prizes have…

Christian Anfinsen’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1972 Fellow students, and other ladies and gentlemen; Det er en stor ære for mig at takke Herr Fhølenhag, og alle dere som er sammlet her, fra pristagerne og våre familier, iser når jag får en chance at gøre det i en filologisk blandning…

Gerhard Herzberg’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1971 Your Royal Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is very difficult to find appropriate words to say “thank you” for an honour like the Nobel Prize. It is the supreme honour that a scientist can receive. Some of the giants in physics…

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…

Odd Hassel’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1969 (in Norwegian) Deres Majestet, Kongelige Höyheter, Mine Damer og Herrer, Jeg er blitt overlatt av min med-kjemiker, doctor Barton, å si noen takkens ord i dag i anledning av den storartede mottakelse vi har hatt i Stockholm. Og til og med å tale…

Lars Onsager’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1968 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have received the greatest honor in my life – and the greatest surprise. Never did I dream that the Nobel Prize could be awarded for the reciprocal relations. Not that I felt bashful about…