In his book published twenty years ago, Pál Venetianer compares the Nobel Prize ceremony to great moments and turning points in human and cultural history. By asking the 89-year-old academician and some of Katalin Karikó's guests, we relived the small and big moments of the highlight of Stockholm's Nobel Week on December 10, 2023.

Two Nobel Prize winners from Hungary and the University of Szeged have been awarded the world's most prestigious scientific prize. The mRNA researcher Katalin Karikó, Professor at the University of Szeged, is the first Hungarian woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Ferenc Krausz, who conducted his molecular fingerprinting research in Szeged, is a Nobel Prize winner in physics. Our coverage of the event, which took place at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 10 December 2023, is complemented by exclusive information from our correspondent on the ground.

The Stockholm Concert Hall has seen a lot and still has a lot more to see. Two days after the concert on 8 December 2023 organised in honour of the Nobel Prize winners, this fascinating building will host the world's most prestigious award ceremony on 10 December. Among the distinguished attendees of the concert were the Nobel laureates and the esteemed members of the Swedish royal family.

What kind of jewel is pseudouridine? What tableware is used for the banquet after the Nobel Prize ceremony? What items did this year's laureates donate to the Nobel Prize Museum? We will show the donations of the 2023 Nobel laureates – including Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz, who have strong ties to the University of Szeged.

The lectures by Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, were well attended in Stockholm. If you missed the live broadcast, you can watch the recording in our article.

Animations and archival footage add color to this year's television portrait of Nobel laureates. The 59-minute film illustrates some of the uplifting, dramatic, and sporty moments of the researchers' lives. In the first twenty minutes of the summary, Katalin Karikó walks and talks at significant places in her life, including locations at the University of Szeged. From the 54th minute, Ferenc Krausz jogs and explains. The stories of two Hungarian researchers frame the film celebrating this year's Nobel laureates, scheduled for broadcast on STV2.

Referring Kuno Klebelsberg in relation to Katalin Karikó's Nobel Prize is more than a historical artifact of the University. According to Prof. Dr. Márta Széll, Vice-Rector for Strategic Planning at the University of Szeged, due to the network-like character of research, a clear scientific history can be traced between the major biochemical research laboratories at the University of Szeged and the new Nobel Prize.

Stockholm is adorned in pristine white and lights, eagerly awaiting the distinguished guests and honorees for the Nobel Weeks. Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó arrived on December 4, 2023. As an honoree guest, she is a research professor at the University of Szeged. Dániel Viczián, a first-year chemistry student at the University of Szeged, is attending the Nobel Prize award ceremony as a spectator. The official events celebrating personalities recognized with the world's most prestigious scientific award officially begin on December 6, 2023.

The exhibition "Katalin Karikó's Journey to the Lasker Prize and Beyond" of the University of Szeged International Affairs and Public Relations Directorate and the Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged was presented in the lobby of the new theoretical block of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pécs.

The "Nobel Weeks at the University of Szeged" awareness campaign is launched. "Where knowledge and intention meet" - a series of programmes organised under the motto of the University of Szeged extends beyond the borders of Szeged.

"I had a B average in my first class, while half of the class was excellent," said Katalin Karikó when she was asked when and how talent is recognised. According to the Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and research professor at the University of Szeged, if you have goals, determination and perseverance, you can succeed. The "Nobel Weeks at the University of Szeged" information campaign kicked off with a roundtable discussion jointly organised by SZTE and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC).

Professor Gérard Mourou, the initiator of the ELI laser infrastructure and the Nobel laureate physicist recognized for his work on chirped pulse amplification technology in 2018, was a guest in Szeged at ELI ALPS. Professor Mourou participated in a seminar held at the research institute on Friday, where Dr. Károly Osvay reported on the results of the first five-year research cycle of the National Laser-Initiated Transmutation Laboratory operating at the University of Szeged. During the event, participants, including former Minister of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology of Hungary - László Palkovics, Minister for Energy - Csaba Lantos, and Gábor Szabó - Managing Director of ELI ALPS, also discussed the prospects for the next period of the laser transmutation project.

In the week of the announcement of Katalin Karikó's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the memoir "Breaking Through - My Life in Science" was published in Hungarian. Since then, several book reviews have been published. By summarizing what happened since then we will direct the attention to those who contributed to the success of Breaking Through.

Katalin Karikó traveled to Hungary to visit the University of Szeged, her alma mater, only one week after she won the Nobel Prize in Medicine. She was greeted by hundreds of locals, attended a celebratory meeting, held a press conference, met with researchers, and held seminars for university students at SZTE on October 12, 2023.

Dr. Katalin Karikó, research professor and winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for inventing the modified messenger RNA used in modern Covid19 vaccines, visits her alma mater on 12 October.

Nobel laureate Katalin Karikó was celebrated with standing ovations and applause at the meeting of the American Academy of Medicine in Washington, D.C. on 7 October 2023. In addition to the world-renowned mRNA researcher, Kornélia Polyák, cancer researcher and alumna of the University of Szeged, was also elected a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).