Nobel Prizes honor great discoveries — but leave much of science unseen

How one man’s idea for a prize came to define scientific genius

Nobel Prize winner Katalin Karikó is shown holding her gold medal.

In 2023, biochemist Katalin Karikó became one of the few women to have won a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Nanaka Adachi

Katalin Karikó thought the call was a joke.