In 2023, four of the six U.S. recipients of Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry and physics came to America as immigrants. New research shows immigrants have contributed substantially to America in scientific fields, particularly in the past two decades.
“Immigrants have been awarded 40%, or 45 of 112, of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics since 2000,” according to an analysis by the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP). “Between 1901 and 2023, immigrants have been awarded 36%, or 115 of 319, of the Nobel Prizes won by Americans in chemistry, medicine and physics.”
Katalin Karikó And mRNA
In 2023, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.”
Karikó earned a Ph.D. in Hungary but did not want to raise a family or work under communist rule. She came to the United States but faced an uncertain career path, first as a postdoctoral researcher. Her story shows why ignoring an immigrant’s drive and potential closes the door to outstanding individuals.
“It is a story that began three decades ago, with a little-known scientist who refused to quit,” writes Damian Garde of STAT. “Before messenger RNA was a multibillion-dollar idea, it was a scientific backwater. And for the Hungarian-born scientist behind a key mRNA discovery, it was a career dead-end. Katalin Karikó spent the 1990s collecting rejections. Her work, attempting to harness the power of mRNA to fight disease, was too far-fetched for government grants, corporate funding and even support from her own colleagues.”
At the University of Pennsylvania, Karikó collaborated with Drew Weissman and solved the problem plaguing mRNA by stopping the body from fighting the new chemical after an injection. “Karikó and Weissman [created] . . . a hybrid mRNA that could sneak its way into cells without alerting the body’s defenses,” writes Garde. “And even though the studies by Karikó and Weissman went unnoticed by some, they caught the attention of two key scientists—one in the United States, another abroad—who would later help found Moderna [Rossi] and Pfizer’s future partner, BioNTech.”
Karikó, who lives and works in America, is a senior vice president at German-based BioNTech, the company that worked with Pfizer to develop an mRNA Covid-19 vaccine.
In the coming years, medical experts expect mRNA to treat cancer. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center has opened a phase 2 clinical trial to test an mRNA vaccine to treat pancreatic cancer.
Immigrants Win Nobel Prizes In Chemistry And Physics
Two immigrants—Moungi G. Bawendi (born in France) and Alexei I. Ekimov (born in the former USSR)—shared with Louis E. Brus (born in the U.S.) the 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry. “The Nobel Prize in chemistry 2023 rewards the discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles so tiny that their size determines their properties,” writes the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “These smallest components of nanotechnology now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and can also guide surgeons when they remove tumor tissue, among many other things.”
Bawendi is affiliated with MIT, Brus with Columbia University and Ekimov works at Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York.
“Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED technology,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “They also add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue. Quantum dots are thus bringing the greatest benefit to humankind.”
Pierre Agostini immigrated to America from France. He came to Ohio State in 2005 and is now professor emeritus of physics. Agostini shared the Nobel Prize in physics with two French scientists.
“Scientists Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier won the 2023 Nobel Prize in physics for creating ultra-short pulses of light that can give a snapshot of changes within atoms, potentially leading to better detection of disease,” according to Reuters.
Not An Easy Path
Nobel Prize winners rarely come to the United States on the cusp of winning a prestigious award. Katalin Karikó and many other recipients traveled a difficult path. Rainer Weiss was born in Germany and came to America as a teenager. He shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in physics with two other Americans, Kip S. Thorne and Barry C. Barish.
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian, an immigrant from Lebanon, shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in medicine with David Julius for “groundbreaking research that solved a long-standing mystery of how the body senses touch and other mechanical stimuli.”
“Dr. Patapoutian, who is of Armenian origin, grew up in Lebanon during the country’s long and calamitous civil war before fleeing to the United States with his brother in 1986 at age 18,” reported the New York Times. “Needing to establish residency in California so that he could afford college, Dr. Patapoutian worked eclectic jobs for a year, delivering pizzas and writing the weekly horoscopes for an Armenian newspaper.”
He left Lebanon after what Dr. Patapoutian describes as a harrowing experience. “The conflict continued to escalate, and one fateful and terrifying morning, I was captured and held by armed militants. A few months later, I moved to Los Angeles. This first year in LA was a different kind of struggle to adapt, perhaps as challenging a year as a young adult as any I had experienced as a child in Beirut. . . . What a relief it was to gain admission to UCLA to resume my student life.”
Dr. Patapoutian said, “I fell in love with doing basic research. That changed the trajectory of my career. In Lebanon, I didn’t even know about scientists as a career.”
Immigration Laws Make A Difference
The report notes that two laws helped America attract outstanding talent. In 1965, ending the discriminatory national origin quotas allowed immigrants from Asia and elsewhere to study and live in the United States. The Immigration Act of 1990 raised employment-based green card numbers, although more than three decades later, the increase has proven insufficient.
Still, a greater openness to immigration has drawn researchers to the United States from across the globe. “One can see the increasing influence and importance of immigrants on science in America reflected in Nobel Prize winners,” the research found. “Between 1901 and 1959, immigrants won 22 Nobel Prizes in chemistry, medicine and physics but won 93 prizes in these fields—more than four times as many—between 1960 and 2023.”
Since 1901, immigrants have been awarded 38% of the U.S. Nobel Prizes in physics, 37% in chemistry and 34% in medicine.
In 2021, three of the four U.S. winners of Nobel Prizes in medicine, chemistry and physics were immigrants to America. In 2016, all 6 American recipients of the Nobel Prize in economics and scientific fields were immigrants.
The study found, “Being open to immigration has allowed America to attract talented and ambitious individuals and benefit from scientific and technological innovation.”
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