As Katalin Karikó received an award and delivered a lecture in Philadelphia, near the Schuylkill River waterfront, she was simultaneously being honored across the Atlantic in Budapest at the Eureka! outdoor exhibition on the Buda riverbank of the Danube. On October 8, 2024, one year after the announcement of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, both Philadelphia and Budapest celebrated the researcher whose relentless pursuit of her dreams made her the first Hungarian woman to earn a Nobel Prize.
Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó visited Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute, one of the world’s top biomedical research centers, where she delivered a lecture in its conference hall to mark her receipt of the Helen Dean King Award. This event aligns with the Wistar Institute’s core mission of spotlighting the pivotal role women scientists play in advancing innovation and biomedical research.
Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó at Philadelphia’s Wistar Institute, a global leader in biomedical research
Photo courtesy of Wistar Institute
Memories of the Wistar Institute
In the 1980s, Katalin Karikó frequently visited the Wistar Institute near the University of Pennsylvania campus. At times, she attended insightful lectures; on other occasions, she went to the Institute to connect with fellow researchers from the University of Szeged who were there for short or extended stays.
Thirty years ago, Katalin Karikó, who had already been living in Philadelphia for nine years, met with Ilona Béládi, the first female Department Head at the Medical University of Szeged during a visit to the Wistar Institute. In the foreground of the 1994 photograph are Valéria Endrész and Klára Berencsi.
Photo by Rozália Pusztai
Several researchers from Szeged had the opportunity to work in the laboratories of the Wistar Institute. Among them was Valéria Endrész, who graduated in biology from the József Attila University in Szeged in 1980 and worked at the Wistar Institute from 1993 to 1997. Éva Gönczöl, who succeeded Ilona Béládi as head of the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the former Medical University of Szeged, also conducted research at Wistar, while Klára Berencsi was involved in tumor research in Dorothee Herlyn’s lab at the Institute.
Motivated by fond memories, Nobel laureate Karikó accepted the Wistar Institute’s invitation despite her busy schedule, spending October 8, 2024, at the facility near the Schuylkill River. In the morning, she engaged in discussions with students and later connected with female leaders at the institute, rounding out her day with an afternoon lecture.
Karikó’s messages
Hearing Katalin Karikó mention Szeged’s research centers and the names of some of its scientists must have been heartwarming for Norbert Pardi and his Hungarian colleagues, seated among the audience in the Wistar Institute auditorium as alumni of the University of Szeged. They had “popped over” from Pardi’s lab at the nearby University of Pennsylvania to listen to the professor from their alma mater – another university situated along a river, the Tisza River in Szeged.
In addition to the Helen Dean King Award, Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó was presented with a small glass sculpture resembling a flower seed.
Screenshot by I. Ú.
The story of the world-renowned scientist resonated deeply with the audience at the Wistar Institute as they learned how Katalin Karikó rose from life in a thatched-roof house in a small town of Hungary, taking notes in a university prep course, to becoming an honored guest at the Swedish Royal Palace during Stockholm’s Nobel Week. Unsurprisingly, after her lecture, the ‘butcher's daughter turned biochemist’ received a flurry of questions.
Coverage of the event drew attention to several key messages from Katalin Karikó:
“This is what I find most important: you have to be happy.”
“You have to enjoy what you are doing. If you want to follow instructions, do not become a scientist. If you want to make a lot of money – well, then I don’t know where to go.” (These humorous remarks prompted laughter from the audience.)
“But if you want to solve problems – and if you enjoy solving problems – this work is for you. You will get better and better at it because you love it.”
The Helen Dean King Award
Each year, the Wistar Institute recognizes women in science as a tribute to geneticist Dr. Helen Dean King (1869–1950), its first female scientist. A biologist who worked at the institute from 1909 to 1950, King served as an inspiration for women in biomedical research, encouraging them to create their own lasting scientific legacies. She excelled in breeding laboratory rats, particularly a genetically uniform strain of albino rats, which has become vital to biological and medical research. To honor this contribution, the Philadelphia institute designed the Helen Dean King Award as a metal artwork in the shape of a rat, making the award uniquely distinctive.
The Helen Dean King Award was established in 2016 to recognize women who have achieved outstanding results in biomedical research.
“Like Helen Dean King, Dr. Karikó was driven to overcome the obstacles thrown in her path during her career, and the result was a profound and lasting impact on the health of humanity with her contributions to the deployment of an mRNA platform used to rapidly develop lifesaving vaccines during the pandemic. Dr. Karikó is a role model not just for every female scientist, but for every scientist who has harnessed their passion for knowledge to allow them to ignore obstacles and persevere,” said Maureen Murphy, Ph.D., program leader of Wistar’s Molecular & Cellular Oncogenesis Program. The institution’s press release also highlighted that the technology developed by research partners Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman is currently being used in more than 250 clinical trials, where mRNA is being evaluated for vaccines and numerous other therapeutic applications.
The Wistar Institute’s website reported in detail on the memorable moment when Katalin Karikó received the Helen Dean King Award:
“Following her talk, Dr. Ami Patel, assistant professor in Wistar’s Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, presented Dr. Karikó with this year’s Helen Dean King Award, to thunderous applause. But Dr. Karikó wasn’t done: she pulled out her phone to photograph her audience and capture the moment. A line of attendees clutching her book for signatures and selfies formed with the willing and amiable Nobel Laureate; it was a very long line.”
An earlier interview for CBS Sunday Morning offers some insight into Professor Karikó’s dedication to the work for which she is so often honored:
“A laboratory is a wonderful place. […] But also, we realize that it is important to go out and educate the public […] and inspire the next generation of scientists.”
Among famous inventors
The University of Szeged stands as the only Hungarian higher education institution with two professors – Albert Szent-Györgyi and Katalin Karikó – who won their Nobel Prizes while affiliated with a Hungarian institution. Currently, both distinguished professors from Szeged are also being honored with dedicated installations at an outdoor exhibition in Budapest, titled Eureka!’ In the Footsteps of Hungarian Geniuses, which showcases the achievements of 52 world-renowned Hungarians.
President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Tamás Freund opening the outdoor exhibition ‘Eureka! In the Footsteps of Hungarian Geniuses’
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
In his opening remarks for the exhibition, Tamás Freund, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, emphasized that the events scheduled for 2025 and 2026 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences offer an ideal opportunity to promote science. He noted that these upcoming events are well-positioned to serve this purpose, much like last year’s Nobel victories of Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz. The 2023 Nobel Award ceremony will also be commemorated on December 10, once again recognizing both Karikó, the first Hungarian woman to receive a Nobel Prize after being announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on October 2, 2023, and Krausz, who was named winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics on October 3, 2023.
Katalin Karikó’s sister and Albert-László Barabási, a leading expert in network science, were among the first visitors of the Eureka! exhibition.
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
On October 8, 2024, following a reading of The Legend of the Martians, György Marx’s account of world-renowned Hungarian scientists humorously dubbed “Martians” for their otherworldly intellect, visitors attending the opening of the outdoor exhibition embarked on a guided tour through the Castle Garden Bazaar along the bank of the Danube at dusk.
The outdoor exhibition showcasing the achievements of 52 Hungarian inventors on the promenade of the Castle Garden Bazaar in Budapest is open for all to explore until the end of November
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
The ramp leading to the Pavilion is lined with 16 illuminated installations, featuring a total of 32 displays that highlight the work of 52 Hungarian inventors. Complete with photos, short texts, and summaries in English, these installations are divided into four thematic collections, each curated by historian-museologist Vilmos Gál.
The collection titled Dimensions in Space includes notable achievements, such as Loránd Eötvös’s torsion pendulum and Albert-László Barabási’s research on complex network theory. Barabási, a network scientist, attended the exhibition’s opening ceremony, which allowed him to personally check the accuracy of the information presented.
The Overcoming Distance collection presents Ferenc Pavlic’s First Moonwalker, originally part of the Apollo program, alongside Tivadar Puskás’s pioneering Telephone Herald.
The first guided tour was hosted by historian and museologist Vilmos Gál (left), curator of the Eureka! exhibition. The photos on the display panel dedicated to Albert Szent-Györgyi, Nobel Prize-winning researcher and rector of the University of Szeged, were sourced from the Szent-Györgyi Collection of the Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged.
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
In the collection titled At the Gateway to the Information Age, pioneering innovations and ideas take center stage, including Ányos Jedlik’s dynamo, John von Neumann’s foundational theories that paved the way for modern computers, and Charles Simonyi’s seminal work that underpins contemporary software design.
Zsuzsanna Karikó, sister of the Nobel laureate biochemist Katalin Karikó, standing in front of the display showcasing the life and work of the mRNA researcher
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
Alongside Katalin Karikó, the exhibition honors two other remarkable Hungarian women in science, Mária Telkes and Klára Dán (born Diamant). Telkes (1900–1995), a physicist and pioneer in solar energy research, was celebrated as one of America’s 11 most successful women for her influential inventions and science-based patents. Dán (1911–1963), wife of famed mathematician John von Neumann, was among the world’s first computer programmers.
The distinguished guests who opened the outdoor exhibition lingered in front of the display dedicated to Hungary’s first female Nobel laureate.
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
In the collection titled Focusing on Humanity, the exhibition highlights the groundbreaking achievements of Ignác Semmelweis and Albert Szent-Györgyi, a former professor at the University of Szeged and one-time rector of the institution. Also included in this collection are Hungary’s two most recent Nobel laureates: Katalin Karikó, a professor at the University of Szeged, and Ferenc Krausz, who is associated with the ELI Laser Center in Szeged. The Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged is proud to have contributed to the installation dedicated to the University’s Nobel Prize-winning professors with photos from its Szent-Györgyi and Karikó Collections.
Photos for the display highlighting the significance of the discoveries made by Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó included images from the extensive Karikó Collection of the Klebelsberg Library at the University of Szeged.
Photo by István Sahin-Tóth
The outdoor exhibition Eureka! In the Footsteps of Hungarian Geniuses is open to the public free of charge on the promenade of the Castle Garden Bazaar until the end of November.
Original Hungarian text by Ilona Újszászi
Photos by István Sahin-Tóth and Katalin Karikó
For further information on Katalin Karikó, Nobel laureate professor at the University of Szeged, see:
Katalin Karikó’s Journey to the Nobel Prize and Beyond, a permanent exhibition of the University of Szeged in English at the József Attila Study and Information Center of the University (Szeged, Ady tér 10.), open during regular hours
The Katalin Karikó Virtual Exhibition at the Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged (in English, French, and German)
The Katalin Karikó page on the University of Szeged website: https://u-szeged.hu/karikokatalin/en
