Formally received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at the Stockholm ceremony and delivered her Nobel Lecture, 'The Genetic Control of Development.'
On 10 December 1995, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death, Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard traveled to Stockholm to formally receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from the hands of the King of Sweden, alongside co-laureates Edward B. Lewis and Eric F. Wieschaus.
As part of the Nobel Week festivities, she delivered her official Nobel Lecture titled "The Genetic Control of Development," in which she detailed the systematic genetic screens she and Wieschaus had performed on Drosophila embryos, the discovery of the segmentation gene hierarchy, and the broader implications of these findings for understanding pattern formation across the animal kingdom, including in vertebrates.
The ceremony represented the culmination of nearly two decades of rigorous, often unglamorous laboratory work — screening tens of thousands of fly embryos by hand under the microscope — transformed into one of the most celebrated bodies of research in modern biology. As one of very few women to stand on the Stockholm stage as a Nobel laureate in medicine, her lecture and the accompanying global press coverage helped elevate public awareness of women's contributions to fundamental science, and she has remained an internationally sought-after speaker and advocate ever since.