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President Obama Welcomes America’s 2016 Nobel Laureates to the White House

December 2, 2016 at 11:39 AM ET by Kristin Lee, Fae Jencks

Summary:

This week, President Obama met with four of America’s leading scientists to recognize their achievements and highlight the importance of supporting science.

This week, President Obama welcomed American Laureates of the 2016 Nobel Prizes and their guests to the Oval Office. This visit is part of the Administration’s continuing commitment to prioritizing science and recognizing the strength of the U.S. scientific community. President Obama has previously met with Nobel Laureates at the White House every year since 2010. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 2009.

President Barack Obama greets the 2016 American Nobel Prize winners in the Oval Office, Nov. 30, 2016. From left are: Oliver Hart, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, from Harvard University, F. Duncan M. Haldane, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics from Princeton University, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry from Northwestern University, and J. Michael Kosterlitz, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics, from Brown University. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The President said of this year’s laureates:

“They have done amazing work that for laypersons are sometimes hard to explain. But they are delving into the deepest aspects of matter. They are exploring our ability to manipulate molecules. We also have an economist who is helping to make sure that our market system, our contracts are operating in ways that are fair and just and help us organize our economic system in ways that are more efficient but also produce good results for everybody.

So we are incredibly proud of them. And I think it's just a reminder that one of the things that makes America unique is our ability to attract talent from all around the world, to study at some of our greatest universities, and for us to have very practical, reasoned, fact-based empirical ways to figure out how we can make the world a slightly better place.”

This year, there are seven winners of the Nobel Prize who are American or are based at American universities, three of whom won for their achievements in physics, one in chemistry, two in economic sciences, and one in literature. All six of the science laureates are immigrants or permanent residents. This year’s science Laureates have also all received funding from the National Science Foundation in support of their work, and Sir Stoddart has received funding from the National Institutes of Health.

The Nobel Laureates who met with the President are:

Dr. F. Duncan Haldane, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics
Dr. Oliver Hart, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences
Dr. J. Michael Kosterlitz, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics
Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, Laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Additional attendees at today’s meeting in the Oval Office include: Ambassador of Sweden Bjorn Lyrvall and his spouse Madeleine Lyrvall; Director of the Nobel Foundation Lars Heikensten; Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy John Holdren; Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors Jason Furman; and family members of the Laureates.

Throughout his Administration, President Obama has recognized that science, technology, and innovation is not only critical to maintaining a strong economy, but also to helping Americans to lead longer and healthier lives, securing our Nation, and reducing the harmful impacts of climate change, and more.

To learn more about the 2016 Nobel Prizes, visit: www.nobelprize.org

For a full list of National Science Foundation Nobel-related funding (including all of this year's US-based science winners), visit: https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=100683