Nobel Surprise

I was at a course for local businesswomen last week, and I was surprised that they were anxiously awaiting the announcement of the Nobel Prize in literature. I felt rather out of my element here because the literature prize is probably the one that interests me the least, but I went along when they gathered around the TV to hear the news. I'd never heard of Herta Muller, and judging by their reaction, they hadn't either. I was curious if their interest was in the Nobel prizes or in literature, so I asked what they thought of the medicine prize which had been announced the day before. I thought telomeres were pretty interesting stuff, but apparently they did not.

The big surprise came later when Barack Obama won the Peace prize. My first reaction was that he hadn't done so much yet, but then I realized that it's not so much about succeeding but for trying. It's about having the right attitude and spreading hope, and that's nothing to sneeze at. And if by receiving the prize now, it helps him succeed, all the better.

Of course, that's not the end of the story. I want to give a big solute to the people who figured out fiber optics, telomeres, and ribosomes. And also to the first woman to win the economics prize (even if that one's a bit harder for me to get my mind around).