Peter Howitt wasn’t expecting the news of his 2025 prize in economic sciences. In this interview, he talks about his longstanding friendship with fellow laureate Philippe Aghion. 

Listen to the moment Philippe Aghion shares the joy with his friend and co-laureate Peter Howitt, captured as part of this call made shortly after the public announcement of their joint 2025 economic sciences prize.

Waking early, Joel Mokyr opened up his computer to find out who had been awarded the 2025 prize in economic sciences, and found emails saying ’Congratulations.’ Then he saw missed calls from Sweden on his phone and “the suspicion started to ripen.”

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2025 was announced by professor Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 13 October 2025.

Susumu Kitagawa talks about his approach to tackling grand challenges, and how to keep a lookout for the unexpected. He also explains how his perspective on research has a lineage that extends back to other Japanese Nobel Prize laureates.

Richard Robson recounts how his new idea emerged and how, in the end, he just had to do something about it. He also offers some modest reflections on a long life in chemistry, which he says wasn’t exactly a vocation: “I sort of drifted into it, I couldn’t think of anything better to do.”

As a ten-year-old child, 2025 chemistry laureate Omar Yaghi read a book about molecules and was immediately drawn to them. “Since then, I’ve chosen to investigate problems based on the beauty of molecules.”

Watch the announcement of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by Professor Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

John Clarke, still stunned by the news, praises his co-laureates John Martinis and Michel Devoret, whom he worked together with in a lab in Berkeley, California, some 40 years ago. 

Michel Devoret describes how he woke on announcement day to find that the world already knew the news: “I had completely forgotten that October was the Nobel Prize month!”

John Martinis talks about the excitement of learning how to investigate problems with his co-laureates four decades ago, and how that experience taught him what to aim for when building labs in academic and industry subsequently.

Prize announcement by professor Hans Ellegren, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Watch the announcement of the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and an interview with Rickard Sandberg, member of the Nobel Committee.

Mary Brunkow talks about the power of genetics to unravel biology and how she feels it was an honour to have been one of the contributors to solving the puzzle of immune tolerance.

In this conversation, Ramsdell speaks about the benefits of working in the environment of biotech and the joy of finding talented collaborators.

Shimon Sakaguchi speaks about his surprise at the news and reflects on the fundamental research question that kept him dedicated to the field after many others abandoned it, a question that took over two decades to answer.

Sir John B. Gurdon died on 7 October 2025, aged 92. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012 “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.”

Biography

George F. Smoot passed away on 18 September 2025, aged 80. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2006 “for their discovery of the blackbody form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation.”

Biography

David Baltimore died on 6 September 2025, aged 87. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975 “for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell.”

Biography

Rainer Weiss passed away on 25 August 2025, aged 92. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2017 “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.”

Biography