Nobel Prize Conversations

“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, t...

“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 P...

"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...

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?" Pa...

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

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 mech...

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...

"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 wa...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 Econo...

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...

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 technolog...

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...

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