In a rather lovely gesture of gratitude toward the educational foundation of the Republic of Turkey, Professor Aziz Sancar donated his 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry medal and certificate to the Anıtkabir on 19 May 2016. Sancar, who received the award for his mechanistic studies of DNA repair (which sounds really rather complex to me), chose this specific date, a national holiday commemorating Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to emphasise that his scientific success was made possible by the reforms established by the country’s founder. He explicitly stated that the medal belongs to the entire Turkish nation rather than any single faction, and it is now permanently exhibited in the Atatürk and the War of Independence Museum. While replicas were provided to Istanbul University and the University of North Carolina, the original gold medal remains at the mausoleum.
And here it is, you don’t get to see a Nobel prize every day…..