Nobel Prize Winners Who Crack Us Up

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by: David Pratt
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Stratford, Ontario - The Nobel Prize is awarded each year in October. It is usually a serious and often somber event meant to highlight someone fighting for peace or justice. David Pratt, author of the book “The Impossible Takes Longer; The 1,000 Wisest Things Ever Said By Nobel Prize Laureates” (Walker & Company, 2007) fills his book with poignant, thought-provoking and emotional quotes. “But let’s be honest,” he says, “sometimes the smartest people say or do the dumbest things.”

Like the most recent Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore who said, “The future will be better tomorrow.” The 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics winner Niels Bohr explained of the horseshoe hanging above his door, “I certainly do not believe in superstition. But you know, they say it does bring luck even if you don’t believe in it!” Then there is the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine winner, James Watson, who collected his prize for his groundbreaking work on DNA and promptly went on to research the all important effects of sunshine on the sex drive.

“These are amazing men and women,” says Pratt. “They did amazing things. They changed the world. And some of them made us laugh.”

Abdus Salam was the 1979 winner for Physics. He was also Muslim who brought both of his wives to Stockholm for the ceremonies. “It created quite a stir,” says Pratt. “Because of protocol there was only one chair.”

Some of the Laureates used laughter to make a point. 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi was once leading a peaceful demonstration when nearby soldiers seemed about to fire on the crowd. She continued marching saying, “We are grateful to those who are giving the people practice in being brave.”

Humorous stupidity isn’t always the Laureates fault. The 1956 Nobel Prize Winner for Medicine, Werner Forssmann, got fired for trying out a medical gizmo on himself. That ‘gizmo’ turned out to be the first heart catheter. The 1962 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry was commissioned as part of a secret war project to make ice strong enough for a plane to land on it. Max Perutz’s invention was unveiled to the top brass and an over-eager colonel pulled out his sidearm to see if the bullets would penetrate the super-hard ice. “They didn’t. Three of the generals were wounded by the ricochets.”

Behind every brilliant man there is a wife fretting he’s stupid without her guidance. Such was the case with Dr. Barry Marshall. “He was so convinced bacteria caused ulcers he drank a batch of it. He was right, he got sick. His wife was furious, but Marshall went on to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1995.”

Among the 1,000 inspirational, poignant and uplifting quotes in Pratt’s book is that of Werner Heisenberg, the inventor of the Uncertainty Principle in quantum mechanics. The epitaph he composed for his tombstone reads, “He lies here, somewhere.”

“These are brilliant people,” says Pratt. “I admire them all. The 1975 Nobel Prize winner for Chemistry once played chess blindfolded against 12 players simultaneously and won 8 games.” He doesn’t want anyone to lose sight of the Laureates’ accomplishments, “The prize is intended to point the world’s attention to an issue. It’s intended to protect the person brave enough to stand up for peace and justice. These are great human beings and if laughter points our attention at them so that we can learn from their brilliance then that’s a prize we can give to ourselves.”

About the Author

David Pratt was born in England in 1939. He attended Oxford University, Harvard University, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. Pratt is a former teacher and lecturer with the life long passion to collect unusual quotes from Nobel Laureates. Find the product of his obsession in “The Impossible Takes Longer, The 1,000 Wisest Things Ever Said By Nobel Prize Laureates.” www.theimpossibletakeslonger.com

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