Wesley’s Week: The Nobility of the Nobel Prize

by Wesley

The University of North Carolina reaped some of its best publicity Monday when Oliver Smithies became its first full-time faculty member to receive the Nobel Prize, specifically for physiology or medicine. Smithies was honored for his work in genetic targeting, which he has pursued for nearly a quarter century in efforts to find out how changes in the genetic makeup can affect an animal. Some of his findings have been used to further research on human cystic fibrosis, among other treatments.

The accomplishment seems even more stunning when one realizes this was the first Nobel Prize win for a professor at UNC. For those of us familiar with its reputation as a leading public institute of higher learning, we always assumed someone had achieved that distinction previously. As it turns out, the university has had several alumni and former faculty members win the award over the years, but this is the first time it had a direct connection to the winner.

Naturally, this has some at the university excited about the publicity from this triumph. As Holden Thorp, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences told The Daily Tar Heel, “I think it’s a qualitative change for Carolina. I think when you’re on the network nightly news and you’re the lead thing on NPR, that’s a qualitatively different recognition than we get most other ways.”

Now, this win does not mean suddenly that UNC can compete with the prestige of, say, the University of California at Berkeley, which has 15 full-time Nobel laureates on its faculty. But it does boost its credibility even more among its backers and might encourage more financial support and expansion to the institute, which would have positive benefits not only for UNC but the surrounding community as well.

So congratulations to Oliver Smithies on winning his award, as well as to UNC for the coverage it has received in its wake. It is always nice to hear good news connected to the Triangle, and this is a truly great accomplishment to report.

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