Abundance

Derek Thompson is an American liberal journalist and podcast host. Thompson grew up in Virginia before graduating from Northwestern University with a triple major in journalism, political science, and legal studies. After college, Thompson became a writer at The Atlantic, where he still works. In 2021, he began his podcast titled Plain English, where he discusses current events, sociology, and modern life. In addition to Abundance, Thompson is the author of two other books. In 2017, he wrote the psychology nonfiction book Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction, in which he explores the psychology of popularity and the economics of the secret markets that shape the US. In 2023, he wrote the philosophical essay collection On Work: Money, Meaning, and Identity, in which he assembled essays he previously wrote in The Atlantic about work, life, and the future of careers and jobs.

Much of Thompson’s work focuses on the economic issues of the US. In his 2022 essay in The Atlantic, titled “A Simple Plan to Solve All of America’s Problems,” Thompson introduced the idea of abundance in the context of America’s supply of healthcare, housing, transportation, and green infrastructure. He built upon his understanding of abundance by working collaboratively with Klein, whom he even quoted in his initial essay, to craft a book focused on applying the ideas of abundance to both the American political and economic spheres. Thompson admits in an interview with The Atlantic that he does not usually put politics first in his writing or podcasting, and his essay about abundance was him “dipping his toes” into the waters of political writing. Working with Klein allowed Thompson to become more politically oriented in his approach to writing and Klein to embrace Thompson’s “forward-looking, sunnier optimism” (Demsas, Jerusalem. “Liberals Can’t Blame Trump for California.” The Atlantic, 18 Mar. 2025).

Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist. She was born in Szolnok and grew up in Kisújszállás, Hungary. Karikó received a BSc in biology and her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Szeged. She continued her postdoctoral research at the Institute of Biochemistry, Biological Research Centre of Hungary. She then came to the US to work, at Temple University and later at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Karikó was then hired to work at the University of Pennsylvania to study mRNA. Despite the many possibilities of her research, Karikó was frequently rejected from government-funded grants throughout her career. By 1990, both her career and scientific of mRNA seemed stalled. 

Karikó met American immunologist Drew Weissman in 1997, and the two began working together. They co-founded RNARx, and Karikó was the CEO from 2006 to 2013. By the early 2000s, Karikó and Weissman made a breakthrough by creating an mRNA therapy that could enter the cell without wreaking havoc on the immune system. She left academia after continually failing to find traction and support for her research there and in academic publications. 

Karikó became vice president and later senior vice president of BioNTech, a German biotechnology company that develops immunotherapies and vaccines, and Moderna and BioNTech researched mRNA for years without releasing a product. The COVID-19 pandemic created an ideal environment to apply mRNA therapies. After Chinese scientists released the genetic sequence of the virus, Moderna’s mRNA vaccine recipe was finalized within 48 hours. Karikó and Weissman won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2023, finally achieving recognition for their work on mRNA. The two also received other recognitions for their work on mRNA, including the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, Time Magazine's Hero of the Year 2021, and the Tang Prize Award in Biopharmaceutical Science in 2022. Karikó returned to Hungary and is currently a professor at the University of Szeged, a position she has held since 2023.