2020 Nobel Prize Winner Receives Award Despite COVID-19 Cancellations

With the traditional Nobel festivities in Stockholm canceled due to the pandemic, this year's chemistry laureate, Emmanuelle Charpentier, was presented the diploma and medal at the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Berlin on Monday (December 7).

Charpentier, who is French, and American Jennifer Doudna won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating genetic 'scissors' that can rewrite the code of life, contributing to new cancer therapies and holding out the prospect of curing hereditary diseases.

Charpentier, of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of pathogen and Doudna developed the CRISPR/Cas9 tool to edit the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with precision.

This year's celebrations will be modest and remote and instead of wining and dining in Stockholm on Thursday (December 10), winners will receive their award in their home country from a Swedish diplomat.

It is a far cry from normal times, when laureates attend the glitzy ceremony before enjoying a sumptuous banquet, along with around 1,300 other guests, including royalty and Sweden's cultural elite.

This year, the Swedish king will give a digital welcome as part of the main prize giving, which will include footage of the laureates receiving their awards. It will be beamed from Stockholm City Hall to Nobel Prize digital channels.

It is the first time the banquet has been canceled since 1956, in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary.

Organizers said that winners will be invited to the 2021 celebrations assuming the pandemic has eased by then.