Childhood at Kisújszállás

„The relationships formed during school years are honest, not made for personal benefit and last for a lifetime.”

Katalin Karikó was born in the city of Szolnok on 17. January 1955, and spent her adolescent years in Kisújszállás.

She grew up in a poor, but hard working and happy family, living in a one-room building with thatched roof. Her father, János Karikó was a barkeeper/butcher and her mother was a bookkeeper. She also had a sister named Zsuzsanna.

Pictures from her childhood

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Her longing for discovering the living environment came at an early age, while assisting her father in slaughtering and becoming familiar with the anatomy of the animals. Katalin considers her mother as a role model, who taught her the importance of systemizing information and data.

As an 8th grade student at the Arany János Elementary School she won the county’s biology student contest and came third in the national competition. The talented young student was noticed and invited to study sessions by the charismatic Albert Tóth, Biology teacher at the gymnasium of Kisújszállás. During her high school years at Móricz Zsigmond Secondary School (1969-1973) she actively participated in the Gusztáv Jermy Biosphere Study Group, where she came across the book of János (Hans) Selye titled The Stress of Life. Reading the book was a determining experience in her life along with the fact that her study group was mailing both with Selye and Nobel laureate, Albert Szent-Györgyi.

Student at the secondary school

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She was the first to win the award named after Gusztáv Jermy, founder of the Móricz Zsigmond Secondary School’s Biology storage unit.

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