Nobel Prize 2020: who received the award this year and for what

Physiology and Medicine

Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in2020 honored with British scientist Michael Houghton, Harvey Alter and Charles Rice. The prize was awarded for research on the hepatitis C virus. These scientists were able to find the culprit of the dangerous disease. According to the Nobel committee, thanks to their work, the threat from the hepatitis C virus may disappear.

The Nobel Committee press release states,that “The discovery of hepatitis A and B viruses was an important step forward, but most cases of blood borne hepatitis remained unexplained. The discovery of the hepatitis C virus helped to identify the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and enabled the creation of blood tests and new drugs that have saved millions of lives. ”

The Nobel Committee was reminded of the existenceseveral forms of hepatitis. So, through dirty water or food, the disease caused by the hepatitis A virus is transmitted. In the 1960s, the blood-borne hepatitis B virus was discovered.But further research showed that patients who underwent blood transfusions developed chronic hepatitis caused by an hitherto unknown infection ...

Virologist Harvey Alter in the 1970s, along withcolleagues at the US National Institutes of Health proved that an unknown type of hepatitis is viral in nature, and the disease can be transmitted through blood to both humans and monkeys. Michael Houghton, who worked at the pharmaceutical company Chiron (currently works at the Canadian University of Alberta), undertook to establish the genetic sequence of the virus. He had to collect all the DNA from the blood of chimpanzees and find out which of its fragments reacted to antibodies from the blood of people suffering from unknown hepatitis. Only in 1989, a graduate of the University of East Anglia, the British Michael Hofton, managed to isolate the genome of hepatitis C.

Finally, American virologist Charles Rice'sduring his work at the University of Washington in St. Louis, he proved in 1997 that a cloned virus can multiply and cause hepatitis. The Nobel Committee explains that the discovery of scientists made it possible to create "highly sensitive tests that eliminated the risk of hepatitis C transmission through blood transfusion" and drugs for the treatment of the disease.

Research by scientists  led to the emergencespecific tests for the virus and the development of drugs that have “saved millions of lives around the world,” according to Gunilla Carlsson Hedestam, a member of the Nobel committee. Indeed, these scientists have given us the potential to eradicate the hepatitis C virus (HCV), but why hasn't this happened yet?

Physics

Nobel Prize in Physics for the second year in a rowawarded for discoveries in astrophysics, this time for the study of black holes. Half of the prize went to Briton Roger Penrose for the calculations in 1965, as the committee explained, the scientist proved "that the formation of black holes is a reliable confirmation of the general theory of relativity." The second half of the award was shared by American astrophysicists Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Gez - for the discovery of a supermassive compact object in the center of the Milky Way galaxy

Half of the prize went to a British physicist andmathematician Roger Penrose "for his discovery that the formation of black holes is a strong confirmation of general relativity." As explained in the Nobel Committee, he "used ingenious mathematical methods in his proof that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity," while "Einstein himself did not believe that black holes really existed."

The second half was received by a German astrophysicistReinhard Henzel and American astronomer Andrea Gez "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object in the center of our galaxy." “Using the world's largest telescopes and developing methods to see the center of the Milky Way through clouds of interstellar gas and dust,” “discovered an extremely heavy invisible object pulling a pile of stars with it, causing them to rush around at breakneck speed.” solar masses are gathered together in an area no larger than our solar system. "

Einstein himself doubted the existence of blackholes. However, in 1965, ten years after the death of the genius, the then young Roger Penrose published a revolutionary scientific work. In it, he showed that black holes should form after the death of the most massive stars. Let us explain that the equations of general relativity are extremely difficult to solve. Prior to Penrose's work, physicists focused on the few cases where an exact solution could be obtained.

However, the current laureate has shown that somethe key properties of space-time can be found out without finding a complete solution to puzzling equations. For this, he developed new mathematical methods. They made it possible to answer many questions, including showing how black holes are formed when massive stars die. This work of Penrose is considered the most important contribution to general relativity since the time of Einstein.

The Nobel Committee noted that “the discoveriesThis year's laureates have shown a new path in the study of compact and supermassive objects. But these objects still raise many questions that motivate further research. Not only questions about their internal structure, but also questions about how to test our theory of gravity in extreme conditions in the immediate vicinity of a black hole. "

Chemistry

American woman won the Nobel Prize in chemistryJennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, France, for advancing genome editing. The "genetic scissors" created by the laureates help to change the DNA of plants, animals and microorganisms relatively quickly and with high accuracy. Scientists believe this tool will help develop treatments for serious illnesses, including cancer. This is the first time in the history of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry that two women have received it at once.

When Charpentier and Doudna studied the immunesystem of the Streptococcus bacterium, they discovered a molecular tool that can make precise cuts in the genetic material, allowing the code of life to be easily altered. <…> Using such “genetic scissors”, it is possible to make changes to the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision. 

Nobel committee message

Since 2012 French microbiologist EmmanuelleCharpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna studied the "genetic scissors" - the CRISPR / Cas9 method capable of editing the genome, changing the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms. The method was discovered in 2012.

The message of the Nobel Committee emphasizes,that the discovery of this technology has already "had a revolutionary impact on life science, is contributing to new treatments for cancer, and could make the dream of treating hereditary diseases a reality." Thanks to the discovery of Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, a DNA change that previously seemed impossible now takes "several weeks." The essence of the genome editing method is that "scissors" not only recognize the DNA of viruses, but can also be controlled: scientists can "cut" any DNA molecule in a predetermined place and "rewrite" it.

Since 2012, CRISPR / Cas9 technology has already helped inbreeding crops that are resistant to mold, pests and drought. Currently, "genetic scissors" are used in clinical trials of new treatments for cancer, HIV (to remove the virus from infected T-lymphocytes), diabetes and schizophrenia.

Literature

Yale University Professor Louise Gluckteaches poetry, chairs the American Academy of Poets, was honorary poet laureate in 2003-2004. For modern non-European poetry, Gluck is translated in Russia relatively a lot, but occasionally. Louise Gluck's cross-cutting image - a man as a plant, like flowers in a garden, Wild Iris of 1992 is one of her most famous collections, less known are Triumph of Achilles in 1985, Luga in 1996 and Vita Nova in 1999, quite often these are poems, infrequent in modern Russian versification.

Although Louise Gluck avoids defining herself asAmerican poet. Without looking at this, her work, according to the Nobel Committee, demonstrates what American culture in general is doing nowadays.

Economy

Economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson are the recipients of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics. This was announced by the Nobel Committee during a live broadcast.

Awarded for theoretical improvementsauctions and the invention of new auction formats. As explained in the Nobel Committee, auctions are extremely important in the modern economy and directly affect people's lives. Every day, through auctions, astronomical amounts of money are redistributed between buyers and sellers.

For example, auction theory works whena person buys real estate or when the amount of his payment for electricity is formed. Therefore, the creation of new "correct" auction formats is very important for modern life, explained Professor Peter Fredrickson, who is the head of the Alfred Nobel Prize Award Committee in Economics.

The committee noted that the coronavirus pandemicinfluences the work of the structure. However, despite the restrictions, Milgrom and Wilson will receive their awards by the end of 2020. In addition, the laureates will be invited to Stockholm the next time the committee can celebrate Nobel Week as usual.

Nobel Peace Prize

As the Nobel Committee said, “the needin international solidarity and multilateral cooperation today is greater than ever. " For efforts to combat hunger, especially in conflict zones, and for action to prevent hunger from being used as a military tool, the award went to the United Nations World Food Program, the world's largest humanitarian organization dedicated to food security.

Last year, her staff and volunteers workedin 88 countries of the world. According to the organization, in 2019, 135 million people around the world suffered from hunger, which has not been in many years, and the coronavirus only made the situation worse. "Until we have a vaccine against the virus, food is the best vaccine against chaos," said Reiss-Andersen, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the awardreceives "the one who has achieved the greatest success or has done more than others in rallying peoples and reducing the number of active armies, as well as for holding peace congresses and drawing attention to them." For the previous two years, the Peace Prize went to the African continent.

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