Theodore Roosevelt Park

2021 AMERICAN NOBEL LAUREATES HONORED ON NYC PARKS MONUMENT

2021 American Laureates Joshua D. Angrist and David W.C. MacMillan join celebration in their honor

NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue today joined Consul General of Sweden in New York Camilla Mellander, Consul General of Norway in New York Heidi Olufsen, Councilmember Gale A. Brewer, 2021 Nobel Prize recipients Drs. Joshua D. Angrist and David W.C. MacMillan, Nagisa Manabe and Professor Oscar Schofield on behalf of 2021 Nobel Prize recipient Syukuro Manabe, and students from the Anderson School to unveil eight new Laureate inscriptions adorned to the Nobel Monument at Theodore Roosevelt Park.

“It’s an honor to unveil the inscriptions of the 2021 Nobel Laureates names on New York City’s Nobel Monument, our only living monument,” said NYC Parks Commissioner Sue Donoghue. “Bearing the names of all American Nobel Laureates, this monument is a tribute to their remarkable intellectual achievements and contributions to society.”

The Nobel Monument was erected in 2003 as a joint initiative of the Consulate General of Sweden and NYC Parks with the purpose of honoring American Nobel Laureates, as well as the prize’s founder, Alfred Nobel. The pink granite obelisk designed by Swedish sculptor Sivert Lindblom with a bronze relief portrait of Nobel by A. Lindberg was placed in the park named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the United States’ first recipient of the Nobel Prize.

“I was very happy that we were joined not only by Nobel laureate David MacMillan and Nobel laureate Joshua Angrist but also by the young and gifted students from Anderson school,” said Camilla Mellander, Consul General of Sweden in New York.

The 2021 American Nobel Laureates added are Joshua D. Angrist, Syukuro Manabe, David W.C MacMillan, David Card, Guido W. Imbens, Maria Ressa, David Julius, and Ardem Patapoutian. The new winners’ names have been inscribed on the granite monument, along with the award they received.

“Congratulations to the Nobel Prize laureates who make us so proud,” said Council Member Gale A. Brewer. “They are solving famine, climate, and logistics challenges that are difficult but are surmountable with these brilliant and compassionate laureates. I appreciate this contribution that Sweden makes to the world; and I thank the Parks Dept. for maintaining the Nobel Monument.”

“I’m thrilled to see my name inscribed on the Nobel Monument in Central Park. What an honor to be named together with the luminaries on this monument, in a setting that memorializes President Theodore Roosevelt, the first American Laureate. Not something I would have dreamed of when I first visited park as a college student in the 1980s!” said Dr. Joshua Angrist.

“For a working-class Scot to have his name etched alongside America’s greatest scientists on this singular monument in New York is beyond a dream I could ever have foreseen. I am truly honored and humbled to be a part of it. I attended the ceremony on Nov. 17th with my family and my lab family from Princeton University in acknowledgement of all the brilliant students I’ve worked with over the years. None of us achieves alone,” said Dr. David MacMillan.

“I am honored to be among the American Nobel Laureates to be inscribed onto the Nobel monument in Theodore Roosevelt Park, New York City. It will be a lasting memory of the excitement of the past year, and the work I have dedicated my life to. I remain humbled by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' recognition of my life's work to unravel the secrets of climate change through the physical modelling of Earth’s climate,” said Dr. Syukuro Manabe.

No other country has been home to as many Nobel Prize recipients as the United States. Since the prize was first presented in 1901, hundreds of Americans have attained universal recognition for their achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, and literature, and for their efforts to achieve world peace, and their names have been inscribed on this monument.