Nobel Prize

Arthur H. Compton’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1927 Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen: Several years ago I was reading Marco Polo’s account of his experiences in the employ of the great Emperor of China, Kublai Khan. He was telling his incredulous Venetian friends of the daily life of the…

C. T. R. Wilson’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1927 Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish I could adequately express my gratitude to the Royal Swedish Academy of Science for the great honour they have conferred upon me. I feel that I owe what success I have achieved in…

Carl D. Anderson’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1936 Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen: I do not know how to express my appreciation for this great honor bestowed upon me; I do not feel that my simple labors can be worthy of such recognition. But it makes me…

English I am a storyteller, so before I propose a toast I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was a boy who learned to read at the age of five. This changed his life. Owing to the adventure tales he read, he discovered a way to escape from…

Gabriela Mistral’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1945 (Translation) Today Sweden turns toward a distant Latin American country to honour it in the person of one of the many exponents of its culture. It would have pleased the cosmopolitan spirit of Alfred Nobel to extend the scope…

Manne Siegbahn’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1925 (in Swedish) Eders K. Högheter, Mina Damer, Mina Herrar! Det är förvisso ett ansvarsfullt värv, som pålagts Svenska Vetenskapsakademien, då Akademien åtagit sig uppdraget att utdela de båda Nobelprisen för Fysik och Kemi. Det tillkommer icke mig – allra minst nu – att…

English Dario Fo’s speech of thanks at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1997 (Translation) Even though I don’t hold a glass in my hand, I’d like to raise a toast to a great Queen, a Queen of your past: Kristina. Kristina arrived in Italy in the late 17th century. As someone already mentioned, she came…

Italian Dario Fo’s speech of thanks at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1997 (in Italian) Io voglio fare un brindisi, anche senza bicchiere, a una grandissima regina, una vostra regina antica, che si chiamava Cristina. Cristina è arrivata in Italia verso la seconda metà del Seicento, proprio a Roma, come hanno già detto, e conobbe…

English Pablo Neruda’s speech at the Nobel Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, December 10, 1971 (Translation) Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen, We come from far away, from that which is behind us and within us, from different languages, from countries that love one another. Here we are assembled in Stockholm, which this…

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues and Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Having been selected as Nobel Laureates for Physiology or Medicine by the Nobel Foundation represents one of the most unique distinctions I can imagine. Also on behalf of my co-recipients, Dr. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Dr. Luc Montagnier, I…