Theodore Roosevelt Park

The Daily Plant : Tuesday, June 10, 2008

2007 American Nobel Laureates Honored In Theodore Roosevelt Park

Photo by Daniel Avila

New inscriptions to New York City’s only Nobel Monument were unveiled in a dedication ceremony on June 3 in Theodore Roosevelt Park. Among those in attendance were Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Marjorie B. Tiven, Commissioner of the New York City Commission for the United Nations; Ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson, Consul General of Sweden in New York; and 2007 Nobel Laureates Dr. Roger B. Myerson (Economics) and Dr. Oliver Smithies (Medicine).

Dr. John F. Nash Jr. (Economics 1994), the inspiration for the movie A Beautiful Mind, also attended the ceremony along with Dr. Harold E. Varmus (Medicine 1989), Mingzhu Li, a student at High School of American Studies at Lehman College in the Bronx and winner of The Laureates of Tomorrow – Nobel Essay Contest 2007, and fourth graders from the Rodeph Sholom School in Manhattan. Musical entertainment was provided by choral ensemble Sound of Sweden.

“It is an honor to unveil the inscriptions for the 2007 American Nobel Laureates on New York City’s only Nobel Monument, which is located in Theodore Roosevelt Park,” said Commissioner Benepe. “This park, like all parks, serves as an agora where New Yorkers come together, congregate, take inspiration from the beauty of nature and share ideas. No country in the world boasts as many Nobel Laureates as the United States and many Nobel Prize-winning ideas have come from New Yorkers. The Nobel Monument now bears inscriptions of the names of all 302 American Laureates, reinforcing its role as a monument to intellectual achievement.”

The American Nobel Laureates of 2007, whose name inscriptions were unveiled on the monument, are:

Mario R. Capecchi, Medicine
Oliver Smithies, Medicine
Al Gore, Peace
Leonid Hurwics, Economics
Eric S. Maskin, Economics
Roger B. Myerson, Economics

Swedish Ambassador Ulf Hjertonsson, Consul General of Sweden in New York stated: “I cannot think of a better place to honor American Nobel Laureates than New York, which so well represents the rich diversity of the American nation, and in the park that carries the name of the first American Nobel Laureate in Peace, Theodore W. Roosevelt.”

One of the Nobel Prize recipients, Dr. Roger B. Myerson (Economics), viewed the honor as much more than a prize for himself, but as a gift to all of humanity. “Even here, sophisticated New Yorkers strolling through Roosevelt Park will pause to look at this monument, because they find their own meaning in it,” Myerson said. “The Muses of Science and Creativity are truly worth celebrating, as a source of blessings and prosperity to all humanity; and we who are named here have indeed been among the most devoted servants of these Muses... That is the real glory marked by these names in stone.”

The Nobel Monument was raised in 2003 in a joint project initiated and overseen by the Consulate General of Sweden and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation with the purpose of honoring all American Nobel Laureates as well as the founder of the Nobel Prize, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The monument, which now includes the names of all 302 American Nobel Laureates, was designed by renowned Swedish sculptor Sivert Lindblom and financed through the generous support of Merck Company Foundation; Skanska; Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation; Ambassador and Mrs. Lyndon L. Olson Jr. and NCR Corporation.

QUOTATION FOR THE DAY

“If I have a thousand ideas and only one
turns out to be good, I am satisfied.”

Alfred Nobel
(1833-1896)