Earl W. Sutherland’s speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm, December 10, 1971

Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed an honour to me and a pleasure to receive this award. I believe we all realize the honour and pleasure that a scientist receives with this award.

I hadn’t realized however how important this award is to others. A flood of telegrams and letters arrived after the announcement mostly from the USA but many from around the globe. These were positive and friendly letters, hopeful for medical research. What I liked especially was that many young people wrote me. One, eleven years old wanted to know the procedure for winning such a prize.

Now I mention this response for a reason. I am fully convinced that medical research can offer one a happy and productive life. And if one has a little viking spirit he can explore the world and people as no one else can do. The whole medical research area is wide open for exploration and I believe soon for productive application.

My experience with this award is that it does make me happy, but more importantly it stimulates many others including the young. We need much more medical research and this helps.