A bicycle ride in the Nobel Laureate’s tracks
The route is around 8 kilometres long and runs between Ekonomikum and the Ångström Laboratory, linking nine different campuses at Uppsala University.
Nobel Laureate Svante Pääbo will have his very own cycle path in Uppsala named after him, known as the Pääbo Route. Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt announced this during the Alumnus of the Year 2023 award ceremony at Uppsala University.
Svante Pääbo, the Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2022.
“I’m overwhelmed. As I understand it, it’s a large part of the route I actually cycled almost every day and that’s quite fantastic. I’ll have to come with my family and cycle a few laps round it,” Svante Pääbo said after the award ceremony.
Svante Pääbo was named the Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine 2022. For him, it all started at Uppsala University, where he spent his youth from 1975 to 1986.
“You could say I learned everything in Uppsala. I started out reading Russian and Eastern European studies, then changed to Egyptology, then medicine and ended up with a doctoral thesis in cell biology.”
Cycled between different centres
As a student and researcher in Uppsala, he made the most of the University’s great academic range by cycling between the different centres. Now a cycle path in Uppsala will be named after him. The route is around 8 kilometres long and runs between Ekonomikum and the Ångström Laboratory, linking nine different campuses at Uppsala University.
“The Pääbo Route will remind those who cycle in your tracks of your journey and, hopefully, of humanity’s path throughout the millennia. The route can also serve as an illustration of the importance of trusting your idea and vision even when others think you are on the wrong track,” noted Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt during the award ceremony.
Annica Hulth
The Alumnus of the Year Award
Each year, Uppsala University awards the title of Alumnus or Alumna of the Year to an alumnus or alumna who has made an outstanding contribution to their professional field, or who has accomplished something else that Uppsala University deems worthy of honouring.
Nominations for Alumni of the Year can be made by anyone with a connection to Uppsala University: students, staff, alumni and friends. The nomination period for Alumnus of the Year 2024 is now open.