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Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,

Laureates,

We’ve just had one minutes’ silence. – In a week when our country is mourning the passing of King Harald.

We also remember that King Harald greatly appreciated his participation on these occasions – as a recognition of the importance of science for the development of society.

Now, it gives me a great pleasure to welcome and congratulate the Laureates of the Kavli Prize 2026. – And to be here with you.

Your ground-breaking work span astrophysics, nanoscience and neuroscience – exploring our world on very different scales.

The very large – the galaxies of the universe.

The very small – quantum materials on the nanoscale.

And just as complex – how the human brain works.

The very large, the very small, and the very complex.

Fred Kavli started off somewhere in between:

At the age of 14, during World War II, he set up his first enterprise, making wood pellets as fuel for cars, when petrol was scarce. – The ‘green shift’ many decades ahead of its time.

Even then, he was asking a very Kavli-like question: Is there another way?

Curiosity was there – from the beginning. He later recalled his childhood in Norway:

“I used to ski across the vast white expanses of a quiet and lonely mountaintop. In the stillness and solitude, I pondered the mysteries of the universe, the planet, nature and of man. I'm still pondering”.

Friends,

Everything starts there: With pondering, wondering, questions.

Why? How? What if?

Our curiosity, our thirst for knowledge, our need to know – all of this is our driving force, our primal power.

It was vital for survival for the planet’s first humans:

Can we eat this plant?

Can we drink the water from this river?

What do the stars tell us?

Today, we are charmed when our two-three years old (grand)kid suddenly start asking; ‘What is this? – and this? – and why?’ – And then thousands more questions and wonders follow over the course of her life.

Friends,

Today, we celebrate the questions you have asked – and the discoveries they have led to.

We celebrate science itself.

Basic research rarely begins with an immediate application.

Basic research begins with the desire to understand more.

Basic research changes societies and our lives, time and time again, in ways no one could have predicted when the first question was asked.

So, please, don’t run out of questions.

Knowledge builds on knowledge.

And for my part, I would add: Wise political decisions depend on knowledge.

Knowledge built up from one generation to the next.

Spread from one country to another.

Friends,

Let me add one point:

True science depends not only on curiosity.

It depends on freedom.

Freedom to ask difficult questions.

To challenge established ideas.

To discuss, disagree – and to be proven right or wrong.

Academic freedom, freedom of expression, and critical thinking are the very foundations of open, free societies – capable of innovation and renewal.

They are especially important in a time – our times – when facts can be fabricated, titles and grades can be bought, and the distinction between knowledge and assertion all too easily becomes blurred.

And they matter more when some authorities seem to censor, put pressure on, or limit academic freedom.

Our response must be more knowledge-building, not less. More openness, more transparency, more collaboration, more critical thinking – and: institutional autonomy.

Fred Kavli once said:

“Basic research is to work at the very edge, the very border of knowledge, and move that border forward”.

Dear laureates – who are honoring his name – thank you for pushing the border of knowledge many steps forward. And for keep pushing, for the good of humanity.

On behalf of Norway and the Norwegian government, I congratulate you all.