WHAT IS DISCOVERY? WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE FIRST? These questions trouble the characters in Oxygen. This play explores the events surrounding the 2001 award of a “retro-Nobel” for achievements made before the Nobel Prize was established in 1901. The Nobel Committee decides to reward the 18th century discovery of oxygen. But to whom? In a sauna in 1777 Stockholm, the conflicting claims of the element’s discovery by three men are revealed. With wit and humor, Djerassi and Hoffman prove that the ethical issues at the heart of the play are as timely today as they were in 1777.