Statement by the Nobel Laureates, July 28, 2021

We Nobel Laureates are greatly concerned about a series of incidents that occurred prior to and during the Nobel Prize Summit, Our Planet, Our Future, held from April 26-28, 2021. The Summit brought together international thought leaders of all ages around the world to address some of the greatest challenges that humanity faces. The meeting was jointly sponsored by the Nobel Foundation and the US National Academy of Sciences. In late March and again in early April, the Chinese Embassy in Washington telephoned a senior National Academy official and insisted that two of the scheduled speakers, the Dalai Lama and Dr. Yuan T. Lee, should be disinvited and not allowed to speak at the Nobel Summit. The embassy was told at both times that no such disinvitation would take place. On Sunday afternoon, April 25th, immediately before the Nobel Summit, the National Academy received an email from the Chinese Embassy demanding that the Dalai Lama and Dr. Yuan T. Lee not be permitted to speak. Again, the request was denied. During the first virtual session of the meeting on April 26th, the video transmission of the session was disrupted by a presumed cyber-attack. Again, on April 27th another cyber-attack disrupted the entire platform. Regardless of whether these attacks were linked to the demands from the Chinese embassy, we are outraged by the Chinese governments attempt to censor and bully the scientific community by attempting to prevent two of our fellow Laureates (or indeed anyone) from speaking at a meeting outside of China. The future of our planet will require collaboration between all nations and all scientists across the globe. Many of us have valued scientific colleagues and long-standing friends in China, with whom we interact productively. Unfortunately, actions such as those described above only serve to hinder such essential cooperation, and if continued, will affect our willingness to participate in events in China, particularly those fully or partially sponsored or supported by the Chinese government. We strongly believe that the free and open expression of ideas and the freedom of assembly are basic human rights, and international forums such as the Nobel Summit are essential means of finding solutions, maintaining international trust, and securing a more just and prosperous future. In so doing, these efforts will confer great benefits onto humankind. Signed: Peter Agre Chemistry 2003 Sidney Altman Chemistry 1989 Paul Berg Chemistry 1980 Eric Betzig Chemistry 2014 Thomas R. Cech Chemistry 1989 Martin Chalfie Chemistry 2008 Elias James Corey Chemistry 1990 Robert F. Curl Jr. Chemistry 1996 Johann Deisenhofer Chemistry 1988 Jennifer A. Doudna Chemistry 2020 Gerhard Ertl Chemistry 2007 Joachim Frank Chemistry 2017 Walter Gilbert Chemistry 1980 Richard Henderson Chemistry 2017 Dudley R. Herschbach Chemistry 1986 Roald Hoffmann Chemistry 1981 Robert Huber Chemistry 1988 Brian K. Kobilka Chemistry 2012 Yuan T. Lee Chemistry 1986 Roderick MacKinnon Chemistry 2003 Hartmut Michel Chemistry 1988 Paul L. Modrich Chemistry 2015 William E. Moerner Chemistry 2014 Ryoji Noyori Chemistry 2001 John C. Polanyi Chemistry 1986 Venkatraman Ramakrishnan Chemistry 2009 Jean-Pierre Sauvage Chemistry 2016 Richard R. Schrock Chemistry 2005 Hideki Shirakawa Chemistry 2000 George P. Smith Chemistry 2018 Sir James Fraser Stoddart Chemistry 2016 Sir John E. Walker Chemistry 1997 M. Stanley Whittingham Chemistry 2019 Sir Gregory P. Winter Chemistry 2018 Lars Peter Hansen Economics 2013 Finn E. Kydland Economics 2004 Paul R. Milgrom Economics 2020 William D. Nordhaus Economics 2018 Christopher A. Sims Economics 2011 Vernon L. Smith Economics 2002 Joseph E. Stiglitz Economics 2001 J. M. Coetzee Literature 2003 Elfriede Jelinek Literature 2004 Herta Muller Literature 2009 Alice Munro Literature 2013 Wole Soyinka Literature 1986 David Baltimore Medicine 1975 Francoise Barre-Sinoussi Medicine 2008 William C. Campbell Medicine 2015 Mario R. Capecchi Medicine 2007 Sir Martin J. Evans Medicine 2007 Joseph L. Goldstein Medicine 1985 Carol W. Greider Medicine 2009 Jeffrey Connor Hall Medicine 2017 Leland H. Hartwell Medicine 2001 Harald zur Hausen Medicine 2008 Tasuku Honjo Medicine 2018 H. Robert Horvitz Medicine 2002 Tim Hunt Medicine 2001 Louis J. Ignarro Medicine 1998 William G. Kaelin Jr. Medicine 2019 Eric R. Kandel Medicine 2000 Barry J. Marshall Medicine 2005 Craig C. Mello Medicine 2006 Edvard Moser Medicine 2014 May-Britt Moser Medicine 2014 John O'Keefe Medicine 2014 Sir Richard J. Roberts Medicine 1993 Michael Rosbash Medicine 2017 Randy W. Schekman Medicine 2013 Gregg L. Semenza Medicine 2019 Hamilton O. Smith Medicine 1978 Jack W. Szostak Medicine 2009 Susumu Tonegawa Medicine 1987 Harold E. Varmus Medicine 1989 J. Robin Warren Medicine 2005 Eric F. Wieschaus Medicine 1995 Torsten N. Wiesel Medicine 1981 Ferid Murad Medicine) 1998 Shirin Ebadi Peace 2003 Adolfo Perez Esquivel Peace 1980 Jody Williams Peace 1997 Barry Clark Barish Physics 2017 Steven Chu Physics 1997 Jerome I. Friedman Physics 1990 Reinhard Genzel Physics 2020 Sheldon Glashow Physics 1979 David J. Gross Physics 2004 John L. Hall Physics 2005 Serge Haroche Physics 2012 Gerardus 't Hooft Physics 1999 Brian D. Josephson Physics 1973 Takaaki Kajita Physics 2015 Wolfgang Ketterle Physics 2001 Klaus von Klitzing Physics 1985 Anthony J. Leggett Physics 2003 John C. Mather Physics 2006 Michel Mayor Physics 2019 Gerard Mourou Physics 2018 Arno Penzias Physics 1978 William D. Phillips Physics 1997 Brian P. Schmidt Physics 2011 Horst L. Stormer Physics 1998 Donna Strickland Physics 2018 Joseph H. Taylor Jr. Physics 1993 Kip Stephen Thorne Physics 2017 Daniel C. Tsui Physics 1998 Rainer Weiss Physics 2017 Carl E. Wieman Physics 2001 Robert Woodrow Wilson Physics 1978 David J. Wineland Physics 2012