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Nobel Prize Conversations — Education
Nobel Prize Conversations

Through their lives and work, failures and successes – get to know the individuals who have been awarded the Nobel Prize. The host for this podcast is Adam Smith, who has the happy task of interviewing our Nobel Prize laureates.

Sit in on our conversations as we delve into how these personalities found their fields of interest — often by coincidence — how they view collaboration, curiosity and failure, and what keeps them going. The laureates share what they have learned from their career and what they like to do outside of their work – from music to fly-fishing. We let the discussions flow freely, resulting in richly varied stories on topics ranging from poverty prevention to the science of black holes and the importance of being a role model.

Our latest season running in Spring/Summer 2024, features the new crop of 2023 laureates, and is produced in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright: ©2024 Nobel Prize Outreach AB

Latest Episodes:

First Reactions | James Robinson, prize in economic sciences 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 14, 2024

“Get up, you need to get up! You’ve won the Nobel Prize.” That’s how James Robinson discovered he was a 2024 economic sciences laureate, as his wife, Maria Angélica Bautista, woke him up. In this brief call with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith he talks about the root causes of poverty and how to build the types of political structures that enhance prosperity: “Inclusive institutions are not created by well-meaning elites. They’re created by people who fight for their rights.”

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First Reactions | Daron Acemoglu, prize in economic sciences 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 14, 2024

“There’s nothing natural about 30-, 40-, 50- fold differences in income per capita in a globalised, connected world.” Daron Acemoglu, economic sciences laureate 2024, speaks about the root causes of persistent poverty among the poorest nations and how to build the types of inclusive institution that can support prosperity. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded shortly after the prize announcement, Acemoglu also highlights the importance of democracy and his fears regarding AI, and how its misuse could result in a two-tier society.

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First Reactions | Simon Johnson, prize in economic sciences 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 14, 2024

“True, genuine, inclusive democracy matters, very clearly.” Simon Johnson, economic sciences laureate 2024, learnt of the award from the congratulatory text messages piling-up on his phone. In this short conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded just moments after he had heard the news, he highlights the importance of participatory decision-making in making the most of human potential.

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First Reactions | Nihon Hidankyo, Nobel Peace Prize 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 11, 2024

“The dream came true!” The prize came as a big surprise, says Masako Wada, a representative from the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo, which works to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons. In this interview shortly after learning about the Nobel Peace Prize 2024, she shares her deep concerns on the world’s backlash on nuclear disarmament, not least after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “Rather than anger, I feel sorrow and fear how deep humans will fall into darkness.”

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First Reactions | Han Kang, Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 10, 2024

”I’m so surprised and honoured.” 2024 literature laureate Han Kang had just finished dinner with her son at her home in Seoul when she received the news. In this interview with the Nobel Prize, she reflects on being the first South Korean literature laureate and talks about how writers as a collective have influenced her. “All their efforts and strengths have been my inspiration.” Han Kang also talks about her writing process on the international hit “The Vegetarian”, and recommends her most recent book “We Do Not Part” for anyone who’s curious to start reading her books.

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First Reactions | David Baker, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 09, 2024

“I got the phone call and my wife promptly started screaming.” News of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry gave David Baker’s household a very early wake up call. Here, just after the prize announcement, Baker speaks to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith about the exciting potential of building brand new proteins, the inspirational effect his fellow laureates have had on his field and whether it is necessary to understand how predictive algorithms work.

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First Reactions | John Jumper, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 09, 2024

“It’s absolutely extraordinary.” John Jumper had just heard the news of his 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry when he spoke to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith. “I thought I had a 10 % chance,” he reveals. To save his nerves, his plan had been to sleep in until after the announcement, which didn’t quite work out. In the interview, he talks about being the youngest chemistry laureate in over 70 years, and about AI’s role in science. “What I love about all this is that we can draw a straight line from what we do to people being healthy.”

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First Reactions | Demis Hassabis, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 09, 2024

“The best scientists paired with these kinds of tools will be able to do incredible things.” Demis Hassabis, 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry, reflects on building the right research environment and the interplay between AI and individual scientists. This short conversation with Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith was recorded just after he had received the call from Stockholm.

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First Reactions | John Hopfield, Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 08, 2024

“You have to build up from the bottom.” In this interview shortly after the announcement, 2024 physics laureate John Hopfield talks about how he found out about the prize when he was going through his e-mails. ”It didn't sink it until I got to the fourth e-mail!” Hopfield reflects on how to tackle big questions, such as how the mind works, in this conversation. He and his wife Mary Waltham spoke to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith from his cottage in the village of Selborne in England, which was home to the 18th century naturalist Gilbert White.

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First Reactions | Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 08, 2024

“How could I be sure it wasn’t a spoof call?” 2024 physics laureate Geoffrey Hinton received the phone call from Stockholm at around 2am in a hotel room in California, and multiple Swedish accents helped reassure him that his Nobel Prize in Physics was real. Greatly surprised, he talks to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith about the state of machine learning, the pressing need for safety research, and his hopes that the award might make people take the fears he voices more seriously.

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First Reactions | Victor Ambros, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 07, 2024

“We see it as a celebration of the way of doing science,” says Victor Ambros of his Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In this call with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, Ambros speaks about the joy of basic research and the ever-expanding fascination of RNA. Recorded just after Ambros found out about the prize, we also discover how the news was broken to the new laureate by his son, who began with the leading question, “Have you been getting calls from Sweden?”

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First Reactions | Gary Ruvkun, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2024 | Telephone interview Oct 07, 2024

“I heard what sounded like an authentic call from the Nobel Committee!” New medicine laureate Gary Ruvkun might have received a prank call or two in the past, but today’s was genuine. He talked to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith minutes after hearing the news, about the pleasure of finding things out, the electrifying growth of the microRNA field over the years, and the benefits of taking time out. And as for what’s about to follow: “It’s going to be a fun ride!”

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Jon Fosse: Nobel Prize Conversations Jul 17, 2024

Is the creative process different in the fields of art, literature and music? In a podcast conversation, literature laureate Jon Fosse speaks about all three fields and how they are similar in many ways. American painter Mark Rothko is mentioned as a source of inspiration as well as art in general. We also get insights into Fosse's childhood where music was large part of his life.

Today Jon Fosse enjoys a world of silence and avoids the noise of the world if possible. He describes his writing process, how he enjoys writing by hand with fountain pens and how a reader can tell if a book is written by hand or not. He also speaks about his relationship to God and religion.

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Pierre Agostini: Nobel Prize Conversations Jul 10, 2024

Hear physics laureate Pierre Agostini describe how he found his love of science: ”It was only when I started doing research that I discovered the fun of physics." Together with podcast host Adam Smith, he talks about multiphoton ionisation, Planck time and contradicting Einstein.

Agostini also tells us about how his life has changed after being awarded the 2023 physics prize and how it has taken him some time to get used to his new role as a Nobel Prize laureate.

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Moungi Bawendi: Nobel Prize Conversations Jul 03, 2024

Is it possible to 'see' quantum mechanics in action? In a podcast conversation, chemistry laureate Moungi Bawendi speaks about the incredible gratification of visualising quantum mechanics and how his collaboration with co-laureate Louis Brus started.

He also shares his love of music and speaks about how his lab's yearly ski trip helps his group work better together. Intuition and diversity in science are two more topics that are up for discussion.

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Louis Brus: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 26, 2024

Some words of wisdom from chemistry laureate Louis Brus: "You recognise opportunity and then you have to take advantage of it. Seize the opportunity basically. It takes some struggle."

In a conversation with podcast host Adam Smith, Louis Brus speaks about the process of discovery and his own scientific path.

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Anne L'Huillier: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 19, 2024

What are the benefits of creating a diverse laboratory? In this podcast episode with physicist Anne L’Huillier, we speak about the importance of diversity and how she herself speaks and thinks in three languages. From cultures and countries to gender, we discuss the advantages of bringing together people with a variety of backgrounds and experiences and how to promote this.

Also up for discussion are the consequences of becoming a Nobel Prize laureate. L’Huillier sees both the good and bad sides, including being a source of inspiration while having less time to write her new scientific textbook.

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Drew Weissman: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 12, 2024

How can we ensure that knowledge and science are spread globally? Medicine laureate Drew Weissman is an advocate for creating research centres around the world to give local researchers the means to have ownership and solve health issues by themselves. As Weissman puts it: ”A lot of people set up a clinic in a city somewhere, collect samples, take them home, and study them. To me, that compounds the problem, because it doesn't teach people. It doesn't make scientists better.”

Weissman also tells host Adam Smith about how his interest in science was sparked and how he has maintained that curiosity for the rest of his life.

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Claudia Goldin: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 05, 2024

There are many roads one can take in life. But to what extent will your life choices decide what kind of person you become? In this podcast conversation with economist and laureate Claudia Goldin, we discuss the choices that brought her to this moment in time.

Our podcast host Adam Smith, who meets Goldin in the year after she received the prize in economic science, also talks with her about the definition of a good teacher and Goldin’s pioneering research in women’s labour market.

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Ferenc Krausz: Nobel Prize Conversations May 29, 2024

Meet 2023 physics laureate Ferenc Krausz in conversation with podcast host Adam Smith, as they discuss a scientific journey which has spanned three countries – and to which Krausz attributes his Nobel Prize.

”These particles were discovered more than a hundred years before. It took an utter century to develop the tools to actually capture them in motion. It was an indescribable moment.”, he says as he recalls how this moment of discovery was a long time in the making. Krausz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for giving humanity new tools to exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules.

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Katalin Karikó: Nobel Prize Conversations May 22, 2024

"I also thank the people who tried to make my life miserable – because they made me work harder and become more resilient." – Working harder and becoming more resilient seems to be the story of Nobel Prize laureate Katalin Karikós’s life. Despite facing a number of enormous challenges, she has never lost hope or focus. Instead she is convinced that it is better to focus on yourself and not to despair when life doesn’t go as planned.

In our podcast conversation Karikó, our 2023 medicine laureate, shares some of her best practices for overcoming obstacles and never giving up. As an added bonus, she also gives us some insightful parenting advice.

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Mario Molina: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Nov 29, 2023

"I had decided as a child if it was possible to become a scientist and to do scientific research for a living that's what I wanted to do." – In this episode, we meet physical chemist Mario Molina who spent his life working on climate research. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1995 for his investigations into how CFC gases damage the ozone layer. Molina dedicated his life to reducing their use and advocating for ways in which we can reduce our impact on the Earth. Molina speaks about the report he chaired, 'What We Know', a paper which discussed climate change in an effort to inform the public and oppose those who deny climate change. He also speaks about his childhood and about how his interest in science was sparked.

Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.

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Jody Williams: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Nov 22, 2023

”I have been fortunate to be able to live my life doing what I believe in. Not everybody has that fortune"

In this podcast episode, peace activist Jody Williams tells us how she has tried to use the power that was given to her after being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. She is a strong advocate for working across organisations to solve global challenges such as banning nuclear weapons and eliminating the use of sexual violence in war. She also speaks about her work within the Nobel Women's Initiative, an organisation established by herself and other fellow female peace laureates.

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John Mather: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Nov 15, 2023

”I don't think it's my job or anybody's job to try to convince other people of the righteousness of my opinion. I think it's each person's job to figure out how they look at the world.” – This conversation with astrophysicist John Mather was recorded in 2014, where he speaks to Adam Smith about space and if we will be going to Mars in the future. Mather also shares good advice to young researchers on how to prioritise projects. The movie ’Gravity’ is another topic that comes up - how scientifically accurate is that movie?

John Mather was awarded the Nobel Prize on Physics in 2006 for research that looked back at the infancy of the Universe and attempted to gain some understanding of the origin of galaxies and stars.

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Robert Shiller: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Nov 08, 2023

”Pursuing expertise doggedly can't be the goal for everyone because being specialised means losing some breadth of understanding. We need both kinds of people." – In this podcast episode recorded in 2014 economist Robert Shiller speaks about technology and the role he thinks it will have in the future. He also shares his best advice for young economists and what he thinks about teaching online courses to large audiences. Together with the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith, they also discuss stage fright, and how to overcome it.

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Barry Marshall: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Nov 01, 2023

”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.

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Alice Munro: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Talks Oct 25, 2023

”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.

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Calling Claudia Goldin: 2023 economic sciences laureate Oct 09, 2023

“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.

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Calling Jon Fosse: 2023 literature laureate Oct 06, 2023

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.

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Calling Louis Brus: 2023 chemistry laureate Oct 04, 2023

"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."

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Calling Alexei Ekimov: 2023 chemistry laureate Oct 04, 2023

"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."

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Calling Moungi Bawendi: 2023 chemistry laureate Oct 04, 2023

"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.

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Calling Pierre Agostini: 2023 physics laureate Oct 03, 2023

“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.

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Calling Anne L'Huillier: 2023 physics laureate Oct 03, 2023

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."

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Calling Ferenc Krausz: 2023 physics laureate Oct 03, 2023

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!”

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Calling Drew Weissman: 2023 medicine laureate Oct 02, 2023

“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!"

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Calling Katalin Karikó: 2023 medicine laureate Oct 02, 2023

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."

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Behind the scenes: Adam Smith presents more October interviews with the new Nobel Prize laureates Sep 27, 2023

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.

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Barry Sharpless: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 21, 2023

“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.

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Anton Zeilinger: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 14, 2023

”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.

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Alain Aspect: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 07, 2023

"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.

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Ben Bernanke: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 01, 2023

“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.

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Svante Pääbo: Nobel Prize Conversations May 24, 2023

"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

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Philip Dybvig: Nobel Prize Conversations May 17, 2023

”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.

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Carolyn Bertozzi: Nobel Prize Conversations May 10, 2023

“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.

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Douglas Diamond: Nobel Prize Conversations May 03, 2023

“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.

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Morten Meldal: Nobel Prize Conversations Apr 26, 2023

“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.

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Leymah Gbowee: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 23, 2022

"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.

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Roger Penrose: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 16, 2022

“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".

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Emmanuelle Charpentier: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 09, 2022

"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.

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Richard Thaler: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 02, 2022

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.

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Andrea Ghez: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Oct 26, 2022

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.

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Kip Thorne: Encore presentation of Nobel Prize Conversations Oct 19, 2022

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’."

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Calling Ben Bernanke, 2022 economic sciences laureate Oct 11, 2022

“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.”

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Philip Dybvig, 2022 economic sciences laureate Oct 10, 2022

“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."

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Douglas Diamond, 2022 economic sciences laureate Oct 10, 2022

“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”.

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Oleksandra Matviychuk, Center for Civil Liberties: 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Oct 08, 2022

“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.

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The Call from Oslo to Center for Civil Liberties, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oct 07, 2022

"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.

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Calling Barry Sharpless: 2022 chemistry laureate Oct 05, 2022

“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.”

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Carolyn Bertozzi, 2022 chemistry laureate Oct 05, 2022

“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.”

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Morten Meldal, 2022 chemistry laureate Oct 05, 2022

“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.”

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling John Clauser, 2022 physics laureate Oct 04, 2022

“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!”

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Anton Zeilinger, 2022 physics laureate Oct 04, 2022

"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.

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Alain Aspect, 2022 physics laureate Oct 04, 2022

“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.

From October 3-10, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2022 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Svante Pääbo, 2022 medicine laureate Oct 03, 2022

“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.”

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Laureate origin stories: Adam Smith explores what factors make a Nobel Prize laureate Sep 28, 2022

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.”

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Maria Ressa: Nobel Prize Conversations Jul 07, 2022

"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.

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Abdulrazak Gurnah: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 29, 2022

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.

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Guido Imbens: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 22, 2022

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.

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Hartmut Michel: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 15, 2022

"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.

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David Julius: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 08, 2022

"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.

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Benjamin List: Nobel Prize Conversations Jun 01, 2022

"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.

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David Card: Nobel Prize Conversations May 25, 2022

”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.

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Giorgio Parisi: Nobel Prize Conversations May 18, 2022

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.

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Joshua Angrist: Nobel Prize Conversations May 11, 2022

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.”

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Ardem Patapoutian: Nobel Prize Conversations May 04, 2022

“I think there's a little bit of romanticism in science still. I find that the dreamers are usually the ones that make it.” Practical work, like conducting experiments and gathering data, might be central to a scientist’s job. But there is also room for dreams and imagination – which can help us find the gaps in our knowledge, and dare to ask unexpected questions.

Ardem Patapoutian received the 2021 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine together with David Julius for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch. In this episode, Patapoutian discusses the importance teamwork and diversity in the lab, and the art of learning from experience – and from failure.

Your host is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.

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David MacMillan: Nobel Prize Conversations Apr 27, 2022

In this episode, meet football fan and chemist David MacMillan. Together with podcast host Adam Smith, he speaks about the importance of storytelling and his strong belief that “science is supposed to be about having fun, it is not supposed to be about intimidating people.”

MacMillan shares his journey from a family where no one had gone to university to becoming a Nobel Prize laureate. He was awarded the chemistry prize in 2021 for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis. We also hear about how his upbringing in Scotland shaped him as a scientist and why his parents insisted that he went to university.

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Leymah Gbowee: Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 22, 2021

"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 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 instil 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.

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Klaus Hasselmann: Live 2021 Special - Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 10, 2021

This special live episode features a conversation with Klaus Hasselmann, the 2021 physics laureate. Before that we will also present some highlights from this year’s announcement telephone interviews. Hear Klaus Hasselmann alongside his fellow 2021 laureates David Julius, Benjamin List, David MacMillan and Ardem Patapoutian – and relive some of the moments of disbelief, shock and excitement from the calls.

From the stage of Nobel Week Dialogue in Gothenburg Sweden, podcast producer Karin Svensson reprises her guest role as host of the show, asking Adam Smith about the new crop of 2021 telephone interviews. Then, Nobel Prize Outreach’s Adam Smith takes the helm for a conversation with Klaus Hasselmann.

Klaus Hasselmann received the Nobel Prize in physics for developing climate models to reliably predict global warming. He shares the prize with Syukuro Manabe and Giorgio Parisi. He is a professor emeritus of the University of Hamburg and a former director of the Max Planck institute for meteorology.

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Paul Milgrom - Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 08, 2021

”Sometimes I make a mistake during the lecture, I'll make an argument that's not quite right and not even notice it, and a student will catch me. I just love it when students do that.” – Economic sciences laureate Paul Milgrom loves being a teacher. He also loves when his students correct him and ask him hard questions that he doesn't know the answer to. In this podcast episode the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith speaks to economist Milgrom about his own school years and what type of teacher he aspires to be.

Paul Milgrom shared the prize in economic sciences with his PhD advisor Robert Wilson for their research on auction theories.

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Wole Soyinka: Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 24, 2021

“I won the Nobel Prize so I built a much bigger house than I ever planned.” — Wole Soyinka envisioned a small cottage on a large plot of land as a retreat for his writing, but a phone call from Stockholm made it possible to super-size his plans with rooms for many artists to dedicate themselves to their work. Literature laureate Wole Soyinka, who only very occasionally grants interviews, speaks to the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith about his photographic memory, his creative process and the question of who he writes literature for. His home of Nigeria figures prominently in his writing, and he looks ahead to the future of his country. Wole Soyinka also tells us about his passion for space and space travel, or as he puts it, "I am a space nut!"

Wole Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 1986 and in 2021 he published his first novel for almost 50 years.

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Didier Queloz: Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 10, 2021

"When people think about other worlds, they think about other life." Nobel Prize Laureate Didier Queloz was a pioneering explorer of exoplanets – planets outside our own solar system – and now he finds himself at the centre of a new endeavour, the ETH Center for the Origin & Prevalence of Life. Here, scientists from a variety of disciplines will meet to challenge their limits and hopefully make some breakthroughs. "The gaps between disciplines are exploratory places," as Queloz puts it.

Didier Queloz speaks to the Nobel Prize's Adam Smith about sending seasoned researchers like himself to scientific boot camp, the importance of science and science communication, and what finding ET might mean for the future of humankind.

Queloz received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Michel Mayor for their research on exoplanets.

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Joachim Frank: Nobel Prize Conversations Oct 27, 2021

“I make discoveries just because of very unique juxtapositions that I have never seen before. So there is some kind of resonance there.” – The creative and poetic chemistry laureate Joachim Frank always aspires to solve problems by looking at places no one has looked before. In this episode he describes how creative endeavours like "Poetry boxing" and photography have been essential to his successes in scientific research. He also relates how his life was shaped by his experiences growing up in the ruins of post-war Germany.

Joachim Frank was awarded the chemistry prize in 2017 "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution." The host of Nobel Prize Conversations is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.

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Elizabeth Blackburn: Nobel Prize Conversations Oct 13, 2021

Medicine laureate Elizabeth Blackburn has strong feelings about the value of science. In this conversation with Adam Smith, she speaks openly about how society must begin to understand just how important science is in our lives. She also discusses the climate crisis and shares her experiences from a recent visit to Antartica, where she found herself reminded of the severe consequences of climate change. They also take time for an exploration of the future of science, including the future of Blackburn's own research.

Elizabeth Blackburn was the 2009 Nobel Prize laureate in physiology or medicine. The host of Nobel Prize Conversations is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach.

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Calling Guido Imbens, 2021 economic sciences laureate Oct 11, 2021

“The only sad thing is there aren’t more hours in the day!” – After a busy, tiring Sunday, mountain biking with the family, Guido Imbens’ Monday morning wake-up call came a little after 2am with the news from Stockholm. “I’m sure that the adrenaline will get me through,” he says in this conversation with Adam Smith recorded shortly afterwards, with the excitement building around him: “Things have been hectic here!” He speaks about the benefits of the social side of research, the enjoyment of working with bright young minds, and the pure pleasure of just getting up and going to work.

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Joshua Angrist, 2021 economic sciences laureate Oct 11, 2021

“I saw that my phone was flooded with text messages,” says Joshua Angrist, having slept through the calls from Stockholm. In this brief interview he describes how he therefore called the MIT Press Department to check, and discovered it was true! The conversation turns to his work on the assumed benefits of elite schooling, his working relationship with his co-Laureates and what lies behind his productive collaboration with Guido Imbens.

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling David Card, 2021 economic sciences laureate Oct 11, 2021

“I was kinda hoping I might go to sleep!” – David Card had just got his pyjamas on and was heading for bed, after a very late night arrival from a trip, when the call from Stockholm came. This interview with Adam Smith was recorded just moments later and he talks about his work on immigration, the setting of the minimum wage, and the relationship between those studies and public policy. Meanwhile his wife, Cynthia Gessele, snaps his portrait as he chats in his dressing gown, a picture Adam Smith immediately requests for nobelprize.org: “This guy wants the picture!”

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The call from Oslo to Maria Ressa, 2021 peace laureate Oct 08, 2021

World exclusive: The call from Oslo. Hear Maria Ressa’s reaction when she hears the news from Olav Njølstad, Secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on being awarded the 2021 Nobel peace Prize just before the public announcement. "I'm speechless!"

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Abdulrazak Gurnah, 2021 literature laureate Oct 07, 2021

“As if there isn’t enough to go around” – “A kind of miserliness,” is how Abdulrazak Gurnah describes the attitude of some in Europe to refugees. After all, he says, “Europeans streaming out into the world is nothing new” and he suggests those seeking succour also be seen as “talented, energetic people, who have something to give.” In this brief conversation with Adam Smith, recorded just after he had heard the news, his surprise at receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature is evident. “I was just thinking ‘I wonder who’ll get it’”, says Gurnah: “I thought it was a prank, I really did.”

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling David MacMillan, 2021 chemistry laureate Oct 06, 2021

“We thought it had a very low probability of success” – The best ideas in science are often the ones with the least chance of succeeding, says David MacMillan: “It’s the stuff that should never work which is where all the good stuff is!” As he tells Adam Smith in this conversation recorded on the morning of the announcement, the thrill of discovery is also open to any undergraduate embarking in organic chemistry: “the very first day they build a molecule, it has never been made in the universe before!” And as for the news of his Nobel Prize: he describes how he initially thought it was a prank, bet his co-Laureate, Benjamin List, $1000 that it wasn’t true, and went back to bed!

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Benjamin List, 2021 chemistry laureate Oct 06, 2021

“Making molecules is like creating something beautiful” – Benjamin List was sitting in a café with his wife, Dr Sabine List, when the call from Stockholm came. “We looked at each other in disbelief,” he says, and jokingly asked, “Is this the call?” To his amazement, it was! In this interview with Adam Smith, recorded outside that café, he reflects on the beauty of building molecules, the importance of freedom in research and the joy of working with his team: “To work with these amazing, happy and creative people; it’s such a gift.”

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Giorgio Parisi, 2021 physics laureate Oct 05, 2021

“Fundamental science is crucial.” – In this short conversation, recorded shortly after his Nobel Prize in Physics was announced, Giorgio Parisi reflects on the value of asking basic questions. But what sort of questions does he address? “My mentor, Nicola Cabibbo,” he says, “was usually saying that we should work on a problem only if work on that problem is fun!” He then talks with Adam Smith about his hopes for science funding and the need to communicate. “It’s important that the people who in the end pay the bill for science have some understanding of what science is going on.”

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Syukuro Manabe, 2021 physics laureate Oct 05, 2021

"Why is this happening?" – Establishing a firm scientific basis for predicting what will happen to the climate, and in the shorter term to weather, has been the challenge that has occupied Syukuro Manabe's entire working life. In the interview with Adam Smith, recorded amidst the happy chaos resulting from the early morning announcement of his Nobel Prize in Physics, Manabe reflects on the importance of fundamental research. As he says, "The prediction of climate change without accompanying understanding of it is no better than the prediction of a fortune teller."

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Klaus Hasselmann, 2021 physics laureate Oct 05, 2021

"We've been warning against climate change for about 50 years or so" – Caught entirely unawares by the call from Stockholm, Klaus Hasselmann's surprise is evident in this brief interview with Adam Smith, recorded just minutes after the news of his Nobel Prize in Physics had been announced. "I'll wake up tomorrow morning and find out," he says! Pleased that the prize focuses attention on the problem, he discusses the challenges in convincing people that "something that is going to happen in 20 or 30 years is something that you have to respond to now."

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling David Julius, 2021 medicine laureate Oct 04, 2021

"The reason that we were able to do it is because we started looking at the natural world." – Turning to some natural product pharmacology was one key to David Julius' success in unlocking the mysteries of how we sense temperature. As he describes in this brief interview with Adam Smith, news that Stockholm was calling reached him in a rather roundabout route in the middle of the night, via a call from his sister-in-law and then a message sent to his wife, Holly Ingraham. Here, to the backdrop of making coffee to help prepare for the busy day ahead, he talks about the possibilities arising from his discoveries, what great scientists taught him about the best way to approach research, and what his mother said when she heard the news!

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Calling Ardem Patapoutian, 2021 medicine laureate Oct 04, 2021

"In science many times it’s the things that we take for granted that are of high interest." – As Ardem Patapoutian says, sometimes the familiar can yield the best surprises. When it comes to figuring out how our senses work, the sense of touch "was kind of the big elephant in the room." Patapoutian had his phone on Do Not Disturb when Stockholm tried to call him but got the news, via his Dad, just in time to watch the press conference, sitting in bed with his son Luca. Adam Smith caught him there to record this brief call moments after the public announcement of his Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and he describes how finally finding the sensors that allow cells to detect pressure has opened up whole new unexpected vistas of phenomena that are governed by sensitivity to touch. As he reflects, "Nobody ever could have thought that pressure sensing is related to these processes."

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Behind the scenes: Adam Smith's October interviews with the new Nobel Prize laureates Sep 29, 2021

Each year in October, Adam Smith takes on the challenge of reaching the brand new Nobel Prize laureates for a telephone interview. In this bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, Adam takes us behind the scenes of these calls and has collected some of his favourite moments. The host for this episode is Karin Svensson, the producer of Nobel Prize Conversations.

From October 4-11, don't miss our mini-season that will showcase the absolute freshest interviews with the new 2021 Nobel Prize laureates.

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Robert Wilson: Nobel Prize Conversations Mar 31, 2021

“I guess I was halfway content with the idea that somehow I’d become an economist.” – 2020 Laureate in Economic Sciences Robert Wilson didn’t really see himself as an economist until he reached the age of 50. Hear Wilson speak about his journey to becoming an economist.

In this ‘Nobel Prize Conversations’ episode, Wilson also speaks about how he received the news about his Prize in Economic Sciences and the culture shock he experienced when he started to study at Harvard University.

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Frank Wilczek: Nobel Prize Conversations Mar 17, 2021

In the newest episode of ‘Nobel Prize Conversations’, physics laureate Frank Wilczek tells us about his hope to make a mark on the world.

Wilzcek recently released a new book, ‘Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality’, where the readers get to follow Wilzcek on a “simple yet profound exploration of reality”. In this podcast episode, he discusses his new book. Another topic that is up for discussion is how to reach scientific results and Wilzcek shares his thoughts on the matter.

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Donna Strickland: Nobel Prize Conversations Mar 03, 2021

2018 Nobel Physics Laureate Donna Strickland knew she wanted to get a PhD, even as a kid. She didn’t know what it was, but if it was the ultimate in education she was going to get it! In the newest episode of ‘Nobel Prize Conversations’ we meet Donna Strickland and talk about her childhood dream of a PhD, dealing with failure, being a woman in science and being awarded the Nobel Prize.

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Robert Lefkowitz: Nobel Prize Conversations Feb 17, 2021

“Failure is an inevitable part of doing science.” – Even as one of the best-of-the-best young doctors in the country, Robert Lefkowitz’s research career kicked off in 1968 with a demoralizing string of failures at the now-legendary NIH Associates Training Program.

Together with Adam Smith, 2012 Chemistry Laureate Robert Lefkowitz shares his experience of dealing with failure. In addition, they discuss the importance of mentoring, the crucial role of collaboration in scientific development and the writing of Lefkowitz’s new memoir “A funny thing happened on the way to Stockholm”.

Lefkowitz’s research training class, the class of 1968, yielded no fewer than four Nobel Prize Laureates – a track record that’s hard to fathom. Listen to this episode of Nobel Prize Conversations.

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Roger Penrose: Nobel Prize Conversations Feb 03, 2021

“I am very bad at giving up.” – Get to know one of the greatest minds of today, physicist Roger Penrose. At 89, 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".

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Peter Doherty: Nobel Prize Conversations Jan 20, 2021

"This is the first time we have had a completely novel virus infection and we are trying to vaccinate our way out of it." In conversation with Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, Medicine Laureate Peter Doherty speaks about how we should learn from the current corona pandemic to be better prepared for and preferably prevent future pandemics. Doherty was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research on how the immune system recognises virus-ridden cells.

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Paul Nurse: Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 23, 2020

Known for his contagious energy and sometimes unconventional advice, Paul Nurse talks about Brexit and its effects on scientists and research, and why he has heeded the call to leadership in science – the same science that politicians say they're following. He also recalls his early years in biology as a spider hunter and why he thinks it's vital to ponder the big questions like "What is life?" Paul Nurse received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for discoveries of key regulators of the cell cycle", sharing the distinction with Tim Hunt and Leland Hartwell.

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Emmanuelle Charpentier: Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 09, 2020

In this episode we hear 2020 Nobel 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.

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Andrea Ghez: Nobel Prize Conversations Dec 09, 2020

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.

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Kip Thorne: Nobel Prize Conversations Nov 25, 2020

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’.

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Christopher Pissarides: Nobel Prize Conversations Oct 01, 2020

"I was always interested in big problems, and when I see a big problem I say, 'Let’s try to solve it, let’s try to think of a solution!'" Meet Christopher Pissarides, a humble London School of Economics professor who finished his PhD in two years and was awarded the 2010 Prize in Economic Sciences.

He and his co-laureates Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen were awarded the prize for finding ways to incorporate real-world frictions into the mathematical models that describe market behaviour. Their Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides (DMP) model is one of the most widely-used analytical tools for labour markets. Besides discussing labour markets, we speak about educational systems, how life has been affected by covid-19 and how Pissarides experienced moving from Cyprus to the UK.

This the is final episode of Nobel Prize Conversations season one. We hope you have enjoyed the podcasts and we look forward to welcoming you back soon for season two.

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Esther Duflo: Nobel Prize Conversations Sep 23, 2020

Esther Duflo’s research improves our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, co-laureates Duflo, Banerjee and Kremer have transformed development economics with their innovative experiment-based approach, which is now a flourishing field of research. Thanks to their work we have clearer perspectives on the core problems within areas such as education and health.

In this episode Adam Smith speaks to Esther Duflo about how her drive to understand and fight poverty began at an early age. They discuss the world in coronavirus times, and the fears and prejudices connected to migration. Duflo also shares her tips for managers and her best collaboration techniques.

Esther Duflo received the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2019 together with Abhijit Banerjee and Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.

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Daniel Kahneman: Nobel Prize Conversations Sep 16, 2020

How does it feel to be one of the most famous behavioural psychologists of our time? Daniel Kahneman says that it is perfectly fine to be famous as long as you don’t let it go to your head. From an early age, Kahneman was interested in people - his mother, both with irony and objectivity, observed and was fascinated with people in her surroundings.

In this digital conversation podcast host Adam Smith speaks to Daniel Kahneman in New York on eureka moments, scientific collaborations, stereotypes and racial discrimination, and also advice: “In general I try to give as little advice as possible.”

Daniel Kahneman was awarded the 2002 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty”.

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Oliver Hart: Nobel Prize Conversations Apr 22, 2020

Imagine you’re married, but you never discussed children with your partner beforehand. Then imagine your partner doesn’t want children, but you do. Your wedding day contract made no mention of kids, and legally everything is fine – but you’re still disappointed. Contracts are everywhere in society, and the example of children and marriage is just one example that shows that many contracts are - as Oliver Hart would say - incomplete.

In a conversation with The Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, Hart explores the importance of words and language for a researcher, how being good at economics is about learning to THINK like an economist and how Oliver Hart’s parents influenced him to think that anyone who’s not left-wing is an idiot.

In 2016 Oliver Hart was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences, together with the Finnish economist Bengt Holmström, for his contribution to contract theory.

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Christopher Sims: Nobel Prize Conversations Apr 08, 2020

How important is the money in your pocket? Try buying a sandwich with an IOU and a promise to come back and pay, and you’ll soon understand. Christopher Sims’ research explores topics from the meaning of money to his Prize-awarded work on cause and effect in the macroeconomy. In a conversation with The Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, Sims touches on sandwich shops, terrific teachers and a horse with a name that’s almost impossible to pronounce.

In 2011, Christopher Sims and fellow economist Thomas Sargent were awarded the Prize in economic sciences for developing methods that help define 'what caused what' in economics.

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Alvin Roth: Nobel Prize Conversations Mar 25, 2020

Would you say that you own your kidneys? What if you tried to sell one? Economic Sciences laureate Alvin Roth would call that, and other taboo exchanges, repugnant transactions. Roth pioneered ways of describing outlier markets where prices don’t work, and explaining why you can’t buy a job at Google or acceptance at Yale – or a human organ.

In 2012, Alvin Roth was awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences for his work in matching markets.

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Roger Myerson - Nobel Prize Conversations Mar 11, 2020

Belonging to a community is wonderful, but for Economic Sciences laureate Roger Myerson sharing outside your community is more important. By crossing math with history and politics, Myerson arrived at new insights about economics, found his love for Game Theory and moved onwards into new ways to describe situations where markets don’t work properly.

Roger Myerson was awarded the 2007 Prize in Economic Sciences, shared with Leonid Hurwicz and Eric Maskin, for mechanism design theory.

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Paul Romer: Nobel Prize Conversations Feb 26, 2020

Protecting the ship, building relationships and organising surprise weddings – in this week’s episode, Economic Sciences laureate Paul Romer discusses everything from the special moment he experienced just hours before collecting his prize to the importance of unity, purpose and inclusion.

Romer shared the 2018 Prize in Economic Sciences with William D. Nordhaus for integrating technological innovations into long-run macroeconomic analysis.

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Angus Deaton: Nobel Prize Conversations Feb 12, 2020

Angus Deaton dreamed of being a pianist, a rugby player or a mathematician – but he just wasn’t good enough. After these setbacks, however, he discovered economics, and in 2015 he was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare.

Listen to a conversation about some wild ideas, beautiful places and the role trout fishing can play in problem-solving.

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Richard Thaler: Nobel Prize Conversations Jan 29, 2020

Nudges, sludges, and the connection between stubbornness and success - in this first episode of Nobel Prize conversations, host Adam Smith interviews Economic Sciences laureate Richard Thaler. His 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.

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