The Nobel prizes which are given away by the Royal Academy of Swedish Sciences since 1901, today, announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Earlier i.e. yesterday and the day before, the Nobel Prizes for Medicine (Physiology) and Physics were announced. The Nobel Prizes are given each year for achievements in Science, literature, peace and economics, the latter three are yet to be announced.

As far as the scientific fields are concerned, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was shared by Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak of the USA for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase. In a clear sense, how chromosomes are protected from degradation and how they can be replicated in a complete manner during cell-division. All three laureates shared the prize equally. Blackburn is associated with the University of California, whereas Greider is associated with the School of medicine of the Johns Hopkins University of USA and Szostak, the Englishman but a US citizen, belongs of the Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts general hospital, USA and the Howards Hughes medical Institute.   

The Nobel Prize in Physics was shared again by three laureates, but here for two different achievements, one for the fiber optics and the other for inventing the CCD sensor. Charles K. Kao of China, associated with the Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, United Kingdom and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, had in 1966 made a discovery that made a vital breakthrough in field of fiber optics. He calculated the way to transmit light over long distances via optical glass fibers. While it was only possible to transmit the signals up to 20 meters while in the 60s, Kao’s discovery took that range up to 100 kilometers. His exuberance led to the first ultrapure fiber which was successfully fabricated just four years later, in 1970. The other achievement accounted for the invention of the CCD (charged-coupled device) sensor by two scientists Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith of the Bell Laboratories, USA. The duo invented the CCD sensor in 1969. The technology which is based over Einstein’s theory of photoelectric effects has revolutionized photography. In this technology, light is transformed into electric signals. The prize was partly shared by Kao and the duo.

The last of the Scientific Nobel prize, as already stated, was announced today for Chemistry. The prize was awarded to again three laureates for studies regarding the structure and functions of the Ribosome. The prize was equally shared by Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath. The three showed the structure and functions of the Ribosome using the method of X-ray crystallography. The trio have all generated 3-dimensional models of how the antibiotics attach to the ribosome, hence, helping the medicinal industry. Ramakrishnan is a scientist at the MRC laboratory of Molecular biology in Cambridge. On the other hand, Steitz is associated to the Yale University, USA and Yonath associated to the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.

All the three awards will be accompanied by a prize amount of 10 million Swedish Krona ($1.44 million) each and will be shared amongst the laureates as according to achievements. Apart from the prize money, the laureates will receive a diploma degree, Nobel medallions and an invitation to the award ceremony this year on December, 10th.  

The Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced on October 8th, for Peace on October 9th and for Economics on the October 12th.