Drew Weissman will forgive us, but this will go down in history mostly as Katalin Karikó’s Nobel Prize. And perhaps in addition to being an award to celebrate, it is also an award that should make us angry. Because this scientist’s story is too extraordinary, for all the obstacles she had to face and overcome. It is always said that girls need model female scientists to inspire them, Karikó is a beautiful role model but we sincerely hope that she does not have to be an example to anyone, because it is not fair that a researcher of this stature was forced into precariousness for decades and could not count on a stable professorship in the United States where she moved from Hungary in the 1980s (at the University of Pennsylvania she results “adjunct professor”).

Her all too exceptional life is recounted in an autobiography just published, which CRISPR inventor Jennifer Doudna commented on it this way: “A riveting testament to resilience and the power of unwavering belief.” The sharpest comments, however, came from computational biologist Michael Eisen on X.

“Not to be a crankypuss, but awarding a Nobel for work that suffered from not being taken seriously for decades only *after* it proved to be of incredible value is not a triumph of prizemaking – it’s a complete condemnation of it and the entire culture of modern academic science.”

Eisen also writes: “It’s not that complicated. We can and should simultaneously celebrate Dr. Kariko for her ideas and persistence in the face of adversity, while acknowledging that she succeeded in spite of us, and realize it is our duty to do whatever we can to never let it happen again.”