Hawick Nobel prize winners reunited at their old high school

Sir Angus Deaton, Richard Henderson are 2 of the 18 Scottish people to have ever won the Nobel Prize. Credit: ITV Border

Nobel prize winners from Hawick were reunited at their old high school.

Sir Angus Deaton, Richard Henderson are two of the 18 Scottish people to have ever won the Nobel Prize.

Alongside world leading scientist Sir David Wallace, all three attended Hawick High School in the Scottish Borders.

Richard Henderson, Biologist and 2017 Nobel Prize Winner said: "Now that the three of us are here, we are all 77-years-old.

"A significant number of people, who are my age have died by now, but there are plenty others that we are still in contact with, so later on today I am going to get to meet up today with my classmates that I haven't seen for 61 years."

Three of the 18 Scottish people to have ever won the Nobel Prize attended Hawick High School in the Scottish Border region. Credit: ITV Tyne Tees News

During the visit to their old school, current students were able to attend a Q&A session with the prize winners.

Vicky Porteous, Head Teacher Hawick High School, said: "It is incredible that this school in a short space of time produced three men of significant calibre, obviously they are in the latter stages of their life so we are likely to never have this opportunity again."

Sir David Wallace, Physicist and Academic said the impressive Nobel prize winning and science alumni at Hawick High School is thanks to support they had growing up.

He said: "It was immediately after the war, parents were thinking what is in the future for their kids, we all had incredibly supportive parental backgrounds.

"The dedicated teachers and we had hope for the future, that is a really important thing."

All three former students will attend a celebratory dinner in Hawick and further ceremonies this week.

The Nobel Prize is an international award given by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, and based on the fortune of Alfred Nobel, Swedish inventor and entrepreneur.

It is awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" -Alfred Nobel.

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