William E. Moerner
Interview
Interview, December 2014
Interview with 2014 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry William E. Moerner, 6 December 2014.
William E. Moerner’s work in simple terms.
William E. Moerner on his breakthrough.
William E. Moerner on what brought him to science.
William E. Moerner on role models.
William E. Moerner on being awarded the Prize in Economic Sciences.
Copyright © Nobel Media AB 2014The 2014 Nobel Laureates met at the Grünewald Hall in the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm on 11 December 2014 for the traditional round-table discussion and TV program ‘Nobel Minds’. The Nobel Laureates discussed the discoveries for which they’ve been honored, how these can be applied in a practical way, and the role of science in today’s society. The discussion was hosted by Zeinab Badawi of the BBC.
Telephone interview with William E. Moerner following the announcement of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 8 October 2014. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Media.
William E. Moerner was in Brazil to take part in a conference when his wife in California forwarded the news that he had been awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Stefan W. Hell and Eric Betzig. Hear an interview, over a less than clear hotel phone line, about how he reacted when he got the call from Stockholm.
Interview transcript
[William Moerner] Hello
[Adam Smith] Hello, this is Adam Smith calling from Nobelprize.org, the website of the Nobel Prize in Stockholm.
[WM] Oh, hello.
[AS] Congratulations on the award of the Nobel Prize.
[WM] Thanks, thank you very much. I’m just totally thrilled.
[AS] Well, first of all, you’re in Brazil I gather?
[WM] That’s right, I’m at a conference.
[AS] How did you hear the news of the award?
[WM] I heard the news when my wife called me at about 7am this morning, Brazil time, because she’d been called by the Associated Press, and so that’s how I heard.
[AS] What was your first reaction on hearing from her that you’d been awarded the prize?
[WM] Ah, well I was just incredibly excited and thrilled, and of course your heart races, and you say “Oh, can this be? Can this be?” My life .. [unclear] .. has been recognised, I’m incredibly fortunate. And so I had that feeling of “Oh, what do I do now?” because you have to decide am I going to this meeting, do I have to get on a plane and fly to California. So there’s lots of things that all of sudden change when you get such exciting news and I’m incredibly happy about the recognition of the field, especially of all the workers and all the scientists at many places around the world who have contributed to the effort.
[AS] Are you going to change your programme for the day or are you just going to go to the conference as usual?
[WM] I can’t go to the meeting right now. It’s much better to talk to people like you and try to explain what’s so exciting about this development.
[AS] Really a great pleasure to speak to you, thank you very much.
[WM] Thank you.
[AS] Have a good day. Bye bye.
[WM] Bye.
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Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
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