This test tube rack has a special place in Emmanuelle Charpentier’s heart. She first used it while on a postdoc at Rockefeller University in New York. To ensure no one took her rack, she labelled it with her nickname: “Manue C”. For Charpentier, the test tube rack symbolises her time as a microbiologist and reminds her of doctoral student days at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, where they had similar racks, and in New York. She saw a similar test tube rack in a museum in Berlin that had been used by Nobel Prize laureate Robert Koch and thought her rack might also one day belong in a museum. Compared to modern test tube racks made of plastic, this older rack is wooden. It was also used as a pen holder.
Emmanuelle Charpentier donated the test tube rack to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2020.
This textbook in organic chemistry was decisive in leading Carolyn Bertozzi to become a chemistry researcher. She was originally set on studying medicine. Her medical studies included a course in organic chemistry with this textbook,sparking her interest in the subject. The book became her best friend, she changed her major to chemistry and went on to research in the field.
The jar contains Bertozzi’s favourite peanut butter. She eats peanut butter more than any other food. It is a source of energy and helps her think.
Carolyn Bertozzi donated the textbook and peanut butter to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
This “multiple column” played a critical role in the experiments developed by Morten Meldal in click chemistry, which involves joining molecules. Meldal invented the multiple column to mix different substances in serial experiments. Small test tubes are placed over the wells of the multiple column. When turned upside down, the contents of the wells empty into the test tubes. The contents can then be mixed and split. This is the first multiple column, which Meldal made in a neighbour’s garage in 1987. The multiple column has since been refined.
Morten Meldal donated the multiple column to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
These copper balls represent Barry Sharpless’s passion for chemistry. The element copper is particularly dear to him. The pure metal has a beautiful colour and sheen, and copper ions have a fantastic ability to drive chemical reactions. This characteristic of being a catalyst plays an important part in his research on how molecules can be joined effectively.
Barry Sharpless donated the copper balls to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
This apparatus was used to produce entangled photons in Anton Zeilinger’s experiment on quantum entanglement. A crystal for down conversion is in the round hole. This was used to produce photon pairs from a beam of photons. The larger metal tube is a Pockels cell used to change the polarisation of the light passing through the tube. It was used in experiments in the late 1990s. The smaller tube is a newer type of Pockels cell.
More specifically, Zeilinger’s experiment was about how unknown quantum states can be transferred from one particle to another: quantum teleportation.
Anton Zeilinger donated the apparatus to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
The metal box is an optical switch and was the crucial component in Alain Aspect’s experiment on the phenomenon of quantum entanglement in the early 1980s. The experiment was to create entangled photons. When Aspect was planning to conduct the experiment, he could not find a company that could deliver an optical switch with the right specifications. So, he was forced to build this switch. His experiment confirmed that quantum entanglement is a real phenomenon.
Alain Aspect donated the optical switch to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
This glass tube was an important part of the apparatus for John Clauser’s experiment on quantum entanglement. Clauser made pioneering contributions to prove that quantum entanglement is a real phenomenon. He made the actual tube and used it to produce entangled photons in experiments in 1974 and 1976. The publication next to the test tube describes experiments and findings.
Quantum entanglement is one of the strangest predictions of quantum physics. It means that what happens to one particle in an entangled pair determines what happens with the other particle. Even if they are separated by great distances, they can influence each other. More specifically, the 1976 experiment measures correlations for the linear polarisation of photon pairs emitted in a three-level cascade in mercury.
John Clauser donated the glass tube and the publication to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
Philip Dybvig used these notes to a piano piece by Frédéric Chopin when he was in his early teens. He appreciated Chopin for the passionate style. Dybvig feels that music, along with the games and puzzles he played as a child, are important because they develop the mind. His love of music remains strong alongside his research in economics. He still plays, especially keyboard instruments.
Philip Dybvig donated the notes to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
In this book, Ben Bernanke writes about his time as chairman of the US Federal Reserve. In his research, Bernanke had studied the role of the banks in the global depression of the 1930s. When the 2008 financial crisis struck, it was his job as chairman of the Fed to tackle the problem.
Ben Bernanke donated the memoirs to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
This booklet is a final examination that Douglas Diamond took as a 22-year-old student, and which came to influence his research interests. The course was based on the book A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960 by Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz.The exam assignment was to write about what would have happened if interest rates in the United States had remained constant in the years 1929–1933, the early phase of the Great Depression. Diamond’s answer focused on the impact of bank bankruptcies on the economy in general. At the time, Diamond was unaware that he would later devote his research to the importance of banks in the economy.
Douglas Diamond donated the examination to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
When Svante Pääbo began high school in 1971, his father gave him this two-volume encyclopaedia of technology and science. His father, Sune Bergström was a professor of chemistry and would later receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Perhaps he was disappointed that his son had chosen to study the humanities instead of the natural sciences. Could the encyclopaedia be a nice way of saying goodbye to science? But things worked out differently. Svante Pääbo returned to the sciences. Forty years after his father, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on the relationship between modern humans and long-extinct hominins.
Svante Pääbo donated the books to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
The passing of time is a central theme in Annie Ernaux’s writing and life. And this alarm clock is symbolic to her. This beloved treasure has also had a more concrete purpose. When she was writing her novel The Years, it was set to wake her up so she would get out of bed and keep working on her book.
Annie Ernaux donated the alarm clock to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
A container of laundry detergent reminds Guido Imbens of his research process. One of his most important works began with conversations with Joshua Angrist about econometrics and interesting questions in that field. Many of their conversations took place in offices and cafes, but because both lived in apartments without washing machines and dryers, they started coordinating their laundry days and spent many Saturday mornings discussing research in the local laundromat among the whirring washers and dryers. Not only were these discussions very enjoyable, they also cemented an enduring friendship and triggered the research that gave them the prize in economic sciences.
Guido Imbens donated the item to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
Christopher Sims’s maternal grandfather, William M. Leiserson, died when Sims was fifteen years old, but Sims saw him fairly often and was prompted by him to take an interest in economics and public affairs in general. Leiserson’s book _Right and Wrong in Labor Relations_ was published in 1938, four years before Sims was born. This copy belonged to Sims’s grandmother, Emily B. Leiserson, and was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by Sims in 2022.
Before researchers had access to large-capacity hard drives, magnetic tapes were used for storing and analysing data. Around 1990, David Card used this tape for his studies in labour economics.
David Card donated the magnetic tape to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers had no access to the large-capacity hard drives that are common today. Instead, magnetic tapes were used. Joshua Angrist used this tape for applied microeconometric analysis and data storage.
“Applied econometrics was much more physical. Tapes were mounted and threaded by hand, a sometimes tricky process.”
This 9-track magnetic tape has a yellow "write ring" on the back. To write to a tape (as opposed to simply reading its contents) the user was required to install the yellow ring. According to Angrist, researchers also used to play frisbee with the cases.
Joshua Angrist donated the magnetic tape to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
For many years, Abdulrazak Gurnah used this English dictionary all the time when writing. Gurnah grew up in Zanzibar, and his first language was Swahili. During the Zanzibar Revolution in the 1960s, he fled to the UK, and English became his literary language. He acquired the dictionary in the early 1980s. Nowadays, computers have made physical dictionaries obsolete, and Gurnah donated his dictionary to the Nobel Prize Museum.
Abdulrazak Gurnah donated the dictionary to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
When Syukuro Manabe visited his former homeland Japan, his wife Nobuko bought him a tie with a pattern of tiny polar bears and penguins. Since Manabe’s ground-breaking research was on climate models, she wanted to give him a tie that featured two species that are threatened by climate change.
Manabe embarked on his work with computer-based climate models in the 1960s. But it was not until recent decades that climate change has become perhaps the most urgent issue for humanity.
Syukuro Manabe donated the tie to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
This lab notebook contains notes from Ardem Patapoutian's experiments. His research explores how nerve impulses are initiated so that touch and pressure can be perceived.
Ardem Patapoutian donated the lab book to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
Ardem Patapoutian’s research explores how touch and pressure are translated into nerve signals. He and his research team used equipment combining a microscope to visualise the cell, a system to stimulate it mechanically and another to record its response to the stimulation. These items are part of the equipment.
Ardem Patapoutian donated the equipment to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2022.
Jennifer Doudna made this silk dress when she was 16 for her high school prom, using silk her mother had bought years before on her travels abroad.
Jennifer Doudna donated the dress to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
At the Nobel Prize award ceremony in 1979, one of the physics laureates, Abdus Salam, wore Pakistani formal attire. Joan Glashow, the wife of Sheldon Glashow, one of his co-laureates, expressed her admiration for his beautiful shoes. Salam then gave the Glashows a pair.
Sheldon and Joan Glashow donated the shoes to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
Szymborska put a great deal of energy into demonstrating for everyone that the Nobel Prize had not gone to her head. She sent handwritten thank you cards to all of her old friends and acquaintances who congratulated her on the prize. But when she was overwhelmed by congratulations from unknown people, she decided to print official thank you cards, both in Polish and English, which she simply signed.
The thank you card was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by the Wisława Szymborska Foundation in 2021.
Wisława Szymborska was only slightly myopic and didn’t always need glasses. After being awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1996, however, she often wore glasses when she went out, because fewer people recognised her in them, shielding her from fans.
The eyeglasses were donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by the Wisława Szymborska Foundation in 2021.
This ballpoint pen was an important tool in Wisława Szymborska’s literary output. She would write the first draft of a poem on a typewriter based on notes she had jotted down. Szymborska then made handwritten corrections on the typed manuscript with an ordinary plastic BIC ballpoint pen, always in black ink. These corrections could include added words and arrows. Sometimes, she cut up the sheets of paper with scissors and pasted the pieces back together in a new order. Only then was her secretary allowed to type out a fair copy of the poem on the computer to be presented to the world.
The pen was donated to the Nobel Prize Museum by the Wisława Szymborska Foundation in 2021.
This box was used in experiments for measuring a mouse’s preference for different surface temperatures. David Julius's research has increased our understanding of how our nervous system senses heat and cold. Receptors on the cell surface play a key role in this process. The research was conducted on mice whose genes for different receptors had been deactivated. The chamber has two parts, the temperature of which can be varied. A mouse where a temperature-sensitive gene has been deactivated moves between the two parts, while an ordinary mouse prefers the part with a comfortable temperature.
David Julius donated the behavioural chamber to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
This dress, which belonged to Nadia Murad, is associated with horrific events but also with hope.
In August 2014, the Islamic State (IS) launched a brutal attack on Nadia Murad’s village Kocho in northern Iraq. The younger women, including Murad, were abducted and held as sex slaves. After three months Nadia Murad managed to escape.
This is how she describes the dress:
“This dress represents many things to me. It reminds me of a time long ago, before the violence of genocide swept my community. In Kocho, my cousin was planning to get married. There was some fabric at home, and I worked with my nieces Nesrin and Kathrine to make a dress for me to wear at the wedding. I loved weddings and was very much looking forward to doing my makeup and hair. But the wedding never happened. ISIS came and destroyed my home and my community. They took my mother and brothers from me. I felt nothing but sadness and despair for a long time.
Years later, I travelled back to Kocho and visited the place where my house once stood. To my surprise, among the rubble of my old home, there was the wedding dress. It lay among the ruins relatively untouched. In that moment, I felt the untouched dress symbolised hope. Hope that I would again feel the joy I once felt being surrounded by my family and community. Hope that my community would one day be able to return to Sinjar and rebuild their lives.
It is this hope that I hold onto in times of darkness. It is this hope that drives me to keep moving forward and fighting for justice.”
Nadia Murad donated the dress to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
This chart, created by the US Federal Communications Commission, is a graphic representation of how broadcast rights in different frequency bands are distributed between interested parties. Allocating broadcast rights in different frequency bands is a complex problem, since many variables must be taken into account. In 1994, spectrum auctions, where companies could bid for rights, were organised in the US. The auctions used a new format, Simultaneous Multi-Round Auction (SMRA), specifically designed for this purpose by Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson.
Paul Milgrom donated the chart to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
The auction formats developed by Robert B. Wilson required advanced calculations. In the 1980s, he used this Hewlett-Packard hand-held electronic calculator frequently when consulting with oil companies about bidding in auctions for rights to off-shore exploration of tracts. The calculator is unusual in that it uses "reverse Polish notation" for its programs. Though the battery may be weak, it still works and probably still has Wilson's programs for computing optimal bids and other aspects of strategy in its memory.
Robert B. Wilson donated the pocket calculator to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2021.
Chlorine solution in the container purifies water from bacteria. The container was used in research projects in Kenya, where Michael Kremer and his students studied methods to combat poverty. One problem they investigated was diarrhoeal diseases, which are often caused by poor water quality. The method with free chlorine solution dispensers adjacent to the water sources proved effective.
Michael Kremer donated the chlorine dispenser to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
Pratham, an innovative learning organisation in India, produced these children’s books. Esther Duflo collaborated with the organisation when she first headed a field experiment on how to combat poverty. Among other things, Pratham helps teachers learn to teach at the right level, and the books are part of the programme called “Teaching at the right level”. The programme proved to be possible to apply at different levels and different scales worldwide.
Esther Duflo donated the books to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
These bags were made by women in Ghana who were living in extreme poverty. The bags were part of one of Abhijit Banerjee's research projects, which studied ways of improving their economic situation. The participants were provided with support and means of producing textile bags as paid labour alongside their farm work, and their productivity was measured. 170,000 bags were made, and the conclusion was that support given to the extremely poor resulted in increased productivity, not passivity.
Abhijit Banerjee donated the bags to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This photo shows Ethiopian President Abiy Ahmed Ali meeting Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki. Abiy Ahmed received the Nobel Peace Prize for his initiative to resolve the border conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Abiy Ahmed Ali donated the photograph to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
Peter Handke found this fossil on a beach on a walk with his wife. It is a prehistoric species of octopus – an orthoceras – which resembles octopuses of the Nautilus genus living today.
Peter Handke donated the mushroom prints and the fossil to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
These mushroom prints are mementos of a couple of Peter Handke’s favourite walks. On his walks, Handke enjoys picking mushrooms that he presses between the pages of his notebooks. He made these “mushroom prints” on separate papers and signed them.
Peter Handke donated the mushroom prints to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
Olga Tokarczuk filled her personal calendar with notes on what she did day by day. In 2019 Tokarczuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, which had been postponed from 2018. This made her feel like she was in a time machine. Of course, her personal calendar from 2018 says nothing about the Nobel Prize, because she still did not know that she would be that year’s laureate.
Olga Tokarczuk donated the calendar to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
The image comes from an experiment using electrophoresis to identify the protein that determines how the body reacts to low oxygen levels. Gregg Semenza and his colleagues conducted the experiment. They succeeded in purifying a protein, which they named HIF-1. The results opened a new research field about oxygenation of the body.
Gregg Semenza donated the image to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
William Kaelin used this microscope as a child. When he became a scientist, he contributed to finding the explanations to the molecular mechanism governing the body's reactions to different oxygen levels.
William Kaelin donated the microscope to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
During his internship as a physician at Johns Hopkins University, William Kaelin wore this tie every Friday, according to the tradition there. He also wore the name plate during this period.
William Kaelin donated the tie and the name plate to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
William Kaelin used these instruments during his internship as a physician at Johns Hopkins University. They include a hemostat, which is used to control bleeding during surgery, and a reflex hammer, which is used to test reflexes.
William Kaelin donated the instruments to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This stethoscope was used for listening to heart and lungs by William Kaelin during his internship as a physician at Johns Hopkins University.
William Kaelin donated the stethscope to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This otoscope was used for examining the ears by William Kaelin during his internship as a physician at Johns Hopkins University.
William Kaelin donated the otoscope to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
William Kaelin had this doctor’s bag during his internship as a physician at Johns Hopkins University. Kaelin no longer practises medicine but devotes himself entirely to research. He has helped explain the molecular mechanism governing the body’s reactions to different oxygen levels.
William Kaelin donated the doctor’s bag to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This is a replica of a test cell for the first lithium-ion battery dating back to 1983. The test cell was developed by Akira Yoshino, who played a crucial part in developing lithium-ion batteries.
Akira Yoshino donated the test cell to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
In a handwritten monthly report from February 1983, Akira Yoshino described for the first time an experiment with a new electrode he had developed for lithium-ion batteries. This is a copy of the report.
Akira Yoshino donated the copy of the report to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This brochure, printed in 1978, introduced and marketed a new type of rechargeable batteries, which were produced at the battery unit of the oil and gas company Exxon. Stanley Whittingham made pivotal contributions to the development of the batteries.
Stanley Whittingham donated the brochure to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
These two batteries are early versions of lithium batteries from the 1970s. They were produced at the battery unit of Exxon, the oil and gas company where Stanley Whittingham made pivotal contributions to the development of the batteries. The smaller battery was intended for a watch and the larger one for a solar cell.
Stanley Whittingham donated the lithium batteries to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This book Witness to Grace is John B. Goodenough’s autobiography. In the book he recounts his upbringing and intellectual development, his Christian faith and how he came to devote himself to science and technology.
John B. Goodenough donated the book to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
This key, labelled “OHP,” goes to the Haute-Provence observatory in southern France. It was given to Didier Queloz during his time as a doctoral student by his supervisor, Michel Mayor, who was about to leave on an extended trip. Soon afterwards, Queloz made an interesting observation of a star’s movements. After additional observations of the star, Queloz and Mayor concluded that they had made the first discovery of a planet orbiting a star other than our sun.
Didier Queloz donated the key to the Nobel Prize Museum in 2019.
