The Nobel Prize

Besides being a spectacular writer, Nobel Prize laureate in literature Nadine Gordimer was a dedicated political activist in her home country South Africa. Her writing often depicts the after effects of racial conflicts and she was a vocal opponent of the South African apartheid system. When Gordimer’s best friend Bettie du Toit was arrested for protesting against the apartheid regime, Gordimer got the opportunity to meet and become close friends with Mandela’s defense lawyers. It is said that Gordimer helped Mandela edit and polish his “I am prepared to die” speech. Gordimer was one of the first people that Mandela wanted to see after being released from prison in 1990. The two Nobel Prize laureates often had dinner together and became good friends. Together they tried to eliminate the apartheid system in their home country, South Africa. Photo: Louise Gubb / Getty Images

“Mentoring has been one of my greatest joys,” said physics laureate Kip Thorne. He estimates that he has mentored more than 50 PhD students and enjoys seeing them grow and excel in different areas, from physics to finance. Physics laureate Carl Wieman gains satisfaction from exploring how we can pass on knowledge more effectively. “By doing something different, like introducing interactive simulations, students could suddenly learn in a much different and better way,” he said. “This is vitally important for the future of humanity. People have to learn to make better decisions about our lives, and our societies, if we’re going to survive and thrive,” he added. Learn about the Nobel Prize Teaching Summit: https://bit.ly/4jpA1iA

"If we work together we all end up having a better world." Mario Molina was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for demonstrating that CFC gases were damaging the ozone layer. After showing the damage that CFCs cause, Molina helped develop the Montreal Protocol which banned their use worldwide. Today, thanks to his work, we have managed to reverse this depletion and the ozone layer is recovering. Molina was passionate about working together to find solutions to better look after our Earth: "We realised, 'If it is not us then who? If it is not now, when?'" Learn more: https://bit.ly/3b7kekt

Can you guess what this picture is? It's actually an image of Vitamin C, taken with polarised light. Vitamin C is essential for collagen formation and wound healing and a lack of it can lead to scurvy. Its study led to the awarding of both the medicine and chemistry prizes in 1937: the first to Albert von Szent-Györgyi, who first isolated the vitamin, and the second to Norman Haworth for determining its molecular structure. More about the 1937 medicine prize: https://bit.ly/2QcpJGC More about the 1937 chemistry prize: https://bit.ly/2U4IxbI

"Writing is best when it's complete, when it's finished. The process itself has its pleasures. Of course now and then at the end of the day's work, when you can get up and say, that's all right, I did okay today, but there also many days when you get up and you think, what a load of rubbish! I'm gonna have to go through all that again tomorrow. But I think the best moment in writing is when you think, yep. I think it's done." - 2021 literature laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah tells us his favourite thing about writing in this interview: https://bit.ly/3CHF9JS What do you enjoy about writing?

"It takes some courage to change discipline completely but I encourage you to do it nonetheless." Nobel Prize laureate Benjamin List on the importance of interdisciplinary science. Watch the full student Q&A with List here: https://lnkd.in/eP_Fixft

In a world where the dangers of chemical warfare still exist, one organisation dared to challenge the status quo. The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. During WWII chemical weapons were used in Hitler’s mass extermination programme. During the Cold War, the USA and the USSR stored huge stockpiles of chemical weapons, many of which have still not been destroyed. Terrorists have also used chemical weapons, e.g. during the Tokyo metro attack in 1995. The OPCW's mission is rooted in the Chemical Weapons Convention, which has made the use of chemical weapons a taboo under international law. The OPCW remains committed to its goal of a world free from chemical threats. The organisation's work involves inspections, destruction of stockpiles, and ensuring compliance with the Convention. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/4gYMQ0K #NobelPrize

"I believe in this ability to feel the interior of other people even though they are far away or even though you don't know them personally." In our official interview, Han Kang describes how her love for reading started in childhood, her creative process, writers block, and her experience with imagination. Kang was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life. Watch the full interview: https://bit.ly/4bOA43O

"Almost exactly fifteen years ago somewhere close to the Thai-Cambodian border, Tun Channareth was lying helpless in a minefield, both legs shattered by an anti-personnel mine. As his terrified friend looked on he took an axe and attempted, in his own words, '… to cut off the dead weight of my legs.' Horrified by the sight, his companion snatched away the axe and dragged him from the minefield. Mercifully unconscious through loss of blood for most of the hours that followed, he awoke to find his legs amputated. Today he lives with his wife and six children in Cambodia. He designs wheelchairs and works with disabled children, encouraging them to live full and active lives. Tun Channareth is one of tens of thousands of campaigners from more than sixty countries who work in a worldwide partnership; International Campaign to Ban Landmines (the ICBL). He was chosen to accept this prestigious award because he exemplifies the experience, commitment and activism which form the roots of this campaign, a coalition of more than 1100 nongovernmental organisations." In 1997 Tun Channareth visited Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. They began their prize lecture by telling his story and demonstrating just why they are working towards a mine-free world. Read the full lecture: https://bit.ly/3urUkmT

"My absolute favourite thing in the world is whenever we discover or invent a new reaction. That happens a lot more than you would think. Still to this day it catches me unawares. Last week, actually we invented a new reaction and I was just sitting in this meeting with 35 people thinking, wow, we didn’t know that this existed yesterday and today this will exist forevermore. That’s a truly remarkable, wonderful feeling. Just to be part of it and see it in real-time and know that other people are going use it really soon and use it for making medicines and maybe making materials. That’s a remarkably privileged situation to be in to be at that forefront of that scientific endeavour where you can see these innovations happen in real time. So without question, seeing new reactions being developed and seeing it in real-time, that’s my favourite part of being a scientist." - chemistry laureate David MacMillan on what he loves most about being a scientist. In 2000, MacMillan and his co-laureate Benjamin List developed a new type of catalysis that builds upon small organic molecules. An important capacity of many such catalysts is the ability to build only one of two mirror image variants of a molecule. Such catalysts are used for example in pharmaceutical research and have made chemistry more environmentally friendly. MacMillan and List shared the 2021 chemistry prize. Learn more about MacMillan: https://bit.ly/3qgiSOk #NobelPrize