The Prizefighters
Gutsy. Bloody-minded. Irresponsible. Devious. Cavalier. Reckless. Tough. There’s a Nobel Prize for each of those characteristics.
The recipient of 2023’s Nobel for Medicine was certainly gutsy. To stay in the United States in 1988, Katalin Karikó, born and raised in Hungary, had to fight an extradition order initiated by a slighted former colleague. When the University of Pennsylvania repeatedly demoted her because she wasn’t bringing in enough money, she left, telling her bosses to preserve her lab as a museum, because one day her work was going to make her famous. She was right: Her research and insights paved the way for the COVID-19 vaccine.
Nobel laureates are often like that. While the public perception of science is one of a careful, modest, plod toward discovery, the truth is that scientists keen to make a difference in their field often have to upend things to change the status quo. Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse has likened his role within a research group his bold experiment “was one of those occasions when it would be easier to get forgiveness than permission.” And sometimes you have to bring that knockout punch: Your competitors are not going to stand aside and let you onto the podium unchallenged.
