Nobel Prize winners have been announced for three categories- physics, medicine and chemistry so far. In physics, three scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy have received the award this year. Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, revealed the winners: Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi.
Read further for details.
Nobel Prize Winners in Physics
Syukuro Manabe (90) and Klaus Hasselman (89) received recognition for their work in the study of global warming. This breakthrough work was on the “physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability, and reliably projecting global warming”.
Giorgio Parisi (73) also received the prize, for “discovering the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”
Goran Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the winners on October 5. Last year, USA’s Andrea Ghez, UK’s Roger Penrose, and Germany’s Reinhard Genzel became Nobel laureates for their work on black holes.
Pioneers in Climate Change Study
All three scientists have received the prestigious prize for their works in the field of climate change study. Mr. Hasselmann and Mr. Manabe, according to the panel, “established the cornerstone of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity affects it”.
Mr. Manabe proved how increases in the quantity of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would boost global temperatures beginning in the 1960s. His work thus effectively established the groundwork for today’s climate models.
Mr. Hasselmann developed a model that linked weather and climate a decade later. His model helped explain why climate models can be accurate despite the weather’s apparent chaos. He also devised methods for detecting specific signals of anthropogenic climate change.
Mr. Parisi “created a profound physical and mathematical model” allowing complicated processes in domains as diverse as mathematics, biology, neurology, and machine learning to be better understood. He also stated the importance of climate action after his win, saying that “it is really necessary that we take very firm decisions and move at a very aggressive pace” in addressing climate change.”
“For future generations, it is apparent that we must act now,” he continued.
Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine
The Nobel Committee also awarded Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian the prize in physiology or medicine on Monday for their “discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch”. Their research thus helps in understanding how the human body detects temperature and touch.
Nobel Prize Winners in Chemistry
The Committee announced the winners in Chemistry on October 6. In this category, the prize was awarded to two scientists for their work in “development of asymmetric organocatalysis”: German scientist Benjamin List and Scottish scientist David WC MacMillan. The duo has developed “organocatalysis”- a new and innovative tool for molecule building, with uses in new pharmaceutical research. The Nobel Committee further stated that this tool can help “make chemistry greener”.
What the Prize Entails
The Nobel prize includes a gold medal and a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.14 million). The award money originates from a legacy left by Alfred Nobel, the prize’s originator, who died in 1895.
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