Awards, Honours and Prizes Nobel Prize 2008
December 21st, 2009
Nobel Prizes 2008 – Awards, Honours and Prizes Nobel Prizes 2008 Chemistry, Medicine, Economics, Literature, Peace
| Chemistry | Osamu Shimomura (USA), Martin Chalfie (USA), Roger Y. Tsien (USA) | For the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. The remarkable brightly glowing GFP was first observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea Victoria in 1962. Since then, this protein has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience. With the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread |
| Physics | Yoichiro Nambu (USA), Makoto Kobayashi (Japan), Toshihide Maskawa (Japan) | For helping to explain the behavior of subatomic particles, the work that has helped shape modern physics theory. The three men’s work, done in the 1950s through the 1970s, predicted the behavior of the tiny particles known as quarks and underlies the Standard Model, which unites three of the four fundamental forces of nature: the strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force and electromagnetic force. Nambu also influenced the development of quantum chromodynamics, which describes some interactions between protons and neutrons, which make atoms, and the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. Kobayashi and Maskawa predicted there were three families of quarks, instead of the two then known. |
| Medicine | Harald zur Hausen (Germany), Francoise Barre-Sinoussi (France), Luc Montagnier (France) | Harald has been awarded for his discovery of Human Papilloma Viruses (HPV) causing cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. His discovery had led to characterization of the history of HPV infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the development of vaccines against HPV acquisition. Francoise and Luc Montagnier have been awarded for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV impairs the immune system because of massive virus replication and cell damage |
| Economics | Paul Krugman (USA) | For his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity. Krugman, 55, a professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, US, and a columnist for the New York Times, formulated a new theory to answer questions about free trade. ‘What are the effect of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization? Krugman has formulated a new theory to answer these questions. He is well-known in academic for his work in international economics, including trade theory, economic geography and international finance. |
| Literature | Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio (France) | The Academy cited Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio as ‘author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization’. Le Clezio, 48, received much attention with his first novel ‘The Interrogation’, which was awarded the Prix Renaudot in 1963. |
| Peace | Martti Ahtisaari (Finland) | For the past twenty years, he has figured prominently in endeavours to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts. In 1989-90 he played a significant part in the establishment of Namibia’s independence; in 2005 he and his organization CMI were central to the solution of the complicated Aceh question in Indonesia. In 1999 and again in 2005-07, he sought under especially difficult circumstances to find a solution to the conflict in Kosovo. In 2008, through the CMI and in cooperation with other institutions, Ahtisaari has tried to help find a peaceful conclusion to the problems in Iraq. |
Sponsored Links
