Val Fitch

Banquet speech

Val Fitch’s speech at the Nobel Banquet, December 10, 1980

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Earlier today Professor Ekspong described our research which showed a basic lack of symmetry between matter and antimatter, world and antiworld. He observed that, if from some remote stellar region an alien space craft comes to visit, we now have a few experiments to suggest before shaking hands and possibly reducing ourselves to nothing more than gamma rays.

Such a hypothetical catastrophe only emphasizes the fact that everything on this planet is made of the same substance – it emphasizes the essential unity of every living thing.

Through your efforts these awards have come to signify the best of human endeavor and they promote, probably to a greater extent than any other tradition, the unity of mankind.

Professor Cronin and I express our deepest gratitude for this high honor on this splendid occasion. Thank you very much.

From Les Prix Nobel. The Nobel Prizes 1980, Editor Wilhelm Odelberg, [Nobel Foundation], Stockholm, 1981

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1980

To cite this section
MLA style: Val Fitch – Banquet speech. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Sun. 24 Nov 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1980/fitch/speech/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

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.

See them all presented here.

Illustration

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.