The Daily Stoic - Resiliency Will Reward You | Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Katalin Karikó

Episode Date: March 19, 2025

They told her she would never succeed, now her work has saved millions. In this episode, Ryan talks with Dr. Katalin Karikó, the scientist behind the mRNA technology that led to COVID-19 vaccines. She grew up in rural Communist Hungary, faced rejection after rejection, got demoted, and struggled financially but she never stopped chasing the science. Dr. Katalin Karikó opens up to Ryan about her experiences as an immigrant in the U.S., the grind of scientific discovery, enjoying the process rather than focusing solely on outcomes, misinformation in the scientific community, and the responsibility of scientists to communicate effectively with the public.Dr. Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian American biochemist who specializes in RNA-mediated mechanisms. She won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with her colleague Dr. Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. Read the New York Times feature on Dr. Katalin Karikó hereFollow Dr. Katalin Karikó on Instagram @katalin_kariko  Check Dr. Katalin Karikó’s memoir Breaking Through: My Life in Science🎙️ Follow The Daily Stoic Podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dailystoicpodcast🎥 Watch top moments from The Daily Stoic Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dailystoicpodcast✉️ Want Stoic wisdom delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for the FREE Daily Stoic email at https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail🏛 Get Stoic inspired books, medallions, and prints to remember these lessons at the Daily Stoic Store: https://store.dailystoic.com/📱 Follow us:  Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and FacebookSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Hiring Indeed is all you need. Welcome to the Daily Stoic Podcast where each weekday we bring you a meditation inspired by the ancient Stoics, a short passage of ancient wisdom designed to help you find strength and insight here in everyday life. And on Wednesdays, we talk to some of our fellow students of ancient philosophy, well known and obscure, fascinating and powerful. With them, we discuss the strategies and habits that have helped them become who they are and also to find peace and wisdom in their lives. Hey, it's Ryan. Welcome to another episode of the Daily Stoke podcast. We were just sitting down for dinner

as a family a couple nights ago, and we're all sitting around eating. And it just occurred to me, I said, it's kind of insane to think about this, but it was like on this day, five years ago. To my oldest, I said, we took you out of school. And to my youngest, you were a baby. I mean, we still have the thing on the wall. It says, you know, his name and it says eight

months. It's kind of flash frozen there in place. This was the day that basically the pandemic sort of got real, at least for Americans. Things got serious. And we sort of huddled up or locked down on our ranch. So a wonderful place to be in that moment, at least. We were very fortunate in that regard. But it just was crazy to me that it had been five years. I mean, I have a five and a half year old basically, or five years and eight months. And just how long ago that seems and then how it seems like it just happened. I've said this in a bunch of my talks.

Like, I don't think if you had said to any of us on March of 2020, like, here's what the future holds. You think you're gonna be able to handle that? We wouldn't have been like, oh yeah, that's a piece of cake, right? We didn't know, we don't know what the future holds. But I think if it was all laid out for us, we'd be overwhelmed.

And that's what really stoicism is, this ability to sort of handle more than you can handle, as we were talking about in a recent email. But it's been a lot, right? The last five years have been a lot. That first year was a lot. That first year before we knew what we know now, before the inventions of the vaccines,

before the heroic actions of so many doctors and public health officials. Back in 2023, I read this New York Times profile of this overlooked scientist. And I was fascinated by her story, this woman, Dr. Katalin Kariko. She grew up in communist Hungary. She left the country with $900 that she stuffed in her daughter's teddy bear.

And look, I'm sure America was better than communist Hungary, but it was no easy ride. I have a section about her in some of my talks. I thought I could find it. I'm a little late recording this intro, so I'll just do it for you now. Basically, she toils away in the bowels of academia for the next 40 years. She never makes more than 60 grand a year.

Her husband manages an apartment complex to help them make ends meet. She's constantly having to reapply for her grants. She's never given seniority or much respect. People think her research is a dead end until right around that same period, right around the same period, we were all locking down, we were all hoping, hey, I hope someone can figure this out,

I hope someone knows something we can do. Well, it turns out that Dr. Katalin Kuriko had been researching in this exact area and her slow and steady breakthroughs in what would become MRNA vaccines was sort of ripe exactly for this moment. And she would go on to win a Nobel Peace Prize. She should have won it in 21 and 22.

She did not, which sort of continued the trend of being snubbed and ignored and rejected and undermined. But she did win a Nobel Peace Prize. And so I find her story fascinating and extra fascinating to learn as I did. The more you look into her life, the more incredible it is, sort of everything that does make America great. Her daughter is an Olympic gold medalist. Oh man, I just love this interview. My grandmother had a very similar accent.

And so it was sweet talking to her. It sort of took me back. I'm a huge fan of her work and I was just fascinated with this article, right? Because research breakthroughs, sometimes we get lucky, sometimes we're recognized. Sometimes it's a long, hard slog.

And the world is made better by the unreasonable people who reject the rejection, who stay at it, who persevere, who push through, who have that sort of unbreakable spirit. And as it turns out, part of what had been motivating Dr. Kuriko was her understanding of stoic philosophy. I didn't think as I sat down into this interview that we'd get to talk her understanding of stoic philosophy. I didn't think as I sat down into this interview

that we'd get to talk a bunch of stoic philosophy, but we did. And so it was so great. Her knowledge of stoicism is what helped her grind through the arduous scientific process. And that's the thing, she really did enjoy the process. There's a quote in that article where basically her husband's like,

look, I don't want you to feel sorry for my wife. She loves coming to work every day. And I think that encapsulates who Dr. Kuriko is, why I wanted to have her on the podcast. She has a memoir called Breaking Through My Life in Science. Just an utterly inspiring, fascinating person who has, through the result of that perseverance and that work, saved the lives of millions of people and also just spared many of us from needless suffering or additional sickness.

If you got the COVID vaccine, look, we thought maybe at the beginning it would magically prevent us all from getting it. In some cases it does because it reduces the chance of infection, but doesn't prevent it. But it does reduce your chances of getting along COVID. It does help you bounce back faster. That's why millions of people all over the world did it. The estimations on how many lives this vaccine has saved are in the tens and tens of millions.

And what an incredible human accomplishment. I have a quote that I've always loved from Aaron Thayer, one of my favorite novelists. And he said, look, you know, human beings are so smart, they can put a man on the moon. And then human beings are so stupid that they can doubt that we put a man on the moon. And that about describes the conflict of human society right there. And I think that describes Dr. Catalin Carrillo's work too, describes the conflict of human society right there.

And I think that describes Dr. Catalyn Carrillo's work too, and why some of you might not like this interview or be upset by it. It's unfortunate that you're in the latter half of that equation, but it doesn't matter, because we have people like Dr. Catalyn Carrillo who did great work, and then we had also countless leaders and doctors and volunteers. I was one. I spent many, many hours in the vaccine clinics and pop-ups that we did here in the little

county that I live in. It was one of the more moving experiences of my life to push these old people who were first in line in their wheelchairs up to the doctor, helped them fill out the form so the nurse would put the shot in their arm in the relief. And the sense that, you know, look, if that hadn't happened, some of them might not be alive. It's crazy to think again, this is all four years ago. But I really liked this interview. I think you're going to like it too. You can follow Dr. Kariko at Katalin, underscore Kariko on Instagram and do check out her memoir, Breaking Through My Life in Science. Enjoy this interview.

So did you know science was always gonna be it for you? Were you drawn to it from an early age? Yes, yes, yes. My father thought that I could be a butcher also because he knew somebody, women, to be a butcher and I assisted him many times and I was good at making sausage and other things. But for you, it was always gonna be science.

Yes. What drew you to it? Like, do you remember the thing that made you think, oh, this is a job people can do? It was the curiosity. I think every child is curious. And, and, you know, we lived in a rural area and, you know, our neighbor had a cow and then we had chickens and that I have seen them coming out from the eggs and everything was kind of

magic and we had stores, a lot of stores in this small town. And, and, you know, they are going and coming back and just wonder about, you know, we didn't think about that that in this small town and they are going and coming back and just wonder about, we didn't think about at that time, GPS, but how they can find a place. Everything was so about nature was so magic and you try to understand how this all happening. Did your parents encourage that curiosity?

Like, I mean, lots of kids are curious about where stuff comes from. It doesn't make them all scientific researchers. Yes. So my father, you know, I mean, I could see when he processed the pig. I could see the blood clotting. I remember he gave me the heart, and he cut in half, and showing things there, just, you know, because I was curious,

you know, my, I have a three years older sister and when we processed the pig, she was always inside. She didn't want to see anything. I was curious what is inside, what makes that animal running and no, it's not running kind of, you know, not that I like the animals. So it was not that, you know, I enjoy it. It was just curious. Yeah, there's a scientist I was reading about that he said when he would come home from school every day, his mother never asked, how did you do on the test? What are your grades?

You know, did you get in any trouble? She always asked, did you ask any good questions? And there's something about encouraging curiosity in kids that can really start something special. Oh, so we were asked about with my sister always that your homework is ready, because if we said yes, then, you know, we can help in the garden with the animals and do chores.

And that was it. It was for my parents. It was important to do the homework. Yes. Right, but I think so often we can sort of pressure our kids into academic performance or to check the boxes as opposed to the underlying curiosity and exploration that I think serves you better in life.

Yeah, I can imagine, but my father had six elementary education, my mother had eight elementary, so they were not those kind of parents who highly educated and they were pushing their children that they have to be achieved something, unbelievable thing, and so that was easy for us. Did they encourage you in your science once? Like, I imagine

sometimes if you have a parent with a very blue collar profession and a very intellectual or cerebral kid can be intimidating or disorienting or just hard to understand. Did your parents support your love of science? How did that go? Yes, yes, our parents for both of us, they were very loving and then they emphasized that we didn't have an opportunity to study and then you have the opportunity. I didn't have the shoes to go to school during the winter

and you have it. So you felt that opportunity is there and they didn't have it. Yeah, I think sometimes like I'm writing about Lincoln in the book that I'm doing now. And he was sort of threatened by his son's love of books. I think deep down because he realized if his son read and learned and fell in love with education, he would leave.

That he would lose his farm hand. Just at this very practical level, it was threatening in that it would send him into another world literally and figuratively. Yeah, so you know, first of all, we didn't have any books, we went sometimes to the library. But I am more like was that that, you know, in the school, because it was the communist system, and we had to interview some old guys, the big communists. I went home and I told my father that this wonderful person, and my father said that, oh, no, he's a bullshit.

Then I had to write a big story about that this person is still good, but you know, I was in my mind that not really, you know, that's kind of things what I learned from my father. And you know, in school, we learned that if somebody has a lot of money, and those people are bad, you know, rich people. And my father said not so. And he told me, although they never had money, and you know, they were poor, but he knew that people were very kind. He was in a small way sort of pushing back on some of the doctrine or the assumptions of a communist country for you.

Yes, he was, took his mind. And for me, I knew that this is what's happening in school and they tried to tell us these things, but there is things that are different. And when did you start to get a sense, not just that you were interested in this, but that you were really good at it, that you could go somewhere with it?

In elementary school already, when I was 13 years old, I was already competing nationally in biology competition, you know, where they ask things. And I went to the summer camp in the capital and then all of these girls and boys were there. Everybody wanted to be a scientist. You don't believe that we were 13 years old. And those who I was in the same tent in this camp, they became physician and chemist, biologist. So at the age of 13, they knew they wanted to do it. I always thought about that.

When I was 14, I was the best in the whole country in biology, and it was a whole week competition. I had to take a train 150 kilometers away from a small town where I grew up. My father put me on the train and said, go to Budapest, because they said somebody would wait for me. It was a different time. After one week, when I arrived back, they learned that, okay, I made the trip and I am back now. There's kind of an interesting parallel that right, because

your daughter is an Olympian, right? And so there must, it's a similar process where you start, you start to pull ahead of your peers. And then there's kind of a process that takes over if you decide to make a go of something. Yes, so she was watching me that I'm working towards my goal, but it was not my success, a lot of sweating there, but I mean, it was also unbelievable

because she started to rowing, she was always doing sports, so she was very fit. And she was 6'2", she was very tall, she's very tall, and almost when she started rowing, what was three years later, she almost made the Olympics in Athens. But then four years later, she made it and got the gold medal in the first Olympics

and get another gold medal in the first Olympics and get another gold medal in the second Olympics. And it was just like, okay. What an incredible full circle that your father's a butcher with a sixth grade education and you become a Nobel Prize winning scientist. And then your daughter goes the exact opposite direction and is an Olympic athlete. What an arc for a family, it's incredible.

Yes, when the people said that we didn't know about, nobody knew about me, I said, oh, the rowers knew that I was Susan's mom. All of the rowers knew. And then later when we went to the different, I get a lot of awards and Susan came with me, they introduced her that cut his daughter. Right, that's so funny.

So when did you know that you would have to leave? How did you come to the end of the road in Hungary? So it was clear then it was actually I was 30 years old. It was on my birthday when they told me that by July 1st, I have 30 years old. It was on my birthday when they told me that by July 1st, I have no longer position. So we were arranged that we will celebrate with another couple, with my husband.

And we already had our daughter born in Hungary and it was not much celebration for me on that day. And I tried to stay in Hungary, apply for jobs. I couldn't, I couldn't get in Europe because I was not allowed to apply for funding because we were behind the Iron Curtain. So a lot of embargo and other things. So finally I applied for a job in US and I get the response that, you know, in July I can start.

And you weren't exactly fleeing danger, but you were fleeing sort of a lack of opportunity. Yes, and I wanted to make sure that we stay Hungarian citizens. My daughter could go back to my mom and spend the summer there. That's what we did. I did not want defect or,

it would be like you leave the country, then you cannot return. That time it was like in 85 when we left. But there is a story you couldn't leave with much, right? In that way, it is the sort of classic immigrant story of they left with the things they could carry. Yeah, I was, you know, just thinking about that I know one week later, like I was in Hungary, one week later, I have to buy things for dollars

in the US and you know, we have the hundred dollar total for three of us and how we will survive for one month in with hundred dollar. And so that's why we sold our cars and you know, exchange the money and, and hide it. You had to hide it in your daughter's teddy bear, right? Yes, I had to do it. She was a smuggler. Yes, she was an early smuggler. That's funny.

I think people, maybe it's from movies, maybe it's from books. You know, we think scientific discovery is, is, well, first off, we think there's a lot of epiphanies, that these ideas come from the epiphany, or we think that the research is exciting or glamorous. I was so fascinated by your story because, quite honest, it seemed like it was a grind, didn't seem fun,

and it seemed like it took a long, long time. Yes, indeed, it seemed from outside that I was struggling sweating. I had to say, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the word and I had, you know, people thought that I am not successful because I didn't get grants and, and, you know, was not promoted. I rather demoted, but I saw so many problems and in the laboratory, oh, I saw this problem, that problem.

Now it is more protein from the art and so I enjoyed it and it was fun. And just from outside, it seems like, you know, it's boring to be a scientist and then it is, you know, success is, you know, looking successful is what many people put emphasis on and not too happy. I am happy to do things, I think. We are planning a family trip to Greece this summer. I wanna see some of the sites that I've talked about in my books.

I wanna do some research. And as we were looking at different hotels, I thought, you know what, let's just stay in an Airbnb. Let's pick a bunch of different Airbnbs to stay in. We'll drive from one to the other. We'll get a sense of what it is actually like to be and live there. And we don't all want to be on top of each other. two double beds in a hotel room, or God forbid you have to buy some super expensive suite. So we're really excited to do that. And that's how we do most of our vacations,

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You can listen to Even the Royals early and ad free by joining Wondery Plus. I think that's the thing about a calling is you have to love the process more than the outcomes. My friend Austin Kleene talks about too many people like the noun and not the verb. You have to like doing science, not being a famous scientist, right? Or if you're motivated by the moments of discovery and recognition, that's probably going to be few and far between. But if you like the day-to-dayness of being in the laboratory, you can have a lot of fun.

Exactly, people are saying, now that you get an over price, so you reaching your goals is what you are doing now. I said, it was never my goal. My goals were always something that I can achieve, I can work towards. Those are all of these awards. If somebody is making a decision, you should get this or not get, or get.

Yeah. You, you cannot, you know, it cannot, it shouldn't motivate you. Yes. More like, you know, what I am doing is maybe helping somebody eventually. And that could be a motivation and also, you know, craving this recognition that's also can spoil all of these things. I never wanted to be recognized. I was so happy without, it was enough for me knowing that,

okay, I am doing something and maybe other scientists, you know, follow up and then they, one day they will have somebody. Well, I think about that as a writer, like writing a great book, that's in my control. Whether it hits the bestseller list is not in my control. Whether it's nominated for a prize or not is not in my control.

And what a reviewer says about it is not in my control. So I have to really pour all that energy into the day-to-dayness of sitting down and doing the work. And I have to take all the, the gains and the return from that because what I mean, it might never come out, I could get hit by a truck, you know, it could get banned. There's so many things can prevent you from getting the recognition or, you know, the achievement. But if you actually like the process

and doing the thing, that's that's attainable right now for effectively achievement. But if you actually like the process and doing the thing, that's attainable right now for effectively anyone. Yeah, that was a great thing, what you just said. Exactly, so that you should enjoy doing things. And even I never get any R01 grant, that meant in the US that you are a scientist, I never get one. But learning and concentrating

for a couple of months, just one project on how would I, how others try to approach the problem and what they did and how I could see things differently. This whole process is an exciting thing and learning. That's what is important. Well, I imagine there's some lessons there that you probably passed on to your daughter too, which is like, you don't control

whether you make the Olympic team. You don't control if you get injured. You have to like the craziest part of it, which is hours and hours of rowing or hours and hours of writing or hours and hours. You have to like the worst part of it the best to potentially be great at something. As you just said, I told my daughter, You have to like the worst part of it the best to potentially be great at something.

As you just said, I told my daughter, isn't that boring? Every day just go backwards on her growth. And she said, mom, it is every practice is different. I enjoy it in the minute. And isn't like, you know, sometimes we're well paid for stuff, sometimes we're not, but isn't like the rarest, most wonderful gift you can get

is to find that thing, that crazy thing that you love, that other people can't wrap their heads around? Not everyone gets that. Yeah, so because that's what we are going to school to try out ourselves, that maybe this one or this one. It's more, you know, when you move out from also this comforter war zone, you're not just discovering the world

around you, you're discovering more about yourself that, oh, I am able to do that. I never even thought, but I was put in the situation and I had to get out somehow from it. So this discovery of yourself is during when you are in school or, you know, or the rest of your life, you know, you are always discovering something about yourself. Yeah. What's the thing that lights you up? And then what are the capacities that you didn't know that you had?

That's the kind of day-to-day discovery that you get to explore. Exactly. It was a long grind from what I understand. So you came to Pennsylvania when and how long were you basically in the basement laboratory exploring? It was not quick.

Yeah, so 1985, we arrived, so 40 years ago. And after three years at Temple where I work heavily, a lot of work I did there. And finally, I was kicked out. I was subject for deportation, not because I was bad, but because my professor wanted me to stay. And then I commuted to Bethesda. Then 24 years I spent at University of Pennsylvania.

I was hired as faculty, but five years later I was demoted and I was hired as faculty, but five years later I was demoted and I was doing experiments. But I always had somebody who believed me, who had money, and then I could get salary and not much, but up until 2010 it was already 60,000. So probably much less than the technician, but I didn't care about that part. I thought that I can make this mRNA useful, this messenger RNA useful tool. And that was, I was so encouraged and believed.

So I think sometimes people think that all it takes is being good at something or all it takes is having an idea. But it sounds like there was a lot of politics, there was a lot of patience, there was a lot of putting up with slights, there was a lot of developing thick skin, a lot of just simple endurance. Like that's a key component to anyone

that accomplishes anything. I guess some people get green lights all the way, but most of us don't. Yeah, so you have to believe in yourself, coming from this small town and now that in Ivy League, you have to believe that, okay, my English is not good, you know, but yeah, I can think about something that all of these smart people

who are publishing nature science, maybe they are not thinking about. And you have to believe and you have to also realize that there are a lot of different difficulties. But like, you know, somebody is coming from another country, those immigrants, scientists, they already fight. It's so hard, you know, to get there. They won't give up so easily. They are enduring hardship and swallowing thing

and don't talk back. I have to say sometimes under the table, I show my middle fingers, but because I was upset, but usually I was like a calm person and okay. Yeah, there's something about the adversity of your life and your upbringing that probably makes as painful and frustrating and annoying as some of the academic, you know, squabbling and inefficiencies and bureaucracies,

you'd probably dealt with worse. So it wasn't so bad. Yes, of course. And you learn that you have to keep your eye on what you want to achieve. And then there are different difficulties are coming. But every time, you know, when you think, okay, that's what I want to go and that's what I want to accomplish. And then you can see just this is an order and other problem and obstacles.

And you know, you deal, you just go over. But how do you know you're not crazy? Right? How do you know you're not delusional? Like when, when you're pursuing something that over and over again, people are basically telling you either explicitly, is it going to work or in what they're paying you or the hoops they're making you jump through, they're basically saying, we don't believe in this.

This is a dead end. It's not worth anything. So I was not just doing and doing and repeating things, just not giving up, but I could see progress. So, you know, at the beginning, the problem was a small amount of protein was produced from the RNA. And then there are things, you know,

we could change the RNA, put certain things on it. Oh, no, no, it is more protein. And it was, you know, we could change the RNA, put certain things on it. Oh, no, no, it is more protein. And it was, you know, this progress, you have to see progress. I'm not just repeating things just because, oh, I am the person who is not giving up and always reading maybe this one. And then you try zillion things to deliver the RNA, improving the RNA, purifying it. And then somehow I could not, I was thinking, okay, this is work, something. And I couldn't stay home. So whether it was Sunday, Saturday, whether it is New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, I had to go because I felt that, okay, now I have this answer.

And when I was doing what I was thinking, if it's not coming, maybe the result, which I expected, then maybe I have to do this and that. And I was always told my colleagues, I wish I would be a week or months older, because then I would know the result. I wish so much always that, OK, maybe it works. And I was excited. If you would talk to my husband, you know,

he would say that I am not coming home like, oh, everybody's horrible, terrible. I was always that excitement. Well, I think I saw a quote from him in that New York Times profile of you where he was like, don't you feel sorry for my wife? She loves going to work every day. Yeah, but he was the same. You know, he also likes the feeling

that, you know, if he's a maintenance manager in a housing complex, and they need him because he can fix everything and you know, he can figure out things and and that feeling that they want me because I can help. And it didn't matter whether it was, you know, Thanksgiving dinner or something, you know, he got the call and then, you know, he's already there. Yeah, if you feel like your work matters

and it's fulfilling to you, you'll put up with a lot. Did you find it motivating? Like, was part of it for you? Like, I wanna prove these people wrong? No, I never care about, you know, what others are saying or, you know, every time when somebody put me down or even now they are asking now that you go back and what are you telling those people?

They are colleagues. I talk to them. I don't say any, you know, anything bad. Well, I just, sometimes that's fuel for people, right? Wanting to prove them wrong, wanting to be vindicated, that can be very motivating for people. But I do tend to find that that's kind of corrosive also. So what that does is when you finally succeed,

you think it's finally going to change something or people are going to apologize or admit they were wrong and you're gonna feel better and you never do. Yes, do you think that my neurosurgeon chairman, I mean, he doesn't know what his mRNA is doing. He could see that I don't get any grant. And no, not feeling, no. And I don't even agree grant and no, what feeling, you know, no.

And I don't even, you know, agree with those who evaluated my grants and because, you know, they have so many things to do and then they would, you know, reading the abstract and they could see, oh, you know, this is weird things and, you know, they have other problems, you know, with their family, with their laboratory, they need grants, they need papers pushing, and they have limited attention. And every time when I was reading something criticism, and I could say, oh, they didn't understand what I was saying, and then I said,

yeah, I should write better. I always look what I should do, not what they should do. Yeah, it's easy to take it all personally. And then you realize they're not thinking about you at all. You don't even exist to them. And they're evaluating a million other people. The publishing industry is not sitting around trying to not publish you.

It's that you're not what they're looking for and you have to figure out either how to be that or you gotta wait your turn. And it sounds like you kind of did both in science. Yes, they want more preliminary data and they want more publication, but because I was alone, I had to perform the experiments, I had to write it up, I had to read the literature, I had to do every part.

And so it was, I was not that productive. So you did all this for 30 plus years. I'd be curious, did that time go quickly or was it very slow? I've always found that to me, a sign that you're doing the right thing and you're in the right place is how often you lose track of time.

Like you just get lost in it. And I imagine you read about Darwin deciding to take a 10 year detour to study barnacles or whatever. 10 years seems excruciating, but I bet it went by very quickly for him because to him, it was an essential part of what he was trying to figure out to go do this other thing. When you just love it,

you lose track of time. Was it an excruciating process for you? Or were you just lost in it? I probably lost time. You know, thinking that, oh, you know, what am I doing? You know, sometimes I okay, even in the laboratory, you know, in daily basis, just realizing, oh, my god, I have to pick up my daughter in the afterschool program and things like that. Yeah, yeah.

But if someone's drawn to a career in science and then you said, okay, you got to spend the next 30 years in the bowels of academia without recognition or credit or, you know, they might think, oh, that sounds like torture. Yeah, so, but I always mentioned to the young one that you have to select something which you find important so that you're worse spending all your life on something. It has to be valuable, not things nobody did that, but who cares?

But if you find something which is worse, because maybe, you know, understanding the disease and then it will help to create a medicine for it or something, you feel passionate that, oh, okay, that's important. Yeah. Even others not recognize that it is important, but you have to have that feeling in you.

Well, and this is probably why money is not a great motivator, because you'd have to pay someone a lot and a lot of money to stick at something for 30 years. Clearly it wasn't motivated by the money because you weren't getting any, but you were motivated by something deeper but weirdly more accessible than money,

which is that it lit you up. Yes, yes. I was motivated to improve that RNA performance and one day I did not think that it would be in my lifetime. I just, maybe one day somebody will take on a new level and that's what you have to scientists, that feeling you need. Maybe I will be able, but maybe somebody else and I am helping. And that's what you have to scientists, you know, that feeling you need.

Maybe I will be able, but maybe somebody else. And I am helping. And all of these scientists, you know, they work together. Every time I get an award, I always thank all of those people, you know, those who I learned from them, just reading their paper, they already dead and a long time ago, but I learned from them. I also, I have to say that I say thank you to all of those people who try to make my life miserable

and gave me hardship because I made me work harder and improve myself and okay, I invited only for the ceremony, for the Nobel Prize ceremony, those who helped me, those who have my process, but by blocking me, they were not there. Yes, yes. But they contributed to what you became, because in the way that lifting a heavy weight or whatever,

the resistance is making you stronger. It refined you, and it sharpened you, and it taught you things that ultimately you did integrate into the research that was successful. I mean, even in high school, when my teacher, were telling me that he will block me to entering the university because he knows somebody

and he hated me. And, retrospect, I can think that, okay, if he says that, Cotty, you are so good, I know somebody that, okay, if he says that, Kati, you are so good, I know somebody, I will make sure that you are accepted. Isn't that I would spend less time studying for this entry exam? Of course I studied. I had to do the best to make sure that they accept me. So that's what when the parents try to help their children and they are arranging things,

you are robbing your child to learn how to fight for themselves. Sure. Because one point you can go to the school and tell the teacher that don't do that and that, but eventually you won't go to the employers and say, oh, this is my child, you shouldn't say that and that. So they have to learn.

Do you know what a snowplow parent is? Have you heard that term? No. A snowplow parent is? Have you heard that term? A snowplow parent is a parent who goes in front of their kids clearing all the snow and the obstacles out of their way. And so, yeah, they never have to struggle. They never have to learn how to do things for themselves. And, you know, ultimately life is hard for everyone

and the snowplow goes away at some point and you're really setting them up to struggle because not only do they not know how to do things, they also lack the most important thing, which is they can't deal with frustration and disappointment, which is kind of the meta skill of life. You try to help, but you are not helping. Well, look, if your parents had made,

had told you that you were a princess and you were going to get everything you wanted in life and that you were a genius and everyone would appreciate you and give you everything you wanted, I got to imagine those 30 years of snubs and jerks and doubts and demotions. You would have interpreted that differently. It would have been a kind of a rude awakening that maybe would have made you less resilient and able to deal with what you had to deal with to end up where you are now.

Yeah, and there are a momentum when parents really need, the child to have, because when they are wandering around and in a crisis, then you have to have them. But most of the time, just let them to deal with fellow students, the teachers and with respect. You have to teach them. And I believe that the first six, seven years of life watching your parents, how they relate to each other, to other people,

the kids will pick up and then it shape what kind of people they will be at the end. Parents, the school, the classmates, the teachers, and watching them. It is unavoidable, obviously. It's a fact of life. There's gonna be jerks. There's gonna be people who doubt you. You're not gonna get green lights all along the way.

Not every colleague is gonna see you as a friend. But it does strike me like, people don't have to be that way. Like the world would be better if people were nicer, if they helped, if they supported each other. It is a shame that people choose to be that way. I guess we can't reform society, but we can reform ourselves.

We can decide not to be like that. Yeah, actually, I quote in my book, or Shaya saying that, you should not retaliate, you should not think about revenge when you are very upset with somebody because it hit you bad, you know, if you are, and it escalates. And you have to think about, you know,

some way to be grateful for the same person you were just ready to kick balls or something, you know, and way to be grateful for the same person. You were just ready to kick balls or something, you know, and you were angry. You have to think that in one way, I can be still grateful for that person. Because it said that it will calm you down. ["The Last Supper"] Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop?

From Wondery and Atwill Media, I'm Misha Brown and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to get other people to do it. And the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats. Like if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie.

Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy the big flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to the big flop early and ad free on Wondery Plus. Get started with your free trial at Wondery.com slash plus. Well, I'm just saying it's like in your story, there's a bunch of people that were obstacles and difficulties and and you know, not not necessarily the most supportive. But you also said at every step of the way there was someone who believed in you, who did support you.

And you know, where would we be without those people? There are the the the bosses that support and subsidize and open door, like we can choose to be those kinds of people, the sort of angels and patrons and protectors that at various points in our career, really did something for us that they didn't have to do. Exactly, Elliot Barnett who hired me then, he stand up for some bullies there who try to inhibit me even for scientific part of scientific discussion because I asked scientific question,

but I thought they considered me disruptor. And he stood up and then he was not tenured and he had to leave. Oh, wow. Okay. And the thing was there, you know, that I invited him to Stockholm and, uh, and David Langer, you know, who was a justice student and actually he was like, you know, as a medical student kind of saying always that, you know, by, you know, he learns, he will learn everything.

What I, I taught him, oh, by that time I will know so much more that you'll never ever catch me. But then we became good friends and he helped me to, for 17 years I get a position at neurosurgery. And every time when they were about to kick me out, he came back from New York and he made sure that whatever little money I got, but I should get it and then they stayed. And so I was, he was also in Stockholm and all of my teachers from Hungary, you know, that this, those educators from university, they wrote the high school book about molecular biology when just nine years after discovering the code and mRNA already it was in my high school. Wow. You know, my larger

book, thanks to them. Yeah, it's better to celebrate those people that ruminate on the on the people who were not so great. Exactly. So I watched something where someone was asking you about, you know, the stress and the strain and the pain of all of it. And you actually mentioned stoic philosophy, which is what I write about.

That was a link I wasn't expecting. Yes. So I was always focusing on what I can do. And you know, whether we are behind the Iron Curtain, we were under embargo, many things, we couldn't leave the country, we couldn't go to a conference or something. But okay, we cannot do it, but what we can do is doing things. And you could read and then you could ask fellow scientists in the western part of Europe to send you things and you felt so honored that they were thinking,

yeah, these guys, they are scientists, fellow scientists. I always, when different countries under embargo, I think about them, the scientists, they are just scientists like I was and want to, we want to do things and, and that they cannot have that one day the life, you know, they are living right now. Maybe, you know, the country has different limitation and so that's, you focus on things, what you can do well right now, whether in the U S whoever in white house, whoever you just have to figure out what you can do for me. You know, when I was driving to, you to work at Penn, every time I was more worried about what is in the Skokielle Expressway, the traffic jam, whoever sits in the White

Houses didn't influence me. But daily basis more the traffic and other things. And what can I do? I started very early in the morning so I can avoid traffic and that's what focusing on things, what we can do. Do you remember how you found the Stoics? Did someone introduce you to them or? Yeah, when I was 16 years old, I mentioned,

Hans Scheye, Janos Scheye was Hungarian and he wrote the book about how to handle stress. Actually in 1930, he introduced the word stress from physics. That was what he was using for. And because he was Hungarian, they translated his book about how to handle stress. And in high school, I was 16 years old, in the biology class, we all read this book,

and then we discussed the different situations, so that how we should understand that and that. And then later I realized that, of course, Marcus Aurelius and all of this, actually what he was saying always that focus on what you can do, that was the same with Che was saying, but long before him saying others. Well, I don't know if you know, long before him, you know, saying others. Well, I don't know if you know this, I'm sure you do. But you

know, Marcus Aurelius wrote part of Meditations in Budapest. I didn't know. Yeah, I don't know if you ever visited a quincum. There's a Roman camp right outside of ruins there. And we know Marcus Aurelius spent a good chunk of time in Budapest visiting the troops and in the dates lineup, we think he wrote, you know, a chunk of it when he talks about, you know,

never stepping in the same river twice. He could have been talking about the Danube. Like he was there. He was bathing in the hot springs. He was walking on the dusty roads. He was there where you're from. Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

I know a Queen Kowal man, but I didn't know about he was here. It kind of blows your mind because when you think of the Roman Empire, you know it was big, but you still think of Italy or you think of Greece. You don't think that they were there in Eastern Europe. I mean, he dies in Vienna.

It's kind of mind blowing. I lived in Mainz, nine years when I worked in biotech actually cross the street was the wall, you know, so it was the empire was the end of the empire was there in Germany in Mainz next to Frankfurt. That was the bigger war was there. Yeah, I mean, he spends most of his he has this quote, he says life is warfare and a journey far from home. And I think he was being, you know, he was

being a metaphorical, but also literal. I mean, he spends most of his time, not in this fancy palace, but work, he's traveling for work, so to speak. Yeah, so all of these I was reading in Hungarian poems about, you know, that really all of these politicians and all of these leaders, you know, and they are not, you know, creating things. They just did understand, they understand, they understand what is going on. You know, that's what, you know, like my colleague Or colleague, Orson Biontech, the CEO of Biontech, who was, I said, you know, that is,

is a good football player. He instantly, you have to have, this is the situation I passed the ball here or there. So all of this understanding of what is going on and what you will do and what you can. And that's, you know, the story that you can do what what is position or possibility that's what you do. Well, it's funny how timeless this stuff is because one of the things that Epictetus talks about is he says, a great philosopher is like a great athlete. He says like, they

throw the ball to you, you throw it back, they throw it to you, you throw it back, you catch it, throw it back, catch it, throw it back. He's like, you don't have time to label it a good throw or a bad throw. You don't have time to complain or whine. You just got to catch it and throw it back. And he believed that was Socrates, that Socrates was just dealing with what life threw at him back and forth, back and forth. And that that's what a great athlete does.

That's what a great CEO does. It's probably what a great scientist does is you're just in it. You don't have time for labels and complaining and fairness or unfairness. You're just doing it. But having practice and, you know, different situation, then you can do. Yes. Making much faster. Yes. We're making much faster. Yes. And that's a preventive. And whereas other people are spending time, you know, complaining and things which they cannot change, but they talk, keep talking about. And, and you know, when they say that people have things and they don't have, and

they don't have any opportunity to do something about it, they will be always depressed that, you know, I cannot do anything. And it is just, the life goes by and, you know, they just one day realize that, oh, life is over and I was focusing on things and wasting my time instead of focusing on something which I can do and not complaining that where did I born, you know, I should born somewhere else. I am very happy that I born in Hungary and who, you know, my parents were people who were not professors and we, you know,

lived a very simple life, but they loved each other and that, you know, more important. You don't see much of the communist system, you know, when I was growing up like, you know, more important. You don't see much of the communist system, you know, when I was growing up, like, you know, up to 10 years old, that you just could see a happy family. And have enough to eat, because I could see other kids had to go from house to house and back for some, an egg or a little food. I've been trying to think about that lately.

You know, I don't think anyone's childhood is exactly the way that they wanted it to be, an egg or a little food. I've been trying to think about that lately. I don't think anyone's childhood is exactly the way that they wanted it to be, but I just decided a year or so ago, I was gonna focus a lot more on what I did get than what I didn't get. And I was gonna count myself lucky for the things that I did get

as opposed to continuing to sort of dwell on the things that I should have gotten or I wished that my parents could have done. Like they are who they are. I'm lucky that I had these other people and these other things and that that's what I'm gonna choose to focus on. Exactly, because anyway, you know,

if I would look around and, you know, nobody had running waters in their home, you know, we had electricity, but you know, refrigerator, television set, but nobody had, I didn't even know. So it was like a simple life, but the whole neighborhood was just like that. Yeah. And we play on the, you know, on the street, we had like one car per week, you know, and all of the cows were when in the morning

went out to the field and in the evening came back. And it was just a simple life. Well, one other connection between our two worlds that I didn't realize until 2020, obviously pandemics and plagues existed in the ancient worlds too. Sometimes you don't see something until your own circumstances change.

But it just never occurred to me that Marcus Aurelius was writing during a plague. He was writing during the Antonine Plague. And he has this quote in Meditations where he says, you know, there's actually two types of plagues. He says, there's one that can take your life. And so there he's referring to the literal Antonine Plague, which is probably some form of smallpox.

And then he says, there's this other one that can destroy your character. And that one's actually worse. And I think he was talking about the way people get radicalized, people believe in conspiracy theories, people turn on each other, people hoard things. And I just thought it was so fascinating

the way that, you know, 2000 years collapse and you go, oh, he was dealing with the exact same things we were dealing with. Yes, exactly. And that's really the worst, you know, what we are experiencing right now, that all of this misinformation and I don't even know that

what should we do or how we could actually in first week of March, I go to the Vatican and with other economists, politicians and religious leaders will discuss and artists to discuss that how we get here, you know, that what so many things is ending our world seems like, you know, war and all of this misinformation and many other things. And what we, all the scientists and different artists and others, what we can do and how we can deal,

I don't know. And it kind of resembles a virus. Like you watch someone, they start to show a few symptoms, they say something, they're like, oh, that's odd, or they're, you know, they act this way. And then, and then the next thing you know, they're like a full blown lunatic. And you go, oh, you picked you got infected. And now you're saying things, or you're believing things or your

or worse, you're supporting policies or people that have very real consequences, sometimes matters of life and death for thousands if not millions of people. And it's kind of this metaphorical virus that is, yeah, I mean, you could argue it's infected millions of people all over the world. I don't know anyone that is,

I mean, obviously long COVID exists, but most people I know are not still dealing with the aftermath of that part of the pandemic. But I know a lot of people that haven't come back, you know, from things they picked up on the internet during 2020 and 2021. Yes, yes, exactly. And, you know, they are reading something two, three times and they believe that it must be true. And I feel, you know, we as a scientist who have the responsibility that educate the public and we have to learn how to use simple language. And then, you know, the gap between the knowledge of the scientist who is in the forefront and the average person is so huge.

And we have to help them, because there are still people who waiting for that we will educate them and so we have to do it. Yeah, effective communication and logistics and support systems and culture, these things, you can have all the scientific breakthroughs in the world, but if people are threatened by things or they don't understand things

or they feel misled by things, you're gonna crash into a pretty big brick wall. Yeah, so exactly. We have to do it because if we don't, then others who have learned molecular biology or infectious disease from the internet, they work well, they get. Yeah.

Usually selling something, they are making money. At the end, you will see that they will advertise something that they, this one, that's for sure. Yeah, if scientists can't be effective at communicating their ideas and they can't sell them, so to speak, somebody else who's better at selling will compete for that bit of attention

and sell something worse, you know? And, you know, we have to understand that even 100 years ago, the people, the average person was afraid of scientific breakthroughs, you know, that even 100 years ago, the people, the average person was afraid of scientific breakthroughs. That even when Röngen demonstrated that he has these X-rays and it would go through the flash and other things. The others took part of this thing and they said, oh, it goes through the cloud, your

dress. And then they start to selling, you know, X-ray resistant underwear. They made money. And they said that like in the binoculars in the theater shouldn't have X-ray. They already lobbied in England because then people will see you, you know, there is some, and then they can see you without clothes. And they didn't say, hey, this goes through the flesh too, but they just took part of the, you know, truth. Yeah.

So that's 100 years ago, but it was no internet and no social media that people would, you know, in a mess, they would learn. Yeah. I mean, I was reading about the rush to invent the polio vaccine. And it was like one, like, I guess early on in the case of the polio vaccine, there was a batch that was contaminated. There was some problem with the polio vaccine. And then one guy, a very well known media columnist, sort of becomes a prominent

anti-vaxxer and it sets the whole thing back. And you go, oh, history just repeats itself. This is how human beings respond to things that are scary, things that are and it sets the whole thing back. And you go, oh, history just repeats itself. This is how human beings respond to things that are scary, things that are unfamiliar, things that are dangerous. I mean, there's an argument that Benjamin Franklin and his wife split up, where you live, split up over an argument about whether to vaccinate

their son for smallpox and they decide not to and he doesn't live. And it sort of hovers over their marriage for the rest of their life. And you go, oh, the same things that couples were arguing about in 2021, you know, people were arguing about in the 1730s and 40s and 50s. Yeah, so history repeats itself.

Yeah. Very, very sad. And, you know, I constantly try to figure out that how we could help the people who try to. I have to say that we had this mRNA meeting and, you know, those messenger RNA field, we already, 2013, you know, we knew how many things happened and we are doing, so it was not coming out of nowhere.

Even people don't know that they used the mRNA vaccines already human trial prior to 2020. So, it was already well-known things in our field that messenger RNA has this potential they use for heart disease and other diseases. And so we knew that and so we have this responsibility. And one mRNA therapy meeting, you know, that they showed this cartoon and they didn't have to explain that, oh, this is the virus because it was very ugly and dark, not like most of the people make the COVID in pink. No, this was ugly. And then the

cells, you don't have to explain that this is some immune cells and they're rushing and capturing. And they show that how somebody gets a vaccine and how the cells are running there and educate themselves and then they are chasing the viruses. So that very simple that you don't have to use a word you understand, you have to root for. Yes, yeah, that's true. Well, look, I think you're such a wonderful example of like it doesn't matter what's happening in the world.

It doesn't matter if you're appreciated or not. It doesn't matter if everyone thinks it's the next big thing or they think it's a bust. The one thing that's in our control is the work that we do. And we should keep our head down, do our work, and that we should direct ourselves towards things that we think can make a big difference and that there's something I think important

and in your case heroic about sticking to that. You never know where it's gonna go or what's gonna come of it, but don't despair. Don't get depressed. Just focus on your work and do good work. And if everyone does that, it makes collectively an enormous difference. Yes, exactly.

And I have to say that you have to convince at least one person who is close to where, the money, the prestige, and that was Elliot, who get the grant. You have to at least one person, if you cannot convince those who are giving out the grant, at least one person, and then you could do the research, because otherwise, you can be a periphery, but if you don't get money to do the research, because otherwise, you can be a parent's fairy,

but if you don't get money to do the research, then you get lost. If you can't convince one person, it's probably a bad sign that either the idea's not good or that you don't understand it. We were talking about communication earlier. Feynman talked about how you have to be able to explain this thing to a five-year-old or you don't understand it. If you can't get anyone to

understand the potential of what you're doing, maybe that's because you don't understand it. Exactly. I agree. So I ask all the students go home and talk to your grandmother, explain. Yeah. And if you can do that, then it's good. You have to practice that. We haven't done that. That was a problem that I like to talk to another colleague, learn from them and not to try to explain to an average person that what is this modification

is all about what I was doing. Well, I think about that with philosophy. I wake up and I'm fascinated by ancient philosophers, but most people aren't, most people are busy. And my job is to tell them how this stuff matters to them. And if I can't do it, or if they're not interested, it means I'm not doing a good enough job. Like we have to figure out how to take our thing

and make it matter to other people. That's what they pay you for. Yes, I have to say actually in papers, published scientific papers in the 50s, 60s, I love them. Less data, but a lot of thinking. And today, you know, 40, 50 pages of data, data, data, and you cannot find it. What is this thinking behind?

So I love, and I just amazed at how deep thinker were those scientists in 50 years ago. Well, because today they're not writing for an audience. They're writing to publish in some obscure academic journal that no one's ever gonna read. And when you're writing to try to reach the public or you're trying to actually communicate what you're talking about,

it's a different mode of thinking, I think. They looked at the big pictures and now these days, as I heard, they say you learn more and more from less and less and finally, you know everything from nothing. Thank you for your amazing work and thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it. Thank you, Ryan.

Thanks so much for listening. If you could rate this podcast and leave a review on iTunes, that would mean so much to us and it would really help the show. We appreciate it and I'll see you next episode. Daily Stoic and thanks for listening. You can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. And before you go, would you tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey on Wondery.com slash survey.

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