What I have learned from attending the Nobel lecture in Physiology or Medicine

As many of you know, the Nobel Prize is awarded each year in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics.

Since I am a scientist myself, the Nobel Prize in the natural sciences is of great importance to me. This year I had the great opportunity to be in Stockholm and to attend the Nobel lectures.

In this post I want to share with you what I learned while attending the Nobel lecture in Physiology or Medicine. This years Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation”(www.nobelprize.org). Although this topic is very exciting, this post will not cover too many scientific facts about their findings but focus more on the aspects and qualities of a Nobel laureate.

First of all, let me tell you that if you want to attend the Nobel lecture in Physiology or Medicine, make sure to arrive at least 45 min before the lecture hall opens. Since I was busy in the lab, I only got to the lecture hall 30 min prior to its opening. Therefore, I was not even sure if I will get in. Luckily, I got in, albeit being one of the very last. And by the way, attending the lecture is completey free.

A picture of the long queue. In total, almost 500 people were in front of me.

Once inside, I had to wait one more hour before the programme finally started. During this time, you could really feel the excitement in the air. Everybody was waiting to hear two incredible scientists.

The stage was arranged beautifully.

At 14:00, the programme finally started with a welcome by the University president followed by an introduction of the first speaker James P. Allison. During this introduction we learned a lot about Allison’s personality, talents and background. Besides him being an amazing harmonicist, what was most striking for me was an event in his childhood.
When Allison grew up, many teachers and schools could decide what they wanted to teach. In high school, the evolution theory by Charles Darwin was not taught. Since this was unacceptable for Allison, who was clearly convinced that the evolution theory should be taught, he refused to attend this class. As this was one important course, not taking it nearly caused him to fail. However, a solution was found. Instead of taking this class, Allision attended a College biology course which at that time was highly unusual.

One thing that I realized at this moment was that one quality a researcher should have is be certain and steadfast in your scientific believes and don't sacrifice them even when other people doubt them. Allison was so convinced that the evolution theory should be taught that he was even willing to fail rather than attending it. I am sure that his love for science made him successful.

After Allison had finished his talk, which covered the different approaches to regulating the immune system for cancer therapy, an introduction to Tasuku Honjo was given. It was interesting to see that although both Nobel laureates grew up in very different environments and circumstances both their lives clearly reflected their love for science.

During the introduction to Honjo’s life I learned that a Nobel laureate should have another quality. As the speaker was telling the audience about Honjo’s childhood, he mentioned an event, in which Tasuku Honjo made one of his teachers cry because he was very disobedient. At first I was surprised, but then the speaker continued recounting the story of Honjo’s childhood. He told us that he was disobedient because he would ask too many questions. In my opinion this is completely ridiculous, but in former times this might have been a sign of disobedience.
Because Honjo was curious about everything he would constantly read text books and ask his teachers questions. When he realized that the teachers didn’t know the answer and often refused to listen to him, he stopped asking but focused on reading more books to find answers.

I reflected a lot about this incident and came to the conclusion that constantly asking questions, being curious and striving for knowledge is a quality each scientist should have.
After the introduction to Honjo’s life, Honjo gave a lecture about the serendipities of the acquired immune system in which he talked about the regulatory checkpoints of our immune system and how we can target them.
Attending the lectures was a great experience and besides learning a lot about how we can regulate our immune system for cancer therapy I learned much about what it means to be a good scientist and furthermore what qualities a Nobel laureate should bring.

At the end we coul take pictures of both Nobel laureates together.

In summary, I can say that there are many characteristics a scientist should have but it definitely includes: a love for science, sacrificing for one’s beliefs and convictions, having a passion for science, constantly asking questions and striving for knowledge.

Which qualities are necessary for a good scientist? What are your thoughts? Let me know.