In this episode of pplpod, we explore the extraordinary life and legacy of Katalin Karikó, the Hungarian-American biochemist whose decades-long fight for mRNA technology helped make the COVID-19 vaccines possible. The episode traces Karikó’s journey from a childhood in rural Hungary, where her family lived without running water, to her early scientific career under the shadow of the communist state. The discussion examines her father’s punishment after the 1956 Hungarian revolt, her coerced listing by the Hungarian secret police, her escape to the United States with money hidden inside her daughter’s teddy bear, and the persistence that carried her through years of immigration pressure, academic retaliation, and professional rejection.

The episode also follows Karikó’s long battle to prove that mRNA could become a powerful medical tool desp ...