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November 19, 2013

The Nobel Prize Laureates of 2013

Filed under: Society — Tags: — Ralph C Dreher @ 1:55 AM

The Nobel prize achievers of 2013 in different categories were announced last month. These prizes are given by the Royal Swedish Academy of sciences annually in memory of Alfred Nobel to organizations and individuals who make significant contribution to Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Medicine.

Nobel Prize Winners, 2013 in Various Categories
Following are the 2013 Nobel prize winners in various categories:

1) Nobel Peace Prize
The 2013 Nobel Prize was given to The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons OPCW based in Netherlands for its outstanding performance and efforts in eliminating chemical weapons. These global weapons help in deploying worldwide teams to identify if all the nations have signed the treaty are disclosing all the chemical weapons and if possessing them, destroying both the weapons as well as manufacturer sites.

2) Nobel Prize in Chemistry
This award was given to three scientist from US – Michael Levitt, Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel for developing multi-scale computer models for complex chemical system. These computer can predict chemical reactions that are used in creating new drugs and other tasks. This approach was the combination of classical and quantum Physics.

3) Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel prize in Physics 2013 went jointly to Francois Englert from Britain and Peter W Higgs from Belgium for Theoretical discovery of a mechanism which contributed to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles that also got recently confirmed by discovering the predicted fundamental particle through CMS and ATLAS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

4) Nobel Prize in Literature
The 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Alice Munro from Canada for mastering contemporary short story. She is 82 years old author, and is known for her famous stories like ‘The Moons of Jupiter’, ‘The Progress of Love’ and ‘Runaway’.

5) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
The 2013 the Nobel Prize in Medicine was given jointly to US based researchers, James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Suedhof for extensive efforts and work on the cell organizing its transport system. They helped in better understanding of tiny bubbles and vesicles that deliver cargo within a cell to right place and right time as any disturbance in this system can lead to neurological diseases, immunological disorders or diabetes.

6) Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Prize in Economics was honored and shared between three Americans, Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen from University of Chicago and Robert Shiller from Yale University for their performance of creating a deeper knowledge of how the prices in the market move.

The three economists have worked on methods that have been found useful in assessing the prices of financial assets over a period of time. They also have invented methods how price of financial assets can be measured. (more…)

March 11, 2011

Nobel Laureates of 2010

Filed under: Society — Tags: — Winson @ 3:48 AM

Nobel prizes are the most prestigious international awards for intellectual performance. The awards are administered by the Nobel Foundation in Sweden. They have been awarded for great achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace since 1901. Later in 1968, achievements for economics were added in memory of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the Nobel Prize.

Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in physics is 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Gelm and Konstantin Novoselov. The prize money was distributed between them equally. They were awarded for work on groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material ‘Graphene’.

Graphene is a form of carbon which is just one atom thick. It is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. Andre Gelm and Konstantin Novoselov extracted thin layers of particles from graphite of a pencil making a new material called Graphene. They found the unique properties of Graphene. It can now be used for practical applications in the development of electronic devices.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki were awarded jointly the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2010. The work for which they were awarded was ‘palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis’. Every organic synthesis laboratory and industrial processes across the world uses the Heck, Negishi and Suzuki reactions.

During the initial years, it was a challenge to combine carbon atoms together because carbon does not react with other similar atoms due to its structural configuration. Certain reactions were discovered by the scientists using Palladium as a catalyst so that carbon reacts more easily.

In 1968, a series of papers were published by Heck reporting the addition of methyl and phenylpalladium halides to olefins at room temperature. A further step allowed the unprecedented alkylation of an olefin. Later, in 1976 the palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of organometallic species with organohalides was investigated by Negishi. This demonstrates the permission of highly selective reactions by organozinc compounds under mild conditions in the presence of a range of functional groups. In 1979, Suzuki demonstrated that organoboron compounds in the presence of a base could be cross coupled with vinyl and aryl halides using palladium as a catalyst.

Further modification and improvement was made in these reactions in subsequent years for use in synthesis of a wide range of complex natural products.

Nobel Prize in Medicine
The Nobel Prize in 2010 in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Robert G. Edwards for the development of in vitro fertilization. He was called the father of test tube baby. Since 1955, he had been working on the process of in vitro fertilization along with his colleague, Patrick Steptoe, and achieved it by 1968.

A human culture media was developed by Edwards to allow the fertilization and early embryo culture. His colleague worked on laprosopy for recovering oocytes from patients with tubal infertility. About four million babies were born by in vitro fertilization technique because of their huge efforts. Edwards was awarded the Albert Lasker Clinical Medical Research Award by the Lasker Foundation in 2001 for the development of in vitro fertilization.

Nobel Prize in Literature
In 2010, Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature. He was awarded for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual’s resistance, revolt, and defeat. Through his work The Time of the Hero, he became popular in the world.

Some of his well-known works are Conversation in the Cathedral, The War of the End of the World, and The Feast of the Goat. He is the first South American winner of the prestigious 10 million kronor, or $1.5 million, Nobel Prize in literature since Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez won in 1982.

Nobel Peace Prize
Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2010 for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China. Announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize for Liu created a huge angry response from China.

He was a literary critic in 1980s. He took part in the Tiananmen protests in 1989 for advocating the fundamental rights in China. He had been arrested several times since spending 20 months in detention after the 1989 protests. He was sentenced in 2009 in prison for 11 years for subversion of state power. There were people who received Nobel Prize who were under house arrest and prison before receiving it. However, Liu was the first one who was honored with Nobel Peace Prize while being in prison.

Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Prize in economics in 2010 was awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides. They were awarded for their work on analysis of markets with search frictions.

Demand and supply are the two factors on which a market is based. There are situations in market where a lot of people are there who are looking for employment and companies having vacancies, but still the vacancies are not being filled. Also, we find many people who want to buy and sell a house at the same time, but still do not find a solution.

The work of the Nobel Prize Winners helped in providing better solutions in these areas. A theoretical framework was formulated by them for search markets. Peter Diamond focused on the analysis of foundations of search markets. The theory was expanded and applied to labor market by Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides. This theory however can also be applicable to house, monitory theory and various areas of economics.

January 13, 2010

Nobel Laureates of 2009

Filed under: Nobel Prize — Tags: — Winson @ 8:34 AM

The Nobel Prizes are universally regarded as the most prestigious and renowned awards given for intellectual performance in the world. The Nobel Foundation started in 1900 based on the will and testament of Alfred Nobel written on 27th November 1895. As per his wish, the award should be given to those who make outstanding contributions to the mankind in the five areas, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine or Physiology, Literature, and Peace, while Economics category added later in 1968.

Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in physics for 2009 was awarded to three people. Charles K. Kao of china was awarded half of prize for his innovative achievements dealing with the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication. Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of USA shared remaining half value of prize equally for the discovery of CCD sensor, an imaging semiconductor circuit.

In 1966, Charles K. Kao carefully worked on how to transmit light covering long distances through optical glass fibers. He discovered that fiber of purest glass can transmit light signals over 100 kilometers which was an innovation in fiber optics technology.

In 1969 Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith discovered the first outstanding imaging technology using a digital sensor, a CCD. The CCD is a digital camera’s electronic eye which revolutionized the way how images were gathered from spacecraft, by telescopes, in medical imaging, and finally replaced the film camera in whole aspects of photography.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Nobel Prize in chemistry for 2009 was awarded jointly to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of United Kingdom, Thomas A. Steitz of USA and Ada E. Yonath of Israel for their research on the structure and function of the ribosome.

Three scientists created atom-by-atom maps of the hidden, life-giving ribosome which helped researchers to develop powerful new antibiotics. They used three-dimensional models to illustrate how antibiotics attaches to the ribosome. These models are used to develop new antibiotics, depending on the interpretation of the molecular structure and framework of the ribosomes in every cell.

Nobel Prize in Medicine
The Nobel Prize in Medicine for 2009 was shared by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, Jack W. Szostak of USA. It was awarded for the discovery of how chromosomes are guarded by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.

They discovered telomeres which are created in the reproduction sequences of DNA at the ends of chromosomes that helps in protecting the purity of the chromosomal DNA, and discovered the enzyme telomerase which builds the telomeres.

Their work revealed some of the basic secrets about functioning of cells. Their studies were also applicable to cancer biology as cancer cells have excessively active telomerase, which makes them to divide uncontrollably.

Nobel Prize in Literature
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Herta Müller of Germany. She is the 12th woman in 108 years to receive Nobel prize for literature. Mueller, a representative of Romania’s ethnic German minority, was honored for her work as described by Nobel foundation “with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed,”

Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 was awarded to Barack H. Obama who is the 44th President of the United States of America for his outstanding efforts to establish international diplomacy and cooperation between people. The Committee also gave special significance to Obama’s vision and his work for a world without nuclear weapons. After this announcement, some people raised their concern that the decision had come too early, before any significant achievements were made in his foreign policy. Whereas many world leaders were supportive of the award. Some raised their concern that the prize was awarded to encourage the US leader early in his presidency.

Nobel Prize in Economics
The Nobel Prize in Economics for 2009 was awarded jointly to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson of USA. It was awarded to Elinor Ostrom for her studies on economic governance, mainly in the commons and to Oliver E. Williamson for his studies on economic governance, particularly in an organization.

Elinor Ostrom was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economics. Ostrom showed how common resources like forests, fisheries, oil fields or grazing lands can be managed well by the people who use them, instead of governments or private companies.

Williamson, focused on how firms and markets differ in the methods they solve conflicts. He found that companies can resolve conflicts better than markets when competition is fixed.

(more…)

October 29, 2009

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Filed under: 2009,Nobel Prize — Tags: — Winson @ 2:47 AM

The 2009 Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to researchers Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak for studying the way chromosomes are protected and for discovering the ‘immortality enzyme’ telomerase. The research could have ample implications on diseases such as cancer and other age related conditions. In keeping with the Nobel tradition, the Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded first. The Nobel laureates shared a $1.4 million purse and a diploma, along with an invitation to the prize ceremonies to be held at Stockholm. For the first time in history, two women shared the Nobel Prize in medicine.

The scientists have been honored for their study of the way chromosomes are protected by the cap like telomeres and their discovery of the enzyme telomerase that allows cells to divide incessantly without dying. Telomeres are cap like structures at the tail end of the chromosomes that are bestowed with a unique DNA sequence that prevents their deterioration. The telomeres also act as deterrents to chromosomal rearrangement which may itself result in abnormalities. Telomeres are lost with each cell division exposing the chromosomes to unfavorable possibilities like cancer and aging. Blackburn and Szostak strived to explain that the unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from deterioration while Carol Greider and Blackburn identified the enzyme telomerase that replenishes or helps to rebuild the lost sequences of the telomeres. Cells age when the cap like telomeres are shortened. However, on the other hand, if the activity of the telomerase enzyme is sufficient enough telomere deterioration can be controlled and aging thwarted. Blackburn’s discovery proved the fact that stress has a definite impact on telomere reduction thus strengthening the mind body connection. Though increased telomere activity could ward off aging for a while it also increases a person’s risk to ward off cancer. This means that the steady shortening of the telomeres and the accompanying decreased telomerase activity is believed to be a process that is inbuilt in man as a survival mechanism.

October 13, 2009

Nobel Prize in Physics 2008

Filed under: 2008,Nobel Prize — Tags: — Winson @ 10:09 AM

Nobel prize in Physics in 2008 has been awarded to Yoichiro Nambu (USA), Makoto Kobayashi (Japan), and Toshihide Maskawa (Japan). Among them, Yoichiro Nambu shared one-half of the Nobel Prize for his contribution as described by the Nobel foundation

“for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics”.

In 1960, Nambu introduced spontaneous broken symmetry. Spontaneous broken symmetry means a symmetric system becoming asymmetric when it enters into asymmetrical system. A common example of Spontaneous symmetry breaking is, when a ball which is symmetrical when placed at top of a hill, it is no more symmetrical as small force makes it roll down from hill and it has different symmetries in different directions. Spontaneous broken theory led to the invention of three families of Quarks (the smallest building blocks of matter). He also worked on rapid (fast) conductivity in metals, when electric currents suddenly flow without any resistance.

Makoto Kobayashi shared one-fourth and Toshihide Maskawa shared one-fourth of noble prize

“for their discovery of the origin of three families of quarks in nature”

as described by the Nobel foundation. Yoichiro Nambu’s discovery, mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry laid foundation for the discovery of quarks.

Quarks are fundamental matter particles that combine together to form neutrons and protons in nucleus of atom. They first appeared in particle physics experiments in 1964, and very recently, scientists confirmed the existence of quarks. There are three families of quarks. They are top quark, bottom quark, and charm quark. They vary in mass and electronic charge. Earlier Atomic model was considered to study on particles. Now Quarks are part of the Standard Model of particle physics that combines all the smallest building blocks of matter.

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