Since 1980 the society invites a renowned biochemist or molecular biologist for a lecture tour in The Netherlands each year. The Speaker of the Year visits three universities where (s)he presents a lecture and interacts with scientists and students. Many of the invited speakers are Nobel laureates, while several of the NVBMB Speakers of the Year later received the Nobel prize like Efraim Racker, NVBMB Speaker of the Year in 1982 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1997; Gunter Blobel, NVBMB Speaker of the Year 1983, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999; Paul Nurse, NVBMB Speaker of the Year in 1992 received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001; Roger Tsien, NVBMB Speaker of the Year in 2001 received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008; Aaron Ciechanover, NVBMB Speaker of the Year 2004 who received the Nobel Prize of Chemistry in the same year; Randy Schekman, NVBMB Speaker of the year 2009 who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2013.