The discovery that earned Groningen researcher Ben Feringa a Nobel Prize was initially met with a lukewarm response. But that changed when he presented his findings to Professor Roeland Nolte during a lecture at Radboud University. "I urged him to send it to Nature immediately."

Despite not being a contender, Ben Feringa, along with two others, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry today for his discovery of tiny, molecular nanomachines. “It’s a huge surprise, but wholly deserved,” says Roeland Nolte, professor of Organic Chemistry at Radboud University.

Nolte knows Feringa well. In fact, they’ve worked together for years. In 2012 they set up the Research Centre for Functional Molecular Systems on the Nijmegen campus. They also managed to acquire a 26.9 million euro grant as part of the Dutch Gravitation Programme (Zwaartekrachtsubsidie). “I tried calling him this morning, but of course he was busy fielding questions from the press and I got his secretary on the line instead.”

According to Nolte, Feringa’s Nobel Prize win is illustrative of the Netherlands’ leading position in the field of molecular nanotechnology. “Groningen, Nijmegen and Eindhoven are on a level playing field in this regard. Feringa was the first to develop nanomotors. They were unique, appealing and spoke to the collective imagination. Feringa worked incredibly hard for this achievement. He gave many lectures and travelled the world for his work. All of this served him well, of course.”

Nature
Nevertheless, the Nobel Prize-winning discovery wasn’t considered particularly noteworthy at first. “Feringa presented his breakthrough for the first time in France. People were less than thrilled, to say the least. Shortly thereafter, he held a lecture in Nijmegen and told me about his discovery.” Unlike his French colleagues, Nolte immediately saw the potential. “Absolutely,” he says with a laugh. “That’s something I’m good at. I urged him to submit an article to Nature for publication. They published his article pretty quickly.”

Nolte isn’t jealous in the least. “It’s great to have yet another Dutch Nobel Prize winner who lives and works in the Netherlands. And in chemistry, no less. It truly is a wonderful day.”