Nobel Prize Conversations

Afleveringen

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  Nobel Prize Conversations: Mid-season reflections with Adam and Karin 05.08.2026 7min

  At the halfway point of the season, Karin Svensson and Adam Smith reflect on what they have learned from conversations with Nobel Prize laureates and why there is no single mould for a successful scientist. They discuss the challenge of explaining complex ideas, the importance of embracing uncertainty and the sense of wonder that drives discovery. They also provide a sneak peek of the conversations to come: quantum physics, artificial intelligence, and literature. This podcast was a production of Nobel Prize Outreach and Filt, and created in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Nobel Prize Conversations with 2025 economic sciences laureates Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt 29.07.2026 1u 2min

  We are living during a period of economic growth, but that hasn't always been the case. Throughout history, even during eras of technological advancements – economic growth was not a given. The 2025 laureates in economic sciences – Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt – help us to understand how scientific innovations and creative destruction impact society. Join us for this timely conversation where we discuss technological changes and the potential threats they cause.For a quick intro to 2025’s awarded work in economic sciences, check out our Crash Course on how to sustain economic growth or John Hassler’s eloquent speech from the Nobel Prize award ceremony.Read complete profiles of Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt, and explore the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel at our website.See the announcement of the 2025 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel and the moment Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt were awarded their medals, all available on YouTube. This podcast was a production of Nobel Prize Outreach and Filt, and created in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Nobel Prize Conversations with physiology or medicine laureates Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi 22.07.2026 1u 1min

  Patience, persistence and a strong will for never giving up. Discovering how the immune system is kept in check demanded a lot of our 2025 medicine laureates. Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi spent years finding out how our body's powerful immune system is regulated – leading to the development of medical treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Join us for our conversation where we unravel the achievements behind the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. For a quick introduction to 2025’s awarded discovery in physiology or medicine, check out our Crash Course on regulatory T-cells or Olle Kämpe’s eloquent speech from the Nobel Prize award ceremony.Read complete profiles of Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi, and explore the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at our website, nobelprize.org.See the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 and the moment Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi were awarded their medals, all available on YouTube.This podcast was a production of Nobel Prize Outreach and Filt, and created in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Nobel Prize Conversations with the 2025 chemistry laureates Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi 15.07.2026 58min

  Have you heard of MOFs? A new field of chemistry opened up with the discovery of Metal organic frameworks and the scientists behind it were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Richard Robson, Omar Yaghi and Susumu Kitagawa all let their minds wander to unplanned places and changed chemistry forever. One of the most interesting and life-saving applications of MOFs is water harvesting, although its potential uses are endless. Join us as we explore the world of MOFs through the eyes of the 2025 chemistry laureates.  For a quick introduction to 2025’s awarded discovery in chemistry, check out our Crash Course on MOFs or Olof Ramström’s eloquent speech from the Nobel Prize award ceremony.Read complete profiles of Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi, and explore the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry at our website, nobelprize.org.See the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 and the moment Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi were awarded their medals, all available on YouTube.This podcast was a production of Nobel Prize Outreach and Filt, and created in cooperation with Fundación Ramón Areces. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Peter Howitt, prize in economic sciences 2025 | Telephone interview 13.10.2025 3min

  “I’m not one of these people who keeps the phone on, and the champagne in the fridge.” Peter Howitt certainly didn’t seem to be expecting the news of his 2025 prize in economic sciences. In this call recorded just after the announcement, he talks to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith about his longstanding friendship with fellow-laureate Philippe Aghion and how they started their collaboration in the conducive environment of MIT. “My future,” he concludes, “is going to involve more economics, and less golf, than I had anticipated!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Philippe Aghion, prize in economic sciences 2025 | Telephone interview 13.10.2025 5min

  “Peter, Peter, make yourself available, your phone, they’re trying to reach you!” Listen to Philippe Aghion telling Peter Howitt that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has been attempting to call him, captured as part of this call made shortly after the public announcement of their joint 2025 economic sciences prize. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith he also reveals his joy and surprise at the news, discusses the implications of their ‘creative destruction’ model of sustained economic growth, and suggests paths to ensuring that the fruits of growth can be more widely shared. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Joel Mokyr, prize in economic sciences 2025 | Telephone interview 13.10.2025 3min

  “I had a whole list of people that I thought were going to win,” says Joel Mokyr, “And I wasn’t on it.” Waking early, he opened up his computer to find out who had been awarded the 2025 prize in economic sciences, and found emails saying ’Congratulations.’ Then, as Mokyr tells the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith in this brief call, he saw missed calls from Sweden on his phone and, “The suspicion started to ripen!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Michel Devoret, Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 | Telephone interview 10.10.2025 9min

  “I would say a fundamental discovery really becomes true when you can apply it to something concrete.” In this conversation, recorded after two hectic days following the prize announcement, new physics laureate Michel Devoret reflects on the excitement of seeing the fruits of research. He also talks about his co-laureate John Clarke, one of his role models, together with Lord Kelvin. Devoret describes how he woke on announcement day to find that the world already knew the news: “I had completely forgotten that October was the Nobel Prize month!” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Maria Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025 | Telephone interview 10.10.2025 4min

  “I am just part of a huge movement. I’m humbled, I’m grateful and I’m honoured.” – The announcement of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize came as a huge surprise to Maria Corina Machado. In this interview, recorded directly after the news was broken, she describes how honoured she feels, and highlights the strength of her fellow Venezuelans. “I accept this is as a recognition to our people, to the millions of Venezuelans that are anonymous and are risking everything they have for freedom, justice and peace and I’m absolutely convinced that we will achieve it.”Maria Corina Machado was interviewed by Robyn E. Hardy, Assistant Research Manager at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Finding out the news | Maria Corina Machado, Nobel Peace Prize 2025 10.10.2025 4min

  “Oh my god… I have no words.” – Listen to the emotional moment this year’s laureate Maria Corina Machado finds out she has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.Kristian Berg Harpviken, Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, shared the news with her directly before it was announced to the world. The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy" © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | László Krasznahorkai, Nobel Prize in Literature 2025 | Telephone interview 09.10.2025 7min

  “I’m very proud to be in the line of some really great writers and poets.” In this interview, new literature laureate László Krasznahorkai shares his happiness about his Nobel Prize, which came as a surprise. Krasznahorkai speaks about how bitterness is an important driver for him, and also highlights the importance of using your fantasy. “Without fantasy, it’s an absolute different life. To read books gives us more power to survive these very difficult times on Earth.”  © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Susumu Kitagawa, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 | Telephone interview 09.10.2025 5min

  “This is the mind of the researcher in Japan,” says Susumu Kitagawa, “Don’t switch off the light, even at night.” In this short conversation recorded the day after the announcement of his Nobel Prize in Physics, Kitagawa talks to the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith about his approach to tackling grand challenges, and how to keep a lookout for the unexpected. He also explains how his perspective on research has a lineage that extends back to other Japanese Nobel Prize laureates Kenichi Fukui, Akira Yoshino and even Hideki Yukawa, the very first Nobel Prize laureate from Japan.© Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Richard Robson, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 | Telephone interview 08.10.2025 8min

   “Some people thought it was a whole load of rubbish. But it didn’t turn out that way.” Richard Robson’s new concept for molecular architecture, which occurred to him while building models for teaching, was the starting point for the burgeoning field of metal–organic frameworks. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded just after his Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced, he recounts how this new idea emerged and how, in the end, he just had to do something about it. He also offers some modest reflections on a long life in chemistry, which he says wasn’t exactly a vocation: “I sort of drifted into it, I couldn’t think of anything better to do.”© Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Omar Yaghi, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 | Telephone interview 08.10.2025 9min

  “I set out to build beautiful things and solve intellectual problems.” Omar Yaghi was just changing flights when he had heard the news that he had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. For this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded as he was departing on the next leg of his journey, Yaghi speaks about his early life as a refugee in Jordan, the wonderful way his field has developed, and the overwhelming draw of the beauty of chemistry; “The deeper you dig, the more beautifully you find things are constructed.” © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | John Martinis, Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 | Telephone interview 07.10.2025 8min

   “My wife is very kind to me, so she didn’t wake me up for a couple of hours.” John Martinis was sleeping when news of his Nobel Prize in Physics broke, but his wife Jean was up reading late into the night and received the calls, letting him sleep on. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, he talks about the excitement of learning how to investigate problems with his co-laureates John Clarke and Michel Devoret, four decades ago, and how that experience taught him what to aim for when building labs in academic and industry subsequently. © Nobel Prize Outreach. First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Fred Ramsdell, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine | telephone interview 07.10.2025 10min

  “I was out walking the dogs and she started yelling, and I thought there was a grizzly bear nearby.” Actually, what Fred Ramsdell’s wife was telling him, while on a hiking trip together, was that he had been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded early the following day, Ramsdell recall how the realisation dawned on them. He goes on to speak about the benefits of working in the environment of biotech, the joy of finding talented collaborators, and the importance of celebrating the dedication of those that nurtured hundreds of generations of the all-important scurfy mouse, in which he and Mary Brunkow discovered the FOXP3 gene: “I'm really in awe of the fact that they were able to do that for so long. It's incredible.” © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | John Clarke, Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 | Telephone interview 07.10.2025 4min

  “I could not imagine accepting the prize without the two of them,” says John Clarke of his fellow Nobel Prize laureates in physics, John Martinis and Michel Devoret. In this short conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded just after the public announcement of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics, Clarke recalls the electric atmosphere in the lab, 40 years ago, during their experiments in which they first demonstrated macroscopic quantum tunnelling. Clarke also reflects on others who inspired his thinking at the start of his career. © Nobel Prize Outreach.First reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Mary Brunkow, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 | Telephone interview 06.10.2025 5min

  “My phone rang, and I saw a number from Sweden and thought, well that’s just spam of some sort, so I disabled the phone and went back to sleep.” Mary Brunkow clearly wasn’t expecting the call from Stockholm. This brief conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith catches the new medicine laureate at her dining table at 4:30am, an hour and a half after she had heard the news. She talks about the power of genetics to unravel biology and how she feels it was an honour to have been one of the contributors to solving the puzzle of immune tolerance: “It takes a bunch of different brains, all working on it together, for sure!” © Nobel Prize Outreach.First Reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  First reactions | Shimon Sakaguchi, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 | Telephone interview 06.10.2025 6min

  "I believe this will encourage immunologists and physicians to apply the T regulatory cells to treat various immunological diseases.” Shimon Sakaguchi, 2025 Nobel Prize laureate in physiology or medicine, has always been driven by the desire to find new ways to combat disease. In this conversation with the Nobel Prize’s Adam Smith, recorded just after the prize announcement, Sakaguchi speaks briefly about his surprise at the news and reflects on the fundamental research question that kept him dedicated to the field after many others abandoned it, a question that took over two decades to answer.© Nobel Prize Outreach.First Reactions terms of use: https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-terms-of-use Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  A Time for Celebration: Adam Smith reveals what really gets our laureates celebrating 01.10.2025 47min

  In this special bonus episode of Nobel Prize Conversations, we shine a light on the many ways achievements in science are celebrated — from quiet late-night breakthroughs in the lab to the glittering applause of the Nobel Prize award ceremony. Host Karin Svensson speaks with Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer at Nobel Prize Outreach, about why recognition matters, how laureates share their joy with families, colleagues, and entire communities, and how the Nobel Prize captures the world’s attention to honour the spirit of discovery. Along the way, we hear stories of invention, laughter, music, and even unexpected traditions from Nobel Prize laureates Peter Agre, Jim Allison, Frances Arnold, John Jumper, Katalin Karikó, Benjamin List, David McMillan, John O'Keefe, Paul Romer, George Smith and Donna Strickland. 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://linktr.ee/NobelPrizeConversations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.