A tie, a book and a magnetic tape were artefacts that were donated to the Nobel Prize Museum when five Nobel Prize laureates paid a visit on Tuesday, 14 June. Those laureates who had not been to the museum before also took the opportunity to sign a chair for the museum’s Bistro Nobel.
When Nobel Prize laureates visit the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm’s Old Town, they are always asked to donate an artefact that has meant something special to them. These tangible objects help bring to life the stories of the laureates, which are retold in exhibitions and by the guides at the museum. The chair-signing is the museum’s unique guest book. At Bistro Nobel, museum visitors can enjoy a meal while sitting on a chair signed by a laureate.
Syukuro Manabe was one of the laureates who visited the museum on 14 June and participated in the ceremony. He received the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Klaus Hasselmann for laying the foundation for our understanding of the Earth’s climate and how we humans contribute to its changes. He donated one of his ties, decorated with penguins and polar bears − animals that are greatly affected by climate change.
David Card. Foto: Clément Morin
One of the 2021 economic sciences laureates, David Card, donated a magnetic tape. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers did not have access to the high-capacity hard drives that are common today. Instead, they used magnetic tapes. David Card handed over such a tape that he had used in his prize-awarded research.
Christopher A. Sims, 2011 economic sciences laureate, spoke warmly about his maternal grandfather William Leiserson during the ceremony. As a child, Chris was always encouraged by his grandfather to tell what he “think of the present situation of the country”. The laureate’s gift to the museum was a book containing a collection of lectures that his grandfather delivered at Columbia University.
Also present at the donation ceremony were 2021 chemistry laureate Sir David W.C. MacMillan, who signed a chair, and 2018 chemistry laureate Frances Arnold. She had already donated an item and signed a chair during the 2018 Nobel Week.
David Beasley. Foto: Clément Morin
Earlier the same day, David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), visited the Nobel Foundation. WFP received the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize. He also took the opportunity to sign a chair for the Nobel Prize Museum’s Bistro.