The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021 was awarded jointly to Benjamin List and David W.C. MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.”
Benjamin List
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021
Born: 11 January 1968, Frankfurt, Germany
Affiliation at the time of the award: Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany
Prize motivation: “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.”
Prize share: 1/2
“What it takes to be creative is freedom”
Telephone interview with Benjamin List following the announcement of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 6 October 2021. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Prize Outreach.
Benjamin List was sitting in a café with his wife, Dr Sabine List, when the call from Stockholm came. “We looked at each other in disbelief,” he says, and jokingly asked, “Is this the call?” To his amazement, it was! In this interview, recorded outside that café, he reflects on the beauty of building molecules, the importance of freedom in research and the joy of working with his team: “To work with these amazing, happy and creative people; it’s such a gift.”
David W.C. MacMillan
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021
Born: 1968, Bellshill, United Kingdom
Affiliation at the time of the award: Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Prize motivation: “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.”
Prize share: 1/2
“We thought it had a very low probability of success”
Telephone interview with David MacMillan following the announcement of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on 6 October 2021. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Prize Outreach.
The best ideas in science are often the ones with the least chance of succeeding, says David MacMillan: “It’s the stuff that should never work which is where all the good stuff is!” The best ideas in science are often the ones with the least chance of succeeding, says David MacMillan: “It’s the stuff that should never work which is where all the good stuff is!” In this conversation, recorded on the morning of the announcement, the thrill of discovery is also open to any undergraduate embarking in organic chemistry: “the very first day they build a molecule, it has never been made in the universe before!” And as for the news of his Nobel Prize: he describes how he initially thought it was a prank, bet his co-laureate, Benjamin List, $1000 that it wasn’t true, and went back to bed!
Source: Nobelprize.org
