Exhibition Opens on Nobel Prize-winning Researchers from the University of Szeged

Karikó Katalin with a statue of Albert Szent-Györgyi, a fellow Nobel Prize winner, at the University of Szeged.

An interactive exhibition presenting the work of the Nobel Prize-winning researchers Albert Szent-Györgyi and Katalin Karikó and the history of the University of Szeged (SZTE) opened on Saturday at the institution.

Gábor Szabó, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Szeged Foundation, said at the opening of the exhibition that Katalin Karikó is unique among Nobel laureates not only because of her unique personality but also because of the significance of her scientific work. The academic said he was convinced that Katalin Karikó’s discovery of mRNA technology would be part of the secondary school curriculum in 10 to 15 years and that her work would benefit humanity to the same extent as Louis Pasteur’s.

In her welcome speech in Szeged, after winning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Katalin Karikó announced that she would donate a copy of her scientific award to her former university and use the prize money to establish the JATE Prize. An exhibition on the researcher’s life was opened in April and has been seen by thousands of visitors in recent months.

The exhibition has been expanded in theme and material by the university staff, with the help of experts from the Móra Ferenc Museum.

The exhibition shows the roots of the university in time, going back to 1581, and in space, to Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár, today in Romania), and the arrival of the institution in Szeged in 1921.

A special section of the exhibition pays tribute to Albert Szent-Györgyi, the former rector of the university, with a replica of his Nobel Prize, a dean’s robe and an interactive web-course on his work.

Most of the exhibition is devoted to the life of Katalin Karikó. Visitors can see the university professor’s childhood memories, her diplomas from academic competitions and the most important milestones of her university years.

Twenty of her more than 100 academic awards are presented, and her academic career can be seen in a virtual exhibition in four languages – Hungarian, English, German and French.

Her research on mRNA is presented in a short film in Hungarian and English.

The exhibition also includes a game, mainly aimed at secondary school students, which, like the rest of the exhibition, aims to inspire young people to choose a career in science.

Via MTI, Featured image: Wikipedia/Szegedi Tudományegyetem