During the Nobel Week in December, medicine laureate Svante Pääbo donated a two-volume natural science encyclopaedia to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm’s Old Town. He had received these books from his father Sune Bergström, who was awarded the Nobel Prize forty years earlier. Now the books are on display at the museum.   

“My father Sune Bergström gave me these two volumes in 1971, when it seemed that I would be leaving science for good. But that didn’t happen,” said Svante Pääbo when he donated the books in December.

Svante Pääbo’s father Sune Bergström was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1982. Forty years later, Svante Pääbo received the same prize. But in the 1970s, it was not at all obvious that his son Svante would take an interest in science. He had chosen to study history and Egyptology. Chemistry professor Sune Bergström gave his son a two-volume encyclopaedia of science and technology, as a kind of farewell gift to the natural sciences. And perhaps a seed was sown with the help of these books, because eventually Pääbo returned to science. His path from the humanities to genetics went via Egyptology: It was the DNA of mummies that led to his first major scientific breakthrough. Over the years, the books from his father have been an inspiration to Pääbo and have reminded him of his love of science.

When laureates visit the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm’s Old Town, they are always asked to bring an artefact that has meant something special to them. It may be an artefact that tells about who they are, or that has a connection to the achievements for which they have been rewarded. These tangible objects help bring to life the laureates’ stories, which are retold in exhibitions and by the guides at the museum. The collection already includes a handwritten manuscript from Albert Einstein and the shawl that Malala Yousafzai wore when she gave a speech to the UN General Assembly.