Nobel Prize Conversations

”I wasn't interested in learning stuff. I was just interested in understanding, because I could see what a fabulous shortcut it always was.” – Meet 2005 medicine laureate Barry Marshall in a dynamic talk with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith. Marshall tells us about his blog (something very few laureates had in 2005), his status as a yo-yo expert and his research that paved the way to a Nobel Prize. Self-experimentation is another topic that is up for discussion. Marshall takes us back to the moment he drank a bacterial culture of Helicobacter pylori to prove that gastric ulcers were caused by bacterial infections - it's a story you don't want to miss! This conversation was originally presented in February 2014. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

”It's the insight, the work, the way you give yourself to the story that matters.” – We present a heartwarming chat with Canadian ’master of short stories’ and literature laureate Alice Munro. This conversation between the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith and Munro took place soon after she was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature. In the episode, she reflects on how she creates short stories, what these stories have meant to her and her readers and why she started writing. Munro also tells Smith what she hopes to achieve with her writing: conveying stories that resonate, as well as surprise, her readers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I have always thought of myself as a detective,” 2023 economic sciences laureate Claudia Goldin tells the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith when speaking about her research: “The detective always believes there is a way of finding the answer!” Recorded shortly after the public announcement of her prize, this conversation begins with Goldin praising Professor Randi Hjalmarsson of the University of Gothenburg, who fielded questions at the prize press conference after Goldin was disconnected. Now an economic history detective, Goldin explains how she was first switched onto detecting by Paul de Kruif’s book ‘Microbe Hunters’, published in 1926, cited by many Nobel Prize laureates across the generations as an inspirational read. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature was announced, new laureate Jon Fosse was inundated with messages congratulating him on the award. In this call with the Nobel Prize’s Manisha Lalloo he speaks about one particular reader who told him that his work was “the reason she was still alive.” He also shares what writing means to him and his advice for aspiring writers. © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“This is a collaborative effort,” says Louis E. Brus when asked for his first reaction to the award of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, “partly physics, partly chemistry, partly material science.” In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith he pays tribute to the many contributors to the field and discusses his own motivations for exploring the nature of nanoparticles in the productive environment of Bell Labs, 40 years ago. “It’s a surprise, at this point, after all these years,” he says, “I’m just lucky, I guess, that the Nobel Prize has chosen to honour this particular areas of research at this time.”© Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“It’s the middle of the night here!” Alexei Ekimov’s first reaction to hearing the news of his 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was reasonable enough: “I woke up,” he says! In this call with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, made not long afterwards, Ekimov goes on to discuss the experiments he performed over forty years ago producing quantum effects in coloured glass. He explains how his experiments confirmed theories he had read about back in his student textbooks: “I still remember that picture,” he recalls, “where there is a quantum well, and the levels of electrons, confined in that quantum well.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I’m supposed to teach at 9 this morning,” say Moungi Bawendi in this call recorded in the early morning, just after the news of his 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry had reached him, “and I’m not sure what’s going to happen!” Bawendi tells the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith how he received the call, speaks about his co-laureate and mentor Louis E. Brus, and discusses what he tries to teach his students. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“My daughter called me asking, ‘Is that true, I see it on Google?’” That was how Pierre Agostini found out he had been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, kindly facilitated by Dawn Larzelere of The Ohio State University (whose voice is heard at the start and end), Agostini talks of his surprise at receiving the prize now, his initial thoughts on hearing the news and recalls his pleasure at being the first to produce a train of attosecond light pulses back in 2001. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In what was surely understatement, 2023 physics laureate Anne L’Huillier described herself as “A little bit busy” when the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith reached her a couple of hours after she had received the news. In this brief call she describes how special it feels to receive the prize and how her research into the overtones of light, which she revealed in the 1980s, continues to excite her: “Even now, 30 years afterwards, we are still learning new things.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ferenc Krausz was preparing to give lab tours at his Institute when a call from Stockholm reached him at home. “I was not sure whether I was dreaming, or whether it’s reality,” he tells the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith in this call recorded just after the physics prize was announced. “It’s always exciting to see something that no-one could see before,” he says, recalling the thrilling morning in Vienna in 2001 when he first saw that they were able to reveal electron motions with their attosecond pulse technology: “This was just an unbelievable moment which I will never forget!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“We weren’t sure it was true!” Drew Weissman’s research partner and co-laureate Katalin Karikó called him early this morning with some incredible news – they had both been awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The two have a 20 year history of working together. “We both have sleep disturbances,” he says in this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, “so usually around 3 to 5am we would be emailing each other with new ideas.” Speaking just after he had heard of the award, he stresses that despite his new found notoriety and all the claims on his time, “Nothing distracts me from my work.” As to the effect of the Nobel Prize: “This just encourages us more!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The call from Stockholm woke Katalin Karikó at her home outside Philadelphia. Initially in disbelief, in this interview with Adam Smith, recorded soon after she had learnt of the award of the Nobel Prize for discoveries that accelerated the introduction of vaccines for Covid-19, she recalls her journey from Hungary and some of the setbacks on the path to the mRNA vaccines. “10 years ago I was here in October, because I was kicked out and forced to retire!” Her advice is to not to dwell on the problems: “You have to focus on the things you can change.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Each year in October, Adam Smith takes on the challenge of reaching the brand new Nobel Prize laureates for a telephone interview. In this new bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, Adam takes us behind the scenes for even more of these calls and his favourite moments. The host for this episode is Karin Svensson, the producer of Nobel Prize Conversations.From October 2-9, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2023 Nobel Prize laureates. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“If you're interested in something, you'd be amazed what interest can do.” – So says Barry Sharpless, the only living individual that has been awarded two Nobel Prizes. In this rare and uniquely wide-ranging conversation, Sharpless opens up about curiosity, creativity and how he comes up with all these new ideas. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

”You have to reinvent yourself every couple of years. It's absolutely important. It's necessary for me to make my life interesting. Life is too short.” – Meet physics laureate Anton Zeilinger. With an endlessly curious mind, he loves exploring new paths in the scientific field of quantum physics. He also speaks about his love of sailing and why the number 42 holds a special place in his heart. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I settled a debate between Bohr and Einstein – which is not bad!" – Meet physicist and 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Alain Aspect, who speaks of his respect for both of these giants of physics. He also opens up about his love of teaching and explaining difficult things and shares how his teachers as well as Jules Verne's novel L'île Misterieuse sparked his interest in science and convinced him that with science and engineering you can build a new world. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“As an economist, I'm looking at that number and trying to think about how it fits into a broader economic picture. But on the other hand, having grown up in a small town, not a very rich town, economically very stressed place I could think about the real families, real people that those numbers represented. That was important to me.” – Meet economist Ben Bernank, who also tells us about his childhood and how he took part in spelling competitions in school.The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The first thing I did to see if it at all would have a chance was to buy a piece of liver in the food store close to the Institute and just dry it in the laboratory." – In this episode, 2022 medicine laureate Svante Pääbo describes the start of his scientific career. He also speaks warmly about his mother and how she encouraged him to pursue his childhood interest, archeology. Eventually that interest would put him on the path to a Nobel Prize for sequencing the genome of the Neanderthal, an extinct relative of present-day humans.The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.Through their lives and work, failures and successes – get to know the individuals who have been awarded the Nobel Prize on the Nobel Prize Conversations podcast. Find it on Acast, or wherever you listen to pods. https://shows.acast.com/nobelprizeconversations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

”I was just curious about everything. Everything was interesting and I always felt like I didn't have enough time to learn all the interesting things. And I think that was a big strength that I had.” – In our newest podcast episode, economist Philip Dybvig tells us how his parents encouraged his interest in the world. He shared the 2022 economic sciences prize "for research on banks and financial crises." Together with co-laureate Douglas Diamond, he developed theoretical models that explain why banks exist, how their role in society makes them vulnerable to rumours about their impending collapse, and how society can lessen this vulnerability. These insights form the foundation of modern bank regulation. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Your purpose as a scientist is not to achieve fame or money, that is not your purpose, those might be side effects and good for you, that could be wonderful for you but it is a side effect, it is not the main goal. The main goal is to make discoveries and gift them to humanity. And those discoveries and that knowledge stays with humanity long after you are gone.” — Carolyn Bertozzi on the scientist's purpose. Meet chemist and 2022 Nobel Prize laureate Bertozzi. In this episode she speaks about her two life-long loves: organic chemistry and music. Her love of music lead to her playing in a college rock band with Tom Morello whilst her love of organic chemistry earned her a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022. Bertozzi also speaks about her desire to create a diverse and open lab environment and how important that is for research. A true advocate of diversity, she sees clearly the advantages derived from diverse ideas and perspectives. The host of this podcast is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Nobel Prize Conversations is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I think economics is getting closer and closer to being a respectable science. Even when we were not the most respectable science, we still needed to keep pushing forward because the topic actually matters to the planet, to the humans on the planet, and to the animals on the planet.” Douglas Diamond is a strong advocate for economics as a scientific field. His passion for economics was sparked at a young age when he accidentally took an undergraduate course in the topic. In a podcast conversation with host Adam Smith, he reflects on the working environment at University of Chicago (a work place that has become his home after working there 30 years) and how he sees more and more women enter the field of economics (something he thinks is a very positive development). He also tells us about the "No" bell that he received from Richard Thaler – a tool to helps him say no as a newly awarded laureate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“My daughter was sitting on the second or third row and I could see that she was crying. And tears actually are contagious. So I was almost crying when I had to go up and receive the prize because of that.” — This is how Morten Meldal recalled the moment he crossed the stage in Stockholm to receive his Nobel Prize medal.Host Adam Smith speaks to 2022 chemistry laureate Morten Meldal, who opens up about his interests outside science, such as painting, books, music, and even building his own guitars. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"One minute I was a teenager and the next minute I was a woman.” – Leymah Gbowee shares her heartbreaking life story of a happy childhood cruelly interrupted by the Liberian civil war. Nobel Prize Outreach's Adam Smith is your host in this encore presentation as Gbowee also talks about her constant and tireless struggle for women’s rights and peace in her home country. Her never-give-up attitude has been a constant in her life and work, and something she tries to instill in young people, encouraging them ”to believe that they can do whatever they put their mind to”.Leymah Gbowee shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her peace work. This podcast was originally released in the winter of 2021. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“I am very bad at giving up.” – Get to know one of the greatest minds of today, physicist Roger Penrose. Even beyond his 90th birthday he seems to be working more than ever and is engaged in various research projects. In an intimate conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, Penrose speaks about how 2020 was a year that gave him time to reflect and develop even more research ideas – until he was awarded the Nobel Prize! Black holes, magic blackboards and childhood aspirations are other topics that are up for discussion. Roger Penrose was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It's a mixture of obsession, passion, and a sense that this is my mission." In this episode we hear 2020 chemistry laureate Emmanuelle Charpentier speak about the drive you need as a researcher and what impact awards can have on a career. Her road to the Nobel Prize was a winding journey, and she recalls how science was her stability. Charpentier shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jennifer Doudna for discovering key aspects of a naturally-occuring defence mechanism in bacteria, called CRISPR/Cas9, and developing it into one of gene technology's sharpest tools. Please enjoy our encore presentation of this episode from season 2. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nudges, sludges, and the connection between stubbornness and success. Join us for this encore presentation of our first episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, as host Adam Smith picks the brain of Richard Thaler, the 2017 laureate in Economic Sciences. Thaler's work has helped us to understand how people make choices in the real world and has also given us tools to nudge people towards better decisions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet astrophysicist Andrea Ghez, recipient of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy." In this energy-packed conversation with Adam Smith, you can hear about prima donna galaxies, Ghez’s personal pet star, and how she overcame one of her biggest childhood fears. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What costs a billion dollars and takes 50 years to build and perfect? LIGO: A machine to detect gravitational waves. In this encore presentation of a conversation from Season 2, Kip Thorne confides, ”In the 70’s I thought we would have this done within one decade ... two decades at the most.” Predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity, gravitational waves were first measured by the LIGO detector in 2015. Still a cutting-edge scientific tool, LIGO will begin its next observing run (O4) in March 2023 and will be able to detect events almost twice as far away as when it made its first, ground-breaking measurements. Meet astrophysicist Kip Thorne, who was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics "for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves." In a wide-ranging conversation with host Adam Smith they cover Albert Einstein’s importance to the field of science, whether time travel is actually possible, and what it was like to be the physics guru inside the blockbuster film ’Interstellar’." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“What we’re talking about here is credit.” — In this conversation, recorded the day after the announcement from Stockholm, Ben Bernanke stresses the importance of the financial system as a critical part of the broader economy, not just a ‘side show’. “That’s the real insight,” he says, “that credit can help provide growth, but if the credit mechanism is badly disrupted it can also be a very adverse development for the economy.” He also talks with Adam Smith about how he approached the challenge of transitioning from academic to practitioner, as Chair of the Federal Reserve: “I tried to keep my focus simultaneously on the very near term, what I had to do next; the next speech, the next testimony, the next decision, while at the same time periodically thinking about the big picture.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“When I woke up I had what seemed like thousands of messages” — Philip Dybvig’s phone was on silent, so he missed the call from Stockholm. When, half asleep, he did confirm the news, he recalls that his initial response was one of stress: “What’s this going to do to my life?” In this call recorded a few hours later he talks briefly to Adam Smith about the theoretical model that he and Douglas Diamond built, and how important it is to ensure that such findings are accessible to policymakers: “We worked so hard to make the paper simple.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“There are very few people in the world I’d rather be sitting next to when discussing these issues” — In this interview recorded just after the public announcement, Douglas Diamond, the first of the three laureates to hear the news, speaks about his happiness at receiving the economic sciences prize together with Philip Dybvig and Ben Bernanke. He tells Adam Smith how he and Dybvig laid the groundwork for their intense working relationship, which lead to the influential Diamond-Dybvig model, while waiting outside their supervisor’s office at Yale, plentifully supplied with cookies. Fast forward to the financial crisis 15 years ago and, Diamond says, “The world was incredibly lucky to have Ben Bernanke sitting in the Federal Reserve”. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Common people have a much greater impact than they can even imagine” — When asked what brings her hope, Oleksandra Matviychuk replies, “Ordinary people.” Although the challenges faced might seem insurmountable, she sees first hand how people have the power to change the status quo: “Mobilisation of common people can change world history quicker than UN intervention.” In this conversation with Adam Smith, recorded the day after the announcement of the award of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize to the organisation she heads, Matviychuk speaks of the sense of solidarity to be gained from fighting together for human rights: “This is about a story that freedom has no borders and human rights values are universal.” The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It is incredible" — Before the public announcement of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Olav Njølstad, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, called Oleksandra Romantsova, Executive Director of Center for Civil Liberties to inform her that her organisation was one of the three Nobel Peace Prize laureates for 2022. Today the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022 to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“You should be drawn to uncertainty” — Barry Sharpless quotes Einstein when asked about his daring approach to choosing problems: “If at first the idea is not absurd, then there’s no hope for it”. Ever inventive, he starts this conversation with Adam Smith not by talking about the work that led to his first Nobel Prize, or even to his second, but his very latest research findings from the lab. Recorded on the morning he was woken very early by the news from Stockholm, he goes on to discuss the dangerous thrill of ideas and how difficult problems just insist on being tackled: “If the damn thing comes back to me and says, ‘You don’t know the answer to this,’ then I say I’ve got to give that respect, and try it again.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“When the world is in trouble, chemistry comes to the rescue” - As just illustrated by the Covid pandemic, says Carolyn Bertozzi, “Chemistry is such an exciting area of science for people who want to have an impact.” This call with Adam Smith, recorded immediately after the public announcement of her Nobel Prize, caught her just before the world started descending on her home in California. As the 8th female Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, she says “I can’t help but think about all the women that came before me that didn’t have the opportunity to be recognised.” But her view of the future is bright: “I’m very optimistic about how science, and the culture of science, is trending.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Reality is much more complex than we, as chemists, are able to imagine” — In the call recorded just after he had heard that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize, Morten Meldal describes how he views chemistry as a way of describing reality. It’s a field that should appeal to the young, he says, since “Understanding how everything works is a very challenging but also a very rewarding experience.” And the possibilities are endless, as he tells Adam Smith: “We are only scratching the beginning of our understanding of organic chemistry.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“What a waste of time, now start doing some real physics!” – As a young man, John Clauser set out to topple quantum mechanics, but all his faculty thought he was crazy. “I thought it was important at the time, even though I was going to ruin my career by doing it, and in some sense I did: I’ve never been a professor!” But, as he tells Adam Smith in this joyous call recorded in the middle of the night, as Clauser is besieged by reporters, he was having fun. And, as history surely confirms, “I proved that I was a decent experimentalist!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“It’s probably one of the most beautiful theories ever invented.” – Anton Zeilinger conveys his love for the elegant simplicity of quantum mechanics in this call recorded shortly after the public announcement of his Nobel Prize. “With very few symbols”, he explains, “you can explain a whole lot of things from the smallest quantum particles up to the origin of the universe.” Zeilinger emphasises that the news also sends a message of huge appreciation to all the people he worked with, and ends by introducing Adam Smith to the strange and potentially useful world of quantum teleportation. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“The conclusion is, yes, quantum mechanics resists all possible attacks!” — Alain Aspect was trying to find the limit of quantum mechanics, but, as he says in this call with Adam Smith, “I didn’t find it!”. Recorded just after he had received news of his Nobel Prize, this conversation captures his thoughts about the place of his work in the long history of quantum mechanics, the need for constant questioning and reflection, and how he gets his head around the weirdness of quantum entanglement. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“There were almost always other types of humans around.” In this telephone conversation recorded just after he had heard news of the award of his Nobel Prize, Svante Pääbo reflects on our relationship to extinct species of early hominins and how his exploration of their genetics might influence our view of ourselves and our place in nature. He also discusses what gave him the confidence to undertake the decades-long search and the influence of his mother and Nobel Prize laureate father, Sune Bergström. He tells Adam Smith that having a laureate father taught him an important lesson: “Such people are normal human beings.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you make a Nobel Prize laureate? In this special bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, we explore the origin stories of these remarkable individuals. This bonus episode features the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith, who shares some of his insights after speaking to more than 150 laureates. He is interviewed by the producer of Nobel Prize Conversations, Karin Svensson. Both nature and nurture play crucial parts in creating a Nobel Prize laureate. But there’s another, often-overlooked, factor that can shape their lives and careers: the element of chance. Or as Adam says, “These many, many, many pieces of luck, throughout life, come to make you what you are.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"We must get up, we must work like maniacs – because time is running out." Maria Ressa speaks passionately as she discusses how authoritarians exploit social media to unravel democracy, what needs to be done to fight this and when she thinks the damage might become irreversible. 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa is one of the founders of Rappler, an independent website for investigative journalism in the Philippines that is facing a threat of shutdown by the authorities in that country. In 2016 Rappler sounded the alarm on the social media revolution – two years later Facebook admitted responsibility for letting their platform be used as a weapon in the genocide of the Rohingyas of Myanmar. Your host is Adam Smith, chief scientific officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Abdulrazak Gurnah is the author of ten novels and an emeritus professor of English and postcolonial literatures at the university of Kent. He has been hailed for his ability to convey the immigrant experience – but to him, literature is much more than just social commentry. "We also read because it gives us pleasure – sometimes completely distracts us from other things we should be doing and thinking about."In the conversation, Abdulrazak Gurnah talks about fleeing his native Zanzibar as a teenager, and feeling unwelcome after arriving in the UK. He also offers insights into his writing: how he explores thoughtful silences and lifts the small struggles that play out in otherwise mundane lives and settings. Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In an increasingly chaotic world, how can you learn to concentrate deeply on a single problem?  Economic Sciences laureate Guido Imbens found his powers of concentration while getting lost in chess games as a child. ”For four or five hours you would just shut out the rest of the world, you would be focused on one task.”Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. In this episode Guido and Adam talk about the beauty of chess, the pitfalls in talking publicly about uncertain data, and the challenge of keeping an open mind in research. But the conversation kicks off by delving into an experience they share outside of academia: parenting teenagers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"If somebody tells me 'this is impossible', I always think that it still might be possible – and try to find a way around." Where would the world be, without the scientists who look beyond the conventional wisdom and try to solve the unsolvable problems? Hartmut Michel speaks about his working class background, discovering his love of science – and travel – in a public library, and why he's remained true to his native Germany. Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I didn't really like school very much. And I was always like a little bit nervous about not doing well." David Julius, the 2021 physiology or medicine laureate, talks about his journey from anxious pupil to confident researcher, the importance of diversity in science, and how his research is connected to how different species experience the world in different ways. Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Try to follow your enthusiasm and do what you are really passionate about and what you really love to do.” As a child, Benjamin List thought chemists held the keys to the secrets of the universe. Luckily, by the time he learned this wasn't so, he was already hooked on doing chemistry experiments he found in books. Even today, he still feels passion for the field, and tries to surround himself with passionate researchers.Benjamin List was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with David MacMillan, for his work in developing asymmetric organocatalysis, a tool for building new molecules, in cleaner and more efficient ways.Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

”An amazing number of economists have extremely paternalistic ideas. They just want to tell people what to do.” Don't worry. David Card, 2021 laureate in Economic Sciences, doesn't want to boss you around. Instead, he's made a career trying to understand the economic choices people make. He shared the prize with Josuhua Angrist and Guido Imbens for their empirical contributions to labour economics.Professor Card talks about growing up on a dairy farm, about the need for more diversity in PhD programs and his reluctance to become involved in policy-making. Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some people manage to retain the relentless curiosity of a child into adulthood, keeping them on a constant quest of exploration. Meet Giorgio Parisi, who tells us about his journey of curiosity, which started by learning to read numbers at the age of 3: “I was reading the number of the bus when the bus was arriving.” At an early age, he also started to read the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, as his parents’ large library encouraged reading. Parisi describes his life journey and how he ultimately decided to dedicate his life to physics as that topic made more sense to him than mathematics. In 2021 he was awarded the physics prize "for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales." He shared the prize with Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann. Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meet economist Joshua Angrist who believes that to be a good labour economist, you should have had some real-life job experience. In conversation with our podcast host Adam Smith, Angrist tells us about his disinterest in school and how as a teenager he was more interested in earning money and maintaining his car. His later surprising and instant connection with economics led him to dedicate his life to his research: “I never stop thinking about my work.”Angrist was awarded the 2021 prize in economic sciences and speaks about how the award has affected his life; “It was wonderful to win the Nobel Prize, but I am the same guy I was on October 10th.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.