meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Short Wave

The Nobels Overwhelmingly Go to Men β€” This Year's Prize For Medicine Was No Exception

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 β€’ 6K Ratings

πŸ—“οΈ 5 October 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From who historically wins the awards, to how they portray the process of science and collaboration, host Maddie Sofia and NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce discuss the many problems with Nobel Prizes in science.

Email the show at [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

0:04.3

Hey, everybody.

0:05.9

Maddie, Sophia here with NPR Science Correspondent Nelgrin, Foboys.

0:09.6

Hi, Annelle.

0:10.6

Hey, Maddie.

0:11.6

So, Nell, the Nobel Prizes for Science are being awarded this week.

0:15.4

We've got physiology or medicine today, physics on Tuesday, and chemistry on Wednesday.

0:22.0

Right.

0:23.0

And even though we're taping this before the first prize is announced, we already have

0:26.1

a lot to talk about.

0:27.4

Yeah.

0:28.4

And the awards are a rare example of lots of people, non-economics, the media, really

0:34.6

celebrating scientists.

0:36.0

I mean, Nell, you've covered them for years, right?

0:38.6

It's kind of a big deal.

0:40.2

Years.

0:41.2

Years.

0:42.2

And every year, science reporters around the world get up at this ungodly hour to find out

0:46.0

who won and then explain it.

0:48.4

Right.

0:49.4

So, one year, I had like 15 minutes to figure out how to explain the, quote, mechanism

0:53.8

of spontaneous broken symmetry in sub-atomic physics.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright Β© Tapesearch 2025.