Nobel Blog

Can anyone think of a good title for this embryonic blog? Anything’s better than ‘Peter and Riepko in Sweden’! Fellow reporter Eelco Salverda came up with the goods: Tintin in Stockholm!

It’s snowing in Stockholm and the sky is grey. A great time to write a new piece about our experiences in this wonderful city.

Lichte paniek bij Samuel. Klotsende oksels onder zijn blauwgroene trainingsjack. Gehaast probeert hij uit alle macht zijn zelf gebouwde elektrische lego-autootje weer aan de praat te krijgen. Uitgerekend nu, op moment dat de grote Nobelprijswinnaar...

Samuel is starting to panic. He’s beginning to sweat in his green tracksuit top. Hastily he tries everything he can think of to get his home-made electric Lego car to go. Go figure – the moment the famous Nobel Prizewinner finally appears at his table and...

Na de prachtige Nobel Lecture van Ben Feringa in de Aula was onze volgende doel Ben Feringa op te vangen bij het Nobel-concert. Even een fotomomentje. We waren op tijd, dachten we. Helaas, we hebben hem gemist.

After Ben Feringa’s wonderful Nobel Lecture in the Aula, our next goal was to catch him just before the Nobel Concert for a quick photo opportunity. We were in good time, we thought... but we missed him.

Hij vliegt als een Boeing over het podium. Demonstreert met grote armgebaren de vleugels van een vogel. Maar nog liever lijkt Ben Feringa vanochtend van het podium áf te willen springen om zijn publiek mee te nemen naar de wondere wereld van moleculaire...

He flies like a Boeing across the stage. Illustrates the wings of a bird with huge arm gestures. This morning, Ben Feringa’s greatest wish seems to have been to jump off the stage and take his audience with him into the wonderful world of molecular motors....

Ready to take off. Not interesting at all. The interesting stories will follow soon.

There he is, Ben Feringa. A bit smaller than I’d expected, standing there next to the printer in the corner of his secretary’s office. It’s the final few minutes close to his beloved lab. It’s high time to bring the Nobel Prize back to Groningen. Off to...