Carolyn Bertozzi as a high school senior
Carolyn Bertozzi is pictured in the Lexington High School Class of 1984 yearbook. Lexington, as the hometown to many professors at top academic institutions like Harvard and MIT, has ties to more than a few Nobel laureates. But Bertozzi is the first woman from Lexington to win any Nobel prize. (Courtesy of Cary Library)

Hello, Lexington!

Good morning and welcome to LexObserver’s weekly news roundup.

What an exciting week for Lexington! Not that the Town is a stranger to Nobel laureates…as a proud community of accomplished nerds… but, now we have our first woman Nobel laureate (LexObserver did check all 60, and could identify no other Lexington women among that exclusive cohort). Another first: This laureate played with the future Rage Against the Machine guitarist in college (?!)…So, congratulations to Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi for, among other things, embodying a compelling case that chemistry is extremely cool. Decide for yourself whether that’s breaking news…

Also, a final reminder that we’d love to say hi to you tomorrow at Discovery Day between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.! It’ll be a great chance to get outside, come together as a community and support many other wonderful local organizations. It’s looking like a sunny, crisp fall day is in the cards, knock on wood…

Happy Friday, and here’s this week’s news.

In this issue:

Lexingtonian Carolyn Bertozzi wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Stanford professor, a Lexington High School Class of 1984 graduate, is the first Lexington woman to win a Nobel prize

Under Carolyn Bertozzi’s name, the Lexington High School class of 1984 yearbook lists many quintessential teenage activities. “Soccer, Softball, musical accompanist, Girls’ Ensemble, Jazz Piano, Executive House Council” are just a few that suggest a student with a lively life beyond the classroom.

Keep reading
by Sophie Culpepper

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That’s a wrap for today. Was this roundup useful to you? What do you want to see in this email next week? Let us know, and please ask your friends to sign up and DONATE too! Reach out to sophie@lexobserver.org with tips and questions anytime. As always, you can also check out and share our website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages. Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend!

Hope to see you tomorrow,
Nicco Mele, Sophie Culpepper, Erin Sandler-Rathe and the LexObserver Team

Edited by Lauren Feeney

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