I want to tell you a wonderful story about a Jewish boy who was born in Zolochev in Lviv region.

Shortly before the outbreak of war, July 18, 1937, in the family of a graduate of the Lviv Polytechnic University Hillel Safran and teacher Clara Safran had a son, who was named in honor of the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.

In 1941, with the beginning of the occupation, Safran family was in a Nazi camp, from where Roald fled with his mother two years later. His father was accused of organizing the mass escape and was shot. Roald and his mother were waiting for the same fate, if not a simple village teacher Mykola Juku from Univ: in 1943-1944 he hid six year old boy and his family in a local school.

After the arrival of Soviet troops, Safrans moved to Krakow, where Clara was married to Paul Hoffman. Realizing that nothing good from the Soviet will happen from occupation in Poland, Hoffman resettled in the United States in 1949. Already 25 years old Roald Hoffmann - now called Rual - defended his doctoral thesis in chemistry from Harvard.

His work on chemical kinetics and chemical reactions are widely distributed, and Professor Hoffman began working with leading universities and scientists of the world, its name is called chemical laws. In 1981, when Roald Hoffmann was only 44 years old, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

In 2006, Mr. Hoffman visited Ukraine and met with relatives, who helped him to survive during the Holocaust. He introduced them to his children and grandchildren. Last year, the Nobel Prize winner honored Lviv University with his presence, where he gave a lecture, talked with students and professors. By the way, Mr. Hoffman urges the active support of young Ukrainian scientists around the world. In his opinion, they should make the future of our country.

Today, Roald Hoffman works at Cornell University New York State, is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Association of Basic Sciences, the American Physical Society, the International Academy of Quantum-molecular research, an honorary doctor of the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Lviv University and so on. He is fluent in English, German, French, Russian and Swedish languages, is well as Ukrainian and Polish. Roald Hoffmann - the only Nobel Prize winner, who was born on the territory of Ukraine. In 2014 he was one of those who signed a petition in support of the academic community and euromaidan Revolution Benefits.

Just think: war, Holocaust, totalitarian regimes did not become an obstacle to reach up to the Nobel Prize! These stories can definitely inspire and provide a good example for all those who have ceased to believe in their own strength.