Hello, welcome to Nobel Minds.
I'm Zeynab Badawi here in Stockholm, home of the Nobel Prize.
And this year we're joined by five of our laureates and they're going to be sharing with us some big thoughts on some of the big topics of the day, like climate change, finding new treatments for COVID-19 and migration and its impact on jobs.
Well, here in the studio, I'm joined by a terrific audience in Stockholm who are going to be putting their questions to our laureates. And our laureates join us via video link from all over the world. They can't be with us here in person because of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Now, gentlemen, I want to say welcome to you all. Congratulations on winning the Nobel Prize this year and of course congratulations to all the recipients.
Studio audience, please join me in giving them a massive round of applause. We salute your great knowledge and we're in awe of all of you and you know the discussions today are going to be punctuated by short videos which will be highlighting the subject matter in each category, why it was awarded and who the recipients were. But first let's just introduce the laureates to you and kick off with some general questions. Benjamin List, you are one of the Nobel Prize winners in chemistry and you join us from Germany. And you know, gentlemen, the COVID-19 pandemic and all the focus on the vaccines has really made the world perhaps think about the role of science in our society so much more.
How far do you think that COVID-19 has elevated the role of the scientists in society?
Do you feel more loved, Benjamin?
That's a good question for the chemists because traditionally we are sort of viewed as the people who pollute the environment and throw plastic waste into the oceans.
But in reality, of course, also chemists have feverishly worked on developing small molecule drugs against COVID-19.
