Large audiences at Nobel Lectures
Chemistry Prize winner Omar M. Yaghi sits between Professor Jonas Bergquist and Vice-Chancellor Charlotte Platzer Björkman, waiting for the lecture to begin. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University
On 13 December, Uppsala University hosted the now traditional Lucia Day visit of Nobel Prize winners, who gave public lectures in the University Main Building, at Uppsala Biomedical Centre and at Ekonomikum. The visit concluded with a festive banquet luncheon at Uppsala Castle.
The first to arrive at the University Main Building were the medicine laureates, Mary E. Brunkow, Shimon Sakaguchi and Frederick J. Ramsdell. After meeting the Vice-Chancellor and signing the guest book, they went on to Uppsala Biomedical Centre.
There a long queue had formed, made up of people of all ages, eager to hear more about the laureates’ discoveries about the body’s immune system and autoimmune diseases. Their achievements include identifying the immune system’s ‘security guards’, regulatory T cells, which prevent immune cells from attacking our own body.
Medicine laureate Mary E. Brunkow lectures at BMC. Photo: Tobias Sterner, Bildbyrån
The three medicine laureates at Uppsala castle: Mary E. Brunkow, Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi. Photo: Tobias Sterner, Bildbyrån
Failing is crucial
Economics laureate Philippe Aghion also had time for a chat with the Vice-Chancellor and a quick coffee before continuing to Ekonomikum. He was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel “for the theory of sustained growth through creative destruction”. In his lecture he urged the students to “fail, fail, fail”, declaring that his failures had been crucial. Without them, he would never have won the prize.
Economics laureate Philippe Aghion greets Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University
Material that captures carbon dioxide
The last to arrive at the University Main Building was chemistry laureate Omar M. Yaghi, who had come to lecture in the Grand Auditorium. His topic was metal-organic frameworks – MOFs and COFs. These are innovative porous materials that can be used to capture carbon dioxide, store hydrogen and harvest water from desert air.
Chemistry laureate Omar M. Yaghi lectures in the auditorium. Photo: Mikael Wallerstedt, Uppsala University
The visit concluded with lunch at Uppsala Castle, accompanied by atmospheric choral entertainment from the Allmänna Sången choir. The guests included six Japanese journalists who had come to report on the Nobel Prize week and the visit to Uppsala.
Annica Hulth
Nobel Laureate Lectures in Uppsala
Uppsala University has a long-standing tradition of inviting the new Nobel Laureates to Uppsala in connection with the Nobel Prize ceremonies. On 13 December six of the 2025 laureates will give lectures in Uppsala. The lectures are open to all.