Nobel Prize News

German-born biophysicist Joachim Frank in an interview to Nobelprize.org after jointly winning the 2017 Chemistry Nobel said, "Normally, my dog wakes me early in the morning. But today, it was the Nobel Prize!" The Columbia University Professor developed cryo-electron microscopy that enables observing biomolecules in 3D after rapidly freezing them at around -150ºC, preserving their natural shape.

Switzerland-born biophysicist Jacques Dubochet, who jointly won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry mentions in his CV that he was "conceived by optimistic parents" in 1941 and was "no longer scared of the dark" by the age of four. The scientist's work on cryo-electron microscopy involves observing biomolecules in 3D at high resolution by rapid freezing, which preserves their shape.

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Japan-born English author Kazuo Ishiguro. The 62-year-old has written eight books, and scripts for film and television, with most associated themes being memory, time, and self-delusion. Ishiguro "in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world", said the Nobel Foundation.

Physicist Marie Curie was the first person to receive a Nobel Prize twice, first in Physics and then in Chemistry. Chemist Linus Pauling received two unshared Nobel Prizes for contributions towards Chemistry and Peace, while physicist John Bardeen received the awards for Physics. The last person who achieved the feat is biochemist Frederick Sanger who won the prizes for Chemistry.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its "work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons". The Peace Prize calls upon nuclear-armed states to initiate negotiations to gradual elimination of the world’s 15,000 nuclear weapons, said the Nobel Foundation.

Nobel Peace Prize-winning nuclear disarmament group ICAN on Friday said that Donald Trump's presidency has put a spotlight on the risks of nuclear weapons. "The fact that Trump can authorise nukes has made a lot of people feel very uncomfortable," the group added. It further said that Trump appeared to have a track record of "not listening to expertise".

Founded in 2007, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) "promotes adherence to and implementation of United Nations' Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". Headquartered in Geneva, it comprises 468 NGOs across 101 countries. ICAN, working with the Red Cross, has been a driving force behind 122 UN member states acceding to the Treaty in July 2017.

Beatrice Fihn, Executive Director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), said she initially thought the announcement of the group's 2017 Nobel Peace Prize win was a prank. The nuclear disarmament group comprises 468 NGOs across 101 countries and has been a driving force behind 122 UN member states acceding to the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty in 2017.

Alfred Nobel-founded Nobel Prize is awarded in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, economics and peace, however, there is no prize in mathematics. Popular theories claim Nobel's partner cheated on him with a mathematician, which made Nobel hate the man and the subject. Other theories include another already established mathematics award and Nobel considering the subject "too theoretical".

Former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has featured in this year's list of six possible winners for the Nobel Prize in Economics, brought out by Clarivate Analytics. The firm, which publishes a list of possible Nobel winners based on research citations, has correctly predicted 15 winners in the last 45 years. Rajan is presently a professor at the University of Chicago.

Alfred Nobel, in his will in 1895, pledged $209 million (present value) to establish prizes in five disciplines, cash prizes for which are given from the fund's interest. He designated the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for awarding Physics and Chemistry Nobel, Karolinska Institute for Medicine, Swedish Academy for Literature, and a Norwegian Parliament-elected panel for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics was not among the awards Alfred Nobel established in his will in 1895. In 1968, Sweden's central bank Sveriges Riksbank, marking its 300th anniversary, made a donation to the Nobel Foundation to establish the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The Laureate is selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

American economist Richard H Thaler has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for his contributions to behavioural economics". His research is often cited in marketing literature and helps recognise marketing tricks and avoid bad economic decisions, the Nobel Foundation said, and added Thaler demonstrated how nudging, a term he coined, may help people exercise better self-control.

US economist Richard Thaler has been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on Nudge Theory, a behavioural science concept which incorporates psychological assumptions into analysis of economic decision-making. By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control, the theory suggests small incentives can avoid bad economic decisions.

American economist Richard H Thaler, who was awarded 2017 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, had supported Indian government's demonetisation decision. He had on November 8, 2016, tweeted, "This is a policy I have long supported. First step toward cashless and good start on reducing corruption." He has been awarded the Nobel Prize for "his contributions to behavioural economics".

American economist Elinor Ostrom is the only woman to have ever been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences since its inception in 1968. Ostrom, who shared the $1.44 million prize with another American economist in 2009, was recognized "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons". She studied how small, local communities manage their shared natural resources.

Switzerland-based International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the only 3-time recipient of the Nobel Prize, being conferred with Peace Prize in 1917, 1944, and 1963. Further, the humanitarian institution's co-founder Henry Dunant won the first-ever Peace Prize in 1901. Geneva-based businessman Dunant in 1863 founded the International Committee for the Relief of the Wounded, now-named ICRC.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, has said that its goal is to make nuclear weapons unacceptable in the minds of people in every country. The people will eventually force their nuclear-armed governments to listen to them and give up their arsenals, the anti-nuclear group added.

After confusing his brother's death with that of Alfred Nobel, a French newspaper in 1888 reported, "The merchant of death is dead". The premature obituary was in reference to the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel. The incident is said to be one of the main inspirations for the Swedish inventor to leave his wealth for establishing the Nobel Prizes.