“I may be very, very lucky so far”

Telephone interview with Satoshi Ōmura following the announcement of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 5 October 2015. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Chief Scientific Officer of Nobel Media.

[Satoshi Ōmura] Hello, is this Satoshi Ōmura.

[Adam Smith] Hello, my name is Adam Smith, calling from Nobelprize.org, the official website of the Nobel Prize. First of all many congratulations on the award of the Nobel Prize.

[SŌ] Thank you very much, I humbly accept it. Very surprised [Laughs].

[AS] What is your reaction to the award of the Nobel Prize?

[SŌ] So, there are many, many researcher who made very important research. My research is not so effective to get the Nobel Prize. But I did good things, but maybe there are many, many good researchers in the world. But anyway I may be very, very lucky so far.

[AS] [Both Laugh] It’s a very happy day.

[SŌ] Yeah, very happy.

[AS] And you have devoted your whole life to finding gifts from nature, microorganisms that give us …

[SŌ] Yes, and I think maybe my belief is correct, that microorganisms are very important in the nature and just I learn from microorganisms.

[AS] And I believe you found the microorganism that gave us Ivermectin on the local golf club.

[SŌ] [Laughs] People believe that because I’m fond of golf, but really I think close to the golf course, very close to the golf course. Sometimes maybe we can say in the territory of the golf course. But in the golf course there may be grass and sand, but sometimes wood, we took it near wood.

[AS] OK.

[SŌ] People believe that I’m playing golf in the grass. Maybe, but it’s not grass.

[AS] [Laughs] It’s a nice story. Anyway, its a great pleasure to speak to you, we very much look forward to welcoming you to Stockholm in December.

[SŌ] OK, I’m looking forward to it.

[AS] Thank you, I wish you a lovely evening in Japan.

[SŌ] Thank you very much for calling me.

[AS] Thank you, goodbye.

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