Katalin Karikó received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at the formal ceremony in Stockholm.
On December 10, 2023, Katalin Karikó formally received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine at the traditional award ceremony held in Stockholm, Sweden, coinciding with the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
Dressed in ceremonial attire and joined by fellow laureate Drew Weissman, Karikó received her Nobel medal and diploma from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, in a ceremony steeped in more than a century of scientific tradition, formally recognizing discoveries that had already reshaped global public health.
The ceremony marked the definitive, formal culmination of Karikó's decades-long scientific journey — from a biochemistry researcher in communist-era Hungary, through years of professional marginalization in the United States, to global recognition as a Nobel laureate whose work had directly contributed to ending a worldwide pandemic.
Her presence on the Stockholm stage represented a powerful symbol for women in science, immigrant scientists, and researchers pursuing unconventional or unfashionable lines of inquiry, demonstrating that persistence in scientific conviction, even against sustained institutional skepticism, can yield discoveries of profound humanitarian significance.