Three chemistry Nobel laureates shared their failures – and how they overcame them
By 
Rebecca Trager2026-04-17T08:30:00
Laureates talk about how they faced frustration and self-doubt over whether they were cut out for chemistry before they finally triumphed
At the recent spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) three Nobel laureates met at a roundtable and shared inspiring stories about the obstacles they overcame to become scientific superstars. Participating were biochemist Jennifer Doudna, who split the award in 2020 for developing Crispr–Cas9 genome editing; organocatalysis pioneer David MacMillan, who shared the prize in 2021 for discovering asymmetric organocatalysis; and Omar Yaghi, who is known as the father of reticular chemistry and won last year’s award for co-developing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs).