“Much has been written about the ramified effects of the option-pricing model on the world’s financial system. But, like other scientists, we had no practical objective. We simply found the option-pricing problem interesting. It was an engaging puzzle, a difficult challenge. And we know that just as the model helped shape the markets, the markets in turn helped shape the evolving model.”Excerpt from Robert Merton’s Toast at the Nobel Prize Ceremony Banquet,
December 10, 1997

The Medal for The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Registered trademark of the Nobel Foundation. Robert Cox Merton Papers, HBS Archives, Baker Library Historical Collections.