Nobel Prize: ``I'm very happy'' Professor Emeritus Soai holds press conference - Tokyo

"I'm very happy." Kenzo Go (76), Professor Emeritus of Tokyo University of Science, who was selected to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, expressed his joy at a press conference at the university in Tokyo on the evening of the 7th. Regarding his research, which he has been working on for many years, he proudly said, ``It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but I thought no one would complain if I won the award.''

At around 10 p.m., Mr. Go appeared at the press conference looking a little nervous. ``I'm glad to have won the award together with Professor Henri Kagan,'' he said, adding, ``I couldn't have found it without the help of staff and students.I'm grateful.''He also expressed his gratitude to his co-researchers.

I was shopping alone at a local supermarket in the evening when I received the news that I had won the award. He revealed that he was informed over the phone and was reminded not to tell anyone until the official announcement was made.

After completing graduate school at the University of Tokyo, he worked as a researcher in the United States, and then became a lecturer at Tokyo University of Science in 1981. He was involved in teaching and research at the university for 36 years until his retirement in 2016.

Looking back on his many years of research, he declared, ``It's not without its hardships, but I don't worry about it.'' ``Experimental chemistry is a combination. I was blessed with good people,'' he said, reflecting on the progress he has made with the researchers around him.