Huai Cai did not meet or even was fired, and trained her daughter to become an Olympic champion, will she win the Nobel Prize today?

At 17:45 Beijing time on October 6, 2021, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which is jokingly known as the "Nobel Prize in Science", will be officially announced.

For her outstanding contribution to the mRNA vaccine, Katarin Carrico, 66, senior vice president of the German company Biotech, became a popular candidate for the award. Just last month, she won the Breakthrough Award in Life Sciences and the Lasker Prize for Clinical Medical Research, which were hailed as the "Oscars of the scientific community" and the "Nobel Prize bellwether" respectively.

Will this scientist, who has not met or even been dismissed many times, continue the momentum of winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry today?

[Her persistence opens a window for the world]

Katarin Kariko was once said, "Before the mRNA vaccine became widely publicized, her resume was full of failures. ”

As early as 1978, Carrico began working on mRNA at the Szeged Biological Research Center in Hungary, where she wanted to use the technology to treat diseases. Her idea was too radical even for her peers, and Carrico's research ideas failed to apply for research grants, and she was forced to leave in 1985.

Since then, the rejection of applications for research grants for mRNA projects has become the norm in her scientific research career. Even after entering the University of Pennsylvania in 1990, everyone rejected her, whether it was a government fund or a private fund. 1995 was an extremely difficult year for Carrico. She couldn't apply for a research grant, was diagnosed with cancer, and her husband was stranded in Hungary because of a visa problem. In a panic, Carrico accepted the University of Pennsylvania's treatment of her "demotion and salary reduction".

In the face of such an encounter, I am afraid that few people can continue to insist on "unpromising" mRNA research, but Carrico persevered, and her persistence opened a window for the world.

In 1997, Carrico met Drey Weissman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and they collaborated on vaccine development using mRNA technology to solve an important problem: suppressing excessive immunity caused by mRNA vaccines. This work has enabled the rapid development of mRNA vaccines under covid-19.

Before the mRNA vaccine entered the field of vision of the average person, far more famous than Carrico was her daughter, rowing star and two-time Olympic champion Susan Francia. She once recalled in an interview: "There is a song in Hungary called 'Diamonds and Gold', and whenever my career encounters difficulties and setbacks, my mother sings it to me. She taught me that hard work is a part of life and that if you accept it, there will be rewards. ”

Apparently, they did it.

【The most successful "Nobel Prize family"】

If Carrico wins the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, she will be the eighth woman to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Previously, Marie Curie was undoubtedly the most well-known female Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, and the Curie family was the most successful "Nobel Prize family". In 1903 Marie Curie and Pierre Curie won the Nobel Prize in Physics, and in 1911 Marie Curie won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Their eldest daughter, Erin Curie, and her husband, Frederick Joliot, won the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and their youngest daughter, Eve Curie, married Henry Curie. R. Labois, who received the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF.

Since 1901, a total of 112 Nobel Prizes in Chemistry have been awarded, of which 63 have been awarded to only 1 laureate, 24 by 2 laureates and 25 by 3 laureates.

The oldest Nobel Laureate in Chemistry was John F. Kennedy. B. Goodenough, who was 97 years old when he won the prize in 2019, is also the oldest laureate of all the prize categories of the Nobel Prize to date.

Frederick Sanger was the only scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice, in 1958 and 1980.

Linus Carl Pauling has also won two Nobel Prizes, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his work on chemical bonds, and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his actions against the ground testing of nuclear bombs.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Huang Haihua Text Editor: Huang Haihua Title Image Source: Nobel Prize Official Website

Source: Author: Huang Haihua