Arthur Rubinstein

 

Arthur Rubinstein

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Rubinstein as a young man, 1906

Arthur Rubinstein (January 28, 1887 – December 20, 1982) was a Polish-American pianist. He received praise from around the world for his playing of the music of a selection of composers (many call him the greatest Chopin player of the century).[1]

 

Rubinstein was born in Łódź, Poland to a family of Jews. He was the youngest child of the family.[2] His father was a rich owner of a factory.[3]

 

Although his given name is Artur Rubinstein, in English-speaking countries he wanted to be known as Arthur Rubinstein. However, his United States impresario Sol Hurok wanted him to still be billed as Artur, and his recordings were released in the West under both names.[4]

 

Rubinstein learned the piano at the age of two in Warsaw, before beginning study in Berlin at the age of eight. His debut in Berlin was made in 1898 followed by a debut at Carnegie Hall in the United States in 1906.[5]

 

Throughout his life, Rubinstein was famous as a solo pianist, a soloist in piano concertos, and even as a chamber musician. He retired from the stage at age eighty-nine, and died in Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 December 1982, at the age of ninety-five, and his body was cremated. On the first anniversary of his death, his ashes were buried in Jerusalem – as specified in his will – in a plot now nicknamed the "Rubinstein Forest" overlooking the Jerusalem Forest.[6]

With affection,

Ruben

 

Paul J. Crutzen

 

Paul J. Crutzen

2010

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

3 December 1933 – 28 January 2021)

was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist.[4][5][6] In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland for their work on atmospheric chemistry and specifically for his efforts in studying the formation and decomposition of atmospheric ozone. In addition to studying the ozone layer and climate change, he popularized the term Anthropocene to describe a proposed new epoch in the Quaternary period when human actions have a drastic effect on the Earth. He was also amongst the first few scientists to introduce the idea of a nuclear winter to describe the potential climatic effects stemming from large-scale atmospheric pollution including smoke from forest fires, industrial exhausts, and other sources like oil fires.

 

He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and an elected foreign member of the Royal Society in the United Kingdom.[7]

 

Early life and education

Crutzen was born in Amsterdam, the son of Anna (Gurk) and Josef Crutzen.[8] In September 1940, the same year Germany invaded The Netherlands, Crutzen entered his first year of elementary school. His classes moved around to different locations after the primary school was taken over by the Germans; during the last months of the war he experienced the 'winter of hunger' with several of his schoolmates dying of famine or disease.[9] In 1946 with some special help he graduated from elementary school and moved onto Hogere Burgerschool (Higher Citizens School). There, with the help of his cosmopolitian parents he became fluent in French, English, and German.[9] Along with languages he also focused on natural sciences in this school, graduating in 1951; however his exam results did not qualify him for university scholarships.[9] Instead, he studied Civil Engineering at a Higher Professional Education school with lower costs, and took a job with the Bridge Construction Bureau in Amsterdam in 1954.[9] After completing military service, in 1958 he married Terttu Soininen, a Finnish university student whom he had met a few years earlier and moved with her to Gävle, a tiny city 200 km north of Stockholm where he took a job at a construction bureau.[9] After seeing an advertisement by the Department of Meteorology at Stockholm University for a computer programmer, he applied, was selected, and in July 1959 moved with his wife and new daughter Ilona to Stockholm.[9]

 

Beginning of academic career

In the 1920's Norwegian meteorologists began using fluid mechanics in analyse weather, and by 1959 the Meteorology Institute of Stockholm University was at the forefront of meteorology research using numerical modeling.[9] The theories were validated in 1960 by images from Tiros, the first weather satellite.

 

At that time, Stockholm University housed the fastest computers in the world with the BESK (Binary Electronic Sequence Calculator) and its successor, the Facit EDB. Crutzen was involved with the programming and application of some of those early numerical models for weather prediction, and also developed a tropical cyclone model himself.[9]

 

Working as a programmer at the university, he was able to take other lectures and in 1963 applied for a PhD program with a thesis combining mathematics, statistics and meteorology.[9]

 

Although intending to extend his cyclone model for his thesis, around 1965 he was asked to help US scientists with a numerical model for the distribution of oxygen allotropes (atomic oxygen, molecular oxygen and ozone) in the stratosphere, the mesosphere and the lower thermosphere. This involved studies of stratospheric chemistry and the photochemistry of ozone. His PhD awarded in 1968, Determination of parameters appearing in the "dry" and the "wet" photochemical theories for ozone in the stratosphere, suggested that nitrogen oxides (NOx) should be studied.[9]

 

His thesis was well-received and led to a post-doctoral fellowship at the Clarendon Laboratory of the University of Oxford, on behalf of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO), the precursor of ESA.[9]

 

Research career

Crutzen conducted research primarily in atmospheric chemistry.[10][11][12][13][14][15] He is best known for his research on ozone depletion. In 1970[16] he pointed out that emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O), a stable, long-lived gas produced by soil bacteria, from the Earth's surface could affect the amount of nitric oxide (NO) in the stratosphere. Crutzen showed that nitrous oxide lives long enough to reach the stratosphere, where it is converted into NO. Crutzen then noted that increasing use of fertilizers might have led to an increase in nitrous oxide emissions over the natural background, which would in turn result in an increase in the amount of NO in the stratosphere. Thus human activity could affect the stratospheric ozone layer. In the following year, Crutzen and (independently) Harold Johnston suggested that NO emissions from the fleet of, then proposed, supersonic transport (SST) airliners (a few hundred Boeing 2707s), which would fly in the lower stratosphere, could also deplete the ozone layer; however more recent analysis has disputed this as a large concern.[17]

 

In 1974 Crutzen received a prepublication draft of a scientific paper by Frank S. Rowland, professor of Chemistry at University of California, Irvine, and Mario J. Molina, a postdoctoral fellow from Mexico. It concerned the possible destructive effects of chlorofluoromethanes on the ozone layer. Crutzen immediately developed a model of this effect, which predicted severe depletion of ozone if those chemicals continued to be used at that current rate. [9]

 

Crutze has listed his main research interests as "Stratospheric and tropospheric chemistry, and their role in the biogeochemical cycles and climate".[18] From 1980, he worked at the Department of Atmospheric Chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry,[19] in Mainz, Germany; the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego;[20] and at Seoul National University,[21] South Korea. He was also a long-time adjunct professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and research professor at the department of meteorology at Stockholm University, Sweden.[22] From 1997 to 2002 he was professor of aeronomy at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Utrecht University.[23]

 

He co-signed a letter from over 70 Nobel laureate scientists to the Louisiana Legislature supporting the repeal of that U.S. state's creationism law, the Louisiana Science Education Act.[24] In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.[25]

 

As of 2021, Crutzen had an h-index of 151 according to Google Scholar[26] and of 110 according to Scopus.[27] On his death, the president of the Max Planck Society, Martin Stratmann, said that Crutzen's work led to the ban on ozone-depleting chemicals, which was an unprecedented example of Nobel Prize basic research directly leading to a global political decision.[28]

 

Anthropocene

One of Crutzen's research interests was the Anthropocene.[29][30] In 2000, in IGBP Newsletter 41, Crutzen and Eugene F. Stoermer, to emphasize the central role of mankind in geology and ecology, proposed using the term anthropocene for the current geological epoch. In regard to its start, they said:

 

To assign a more specific date to the onset of the "anthropocene" seems somewhat arbitrary, but we propose the latter part of the 18th century, although we are aware that alternative proposals can be made (some may even want to include the entire holocene). However, we choose this date because, during the past two centuries, the global effects of human activities have become clearly noticeable. This is the period when data retrieved from glacial ice cores show the beginning of a growth in the atmospheric concentrations of several "greenhouse gases", in particular CO2 and CH4. Such a starting date also coincides with James Watt's invention of the steam engine in 1784.[31]

 

Geoengineering (Climate intervention)

Steve Connor, Science Editor of The Independent, wrote that Crutzen believes that political attempts to limit man-made greenhouse gases are so pitiful that a radical contingency plan is needed. In a polemical scientific essay that was published in the August 2006 issue of the journal Climatic Change, he says that an "escape route" is needed if global warming begins to run out of control.[32]

 

Crutzen advocated for climate engineering solutions, including artificially cooling the global climate by releasing particles of sulphur in the upper atmosphere, along with other particles at lower atmospheric levels, which would reflect sunlight and heat back into space. If this artificial cooling method actually were to work, it would reduce some of the effects of the accumulation of green house gas emissions caused by human activity, potentially extending the planet's integrity and livability.[33]

 

In January 2008, Crutzen published findings that the release of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions in the production of biofuels means that they contribute more to global warming than the fossil fuels they replace.[34]

 

Nuclear winter

Crutzen was also a leader in promoting the theory of nuclear winter. Together with John W. Birks he wrote the first publication introducing the subject: The atmosphere after a nuclear war: Twilight at noon (1982).[35] They theorized the potential climatic effects of the large amounts of sooty smoke from fires in the forests and in urban and industrial centers and oil storage facilities, which would reach the middle and higher troposphere. They concluded that absorption of sunlight by the black smoke could lead to darkness and strong cooling at the earth's surface, and a heating of the atmosphere at higher elevations, thus creating atypical meteorological and climatic conditions which would jeopardize agricultural production for a large part of the human population.[36]

 

In a Baltimore Sun newspaper article printed in January 1991, along with his nuclear winter colleagues, Crutzen hypothesized that the climatic effects of the Kuwait oil fires would result in "significant" nuclear winter-like effects; continental-sized effects of sub-freezing temperatures.[37]

 

Awards and honours

Paul Crutzen

Mario Molina

Sherwood Rowland

Crutzen, Mario J. Molina, and F. Sherwood Rowland were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 "for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and decomposition of ozone".[4] Some of Crutzen's others honours include the below:

 

1976: Outstanding Publication Award, Environmental Research Laboratories, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration[38]

1984: Rolex-Discover Scientist of the Year.[38]

1985: Recipient of the Leó Szilárd Award for "Physics in the Publics Interest" of the American Physical Society.[38]

1986: Elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.[38]

1989: Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.[39]

1990: Corresponding Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences[40]

1995: Recipient of the Global Ozone Award for "Outstanding Contribution for the Protection of the Ozone Layer" by United Nations Environment Programme.[38]

1999: Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.[41]

2006: Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)[1]

2007: International Member of the American Philosophical Society[42]

2017: Honorary Member of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society[43]

2019: Lomonosov Gold Medal[44]

Personal life

In 1956 Crutzen met Terttu Soininen, whom he married a few years later in February 1958. In December of the same year, the couple had a daughter. In March 1964, the couple had another daughter.[4]

 

Crutzen died aged 87 on 28 January 2021.[45]

With affection,

Ruben

 

The Discovery of Ivermectin

 

The Discovery of Ivermectin

Source Translate to English from Biografias.Es

This story is so far-fetched it seems unbelievable: a sample of soil found in Japan ends suffering in Africa. It all begins when a scientist comes across a humble bacterium on a golf course outside Tokyo. Then a team of scientists in the US discover that this bacterium produces compounds that block the activity of nematodes, roundworms. They develop this compound into a drug that prevents the proliferation of parasites in countless pets and farm animals, avoiding millions in losses worldwide. Amazingly, this same drug also serves to prevent and treat human diseases caused by parasitic worms. Without this treatment, these diseases would cause blindness and many other serious symptoms in hundreds of millions of people living in the poorest countries.

 

The story involves thousands of scientists from around the world, as well as doctors, health workers and other very dedicated participants. Also involved are a major pharmaceutical company and a research institute, both willing to give away a drug to rid developing countries of debilitating diseases.

 

And none of this would have happened if no one had been nosy about analyzing soil samples in Japan.

In 1971, Ōmura decided to take a sabbatical and spend time in the laboratory of Max Tishler (1906-1989), an eminent professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, USA. A year earlier, Tishler had retired after a successful career at the pharmaceutical company Merck. Before returning home in 1973, Ōmura managed to secure a pioneering agreement between Merck and its research center in Japan. In Kitasato they would continue to collect and analyze samples, but they would send the most promising ones to Merck's research laboratories in Rahway, New Jersey (USA). There they could do further tests and develop drugs, but the Japanese institute would retain the rights and royalties on any products that were eventually marketed.

At Merck's research labs, a team led by parasitology expert William C. Campbell (born 1930) began testing the samples as a possible treatment for parasitic worms. Campbell, who had studied veterinary medicine and zoology, identified several compounds that could be used as medicines for livestock and other animals.

 

To test these treatments, Merck researchers infected mice with nematode worms and then fed them the different cultures prepared by Ōmura's team. They found that one of the cultures was remarkably effective at killing parasites. Specifically, this sample came from a soil sample collected near a golf course in Kawana, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo. Ōmura identified the bacteria in that culture as a new strain, which was eventually named Streptomyces avermectinius.

 

The Merck team isolated the active compound produced by the bacteria and called it "avermectin." They later discovered that avermectin is actually a mixture of eight very similar compounds. So they began modifying these substances using different chemical reactions, tweaking their molecular structures in very subtle ways to try to make avermectin more effective against parasites and, at the same time, safer for animals. Merck scientists discovered a small modification that achieved both of these effects and named the resulting pair of molecules "ivermectin." This mixture was 25 times more potent than the treatments of the time against parasitic worms.

 

Merck carried out further analyses that showed that ivermectin could also be used to combat mites, fleas and oestrids, all of which are parasites that cause huge economic losses in livestock. It worked well on horses, cows, pigs, sheep and dogs; ivermectin was safe and harmless for all of these animals.

 

These promising results led Merck to market ivermectin as a veterinary treatment in 1981. From 1987, this compound began to be sold to the public under the trademark Heartgard® to prevent the appearance of worms in dogs (today, the animal health company Merial markets this drug). Very soon, these products became the best-selling veterinary drugs, generating sales of more than one billion US dollars a year.

A treatment for river blindness

A child helps a man suffering from onchocerciasis (river blindness) in Sierra Leone.

Children and young people often accompany and guide people affected by onchocerciasis (river blindness). This disease is one of the major causes of preventable blindness. In 1987,

ivermectin was approved for use in humans to treat this disease 

 

The cycle of parasitic diseases often begins with an insect bite.

 

Black flies that breed near river rapids carry larvae of the worm that, in humans, causes onchocerciasis. A disease also known as "river blindness." When a fly infects a human, it can cause the disease to spread to the surrounding environment.

A treatment for river blindness

 

The cycle of parasitic diseases often begins with an insect bite.

 

Black flies that breed near river rapids carry larvae of the worm that causes onchocerciasis in humans. This disease is also known as "river blindness." When an infected fly bites a person, it deposits larvae of the worm on the skin and the parasite enters the body through the wound. There, they mature into adulthood and are able to reproduce. Female worms release thousands of microscopic larvae that can travel throughout our body. When they reach the eyes, they cause wounds and form scar tissue that causes blindness. In addition, the parasite also causes itching and disfigurement of the skin. This disease occurs mainly in Africa, but there are also cases in Yemen and several Latin American countries. It is one of the biggest causes of blindness in the world and is preventable.

 

Campbell encouraged his colleagues to study the potential of ivermectin to treat river blindness. It is an exciting drug because it has no antiviral or antibiotic activity and very few side effects. Researchers found that this is due to ivermectin's mechanism of action, which blocks cellular channels in the worms that are not accessible in pets, livestock, or humans. In young worms, the drug disrupts the function of these channels in muscle and nerve cells, causing paralysis. In addition, the drug makes the more immature worms more vulnerable to our immune system and prevents adult female worms from releasing larvae. All of these effects combined help to eliminate all parasites.

 

In its efforts to develop new medicines, Merck worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to design and implement human clinical trials in 1981. Led by Mohammed Aziz (1929-1987), scientists evaluated the efficacy of ivermectin in treating river blindness in Senegal. The results with a single dose of the pill were highly effective in treating this disease and the drug was approved for human use in 1987 under the name Mectizan®.

William Campbell (right) speaks with Mohammed Aziz (center) and Kenneth Brown (left) at a 1987 press conference in Washington, D.C.,

With affection,

Ruben

Winners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

Winners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine

 

From editors Encyclopaedia Britannica

name    country*            achievement

*Nationality given is the citizenship of recipient at the time award was made. Prizes may be withheld or not awarded in years when no worthy recipient can be found or when the world situation (e.g., World Wars I and II) prevents the gathering of information needed to reach a decision.

1901      Emil von Behring         Germany           work on serum therapy

1902     Sir Ronald Ross            U.K.      discovery of how malaria enters an organism

1903     Niels Ryberg Finsen    Denmark          treatment of skin diseases with light

1904     Ivan Pavlov      Russia work on the physiology of digestion

1905     Robert Koch    Germany           tuberculosis research

1906     Camillo Golgi  Italy     work on the structure of the nervous system

Santiago Ramón y Cajal            Spain   work on the structure of the nervous system

1907     Alphonse Laveran        France discovery of the role of protozoans in diseases

1908     Paul Ehrlich     Germany           work on immunity

Élie Metchnikoff           Russia work on immunity

1909     Emil Theodor Kocher Switzerland      physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland

1910      Albrecht Kossel             Germany           researches in cellular chemistry

1911       Allvar Gullstrand         Sweden              work on dioptrics of the eye

1912      Alexis Carrel    France work on vascular suture; transplantation of organs

1913      Charles Richet France work on anaphylaxis

1914      Robert Bárány Austria-Hungary          work on vestibular apparatus

1919      Jules Bordet    Belgium             work on immunity factors in blood serum

1920     August Krogh  Denmark          discovery of the capillary motor-regulating mechanism

1922     A.V. Hill            U.K.      discoveries concerning heat production in muscles

Otto Meyerhof Germany           work on metabolism of lactic acid in muscles

1923     Sir Frederick Grant Banting    Canada              discovery of insulin

J.J.R. Macleod              U.K.      discovery of insulin

1924     Willem Einthoven        Netherlands    discovery of electrocardiogram mechanism

1926     Johannes Fibiger          Denmark          contributions to cancer research

1927      Julius Wagner-Jauregg            Austria work on malaria inoculation in dementia paralytica

1928     Charles-Jules-Henri Nicolle    France work on typhus

1929     Christiaan Eijkman      Netherlands    discovery of the antineuritic vitamin

Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins          U.K.      discovery of growth-stimulating vitamins

1930     Karl Landsteiner          U.S.      discovery of human blood groups

1931      Otto Warburg  Germany           discovery of the nature and action of the respiratory enzyme

1932     Edgar Douglas Adrian, 1st Baron Adrian        U.K.      discoveries regarding function of neurons

Sir Charles Scott Sherrington U.K.      discoveries regarding function of neurons

1933     Thomas Hunt Morgan              U.S.      heredity transmission functions of chromosomes

1934     George Richards Minot            U.S.      discoveries concerning liver treatment for anemia

William P. Murphy      U.S.      discoveries concerning liver treatment for anemia

George H. Whipple      U.S.      discoveries concerning liver treatment for anemia

1935     Hans Spemann             Germany           organizer effect in embryos

1936     Sir Henry Dale              U.K.      work on chemical transmission of nerve impulses

Otto Loewi       Germany           work on chemical transmission of nerve impulses

1937      Albert Szent-Györgyi  Hungary            work on biological combustion

1938     Corneille Heymans      Belgium             discovery of the role of sinus and aortic mechanisms in respiration regulation

1939     Gerhard Domagk (declined)   Germany           antibacterial effect of Prontosil

1943     Henrik Dam     Denmark          discovery of vitamin K

Edward Adelbert Doisy            U.S.      discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K

1944     Joseph Erlanger            U.S.      researches on differentiated functions of nerve fibres

Herbert Spencer Gasser           U.S.      researches on differentiated functions of nerve fibres

1945     Sir Ernst Boris Chain  U.K.      discovery of penicillin and its curative value

Sir Alexander Fleming              U.K.      discovery of penicillin and its curative value

Howard Walter Florey, Baron Florey Australia           discovery of penicillin and its curative value

1946     Hermann Joseph Muller          U.S.      production of mutations by X-radiation

1947      Carl and Gerty Cori      U.S.      discovery of how glycogen is catalytically converted

Bernardo Alberto Houssay      Argentina         pituitary hormone function in sugar metabolism

1948     Paul Hermann Müller Switzerland      properties of DDT

1949     António Egas Moniz    Portugal            therapeutic value of leucotomy in psychoses

Walter Rudolf Hess     Switzerland      discovery of functions of the interbrain

1950     Philip Showalter Hench           U.S.      research on adrenal cortex hormones, their structure and biological effects

Edward Calvin Kendall             U.S.      research on adrenal cortex hormones, their structure and biological effects

Tadeus Reichstein        Switzerland      research on adrenal cortex hormones, their structure and biological effects

1951      Max Theiler     South Africa     yellow fever discoveries

1952     Selman Abraham Waksman   U.S.      discovery of streptomycin

1953     Sir Hans Adolf Krebs  U.K.      discovery of the citric acid cycle in metabolism of carbohydrates

Fritz Albert Lipmann  U.S.      discovery of coenzyme A in metabolism of carbohydrates

1954     John Franklin Enders U.S.      cultivation of the poliomyelitis virus in tissue cultures

Frederick Chapman Robbins  U.S.      cultivation of the poliomyelitis virus in tissue cultures

Thomas H. Weller        U.S.      cultivation of the poliomyelitis virus in tissue cultures

1955     Axel Hugo Teodor Theorell     Sweden              nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes

1956     André F. Cournand      U.S.      discoveries concerning heart catheterization and circulatory changes

Werner Forssmann     West Germany              discoveries concerning heart catheterization and circulatory changes

Dickinson Woodruff Richards              U.S.      discoveries concerning heart catheterization and circulatory changes

1957      Daniel Bovet    Italy     production of synthetic curare

1958     George Wells Beadle   U.S.      genetic regulation of chemical processes

Joshua Lederberg        U.S.      genetic recombination

Edward L. Tatum         U.S.      genetic regulation of chemical processes

1959     Arthur Kornberg           U.S.      work on producing nucleic acids artificially

Severo Ochoa  U.S.      work on producing nucleic acids artificially

1960     Sir Macfarlane Burnet Australia           acquired immunity to tissue transplants

Sir Peter B. Medawar  U.K.      acquired immunity to tissue transplants

1961      Georg von Békésy        U.S.      functions of the inner ear

1962     Francis Harry Compton Crick U.K.      discoveries concerning the molecular structure of DNA

James Dewey Watson U.S.      discoveries concerning the molecular structure of DNA

Maurice Wilkins           U.K.      discoveries concerning the molecular structure of DNA

1963     Sir John Carew Eccles Australia           study of the transmission of impulses along a nerve fibre

Sir Alan Hodgkin          U.K.      study of the transmission of impulses along a nerve fibre

Sir Andrew Fielding Huxley    U.K.      study of the transmission of impulses along a nerve fibre

1964     Konrad Bloch  U.S.      discoveries concerning cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism

Feodor Lynen  West Germany              discoveries concerning cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism

1965     François Jacob              France discoveries concerning regulatory activities of body cells

André Lwoff     France discoveries concerning regulatory activities of body cells

Jacques Monod             France discoveries concerning regulatory activities of body cells

1966     Charles B. Huggins      U.S.      research on causes and treatment of cancer

Peyton Rous    U.S.      research on causes and treatment of cancer

1967      Ragnar Arthur Granit Sweden              discoveries about chemical and physiological visual processes in the eye

Haldan Keffer Hartline             U.S.      discoveries about chemical and physiological visual processes in the eye

George Wald   U.S.      discoveries about chemical and physiological visual processes in the eye

1968     Robert William Holley              U.S.      deciphering the genetic code

Har Gobind Khorana  U.S.      deciphering the genetic code

Marshall Warren Nirenberg    U.S.      deciphering the genetic code

1969     Max Delbrück U.S.      research and discoveries concerning viruses and viral diseases

A.D. Hershey   U.S.      research and discoveries concerning viruses and viral diseases

Salvador Luria U.S.      research and discoveries concerning viruses and viral diseases

1970     Julius Axelrod U.S.      discoveries concerning the chemistry of nerve impulse transmission

Ulf von Euler   Sweden              discoveries concerning the chemistry of nerve impulse transmission

Sir Bernard Katz           U.K.      discoveries concerning the chemistry of nerve impulse transmission

1971      Earl W. Sutherland, Jr.             U.S.      action of hormones

1972      Gerald Maurice Edelman         U.S.      research on the chemical structure of antibodies

Rodney Robert Porter U.K.      research on the chemical structure of antibodies

1973      Karl von Frisch             Austria discoveries in animal behaviour patterns

Konrad Lorenz              Austria discoveries in animal behaviour patterns

Nikolaas Tinbergen     U.K.      discoveries in animal behaviour patterns

1974      Albert Claude  U.S.      research on structural and functional organization of cells

Christian René de Duve           Belgium             research on structural and functional organization of cells

George E. Palade          U.S.      research on structural and functional organization of cells

1975      David Baltimore           U.S.      interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell

Renato Dulbecco          U.S.      interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell

Howard Martin Temin              U.S.      interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell

1976      Baruch S. Blumberg    U.S.      studies of the origin and spread of infectious diseases

D. Carleton Gajdusek U.S.      studies of the origin and spread of infectious diseases

1977      Roger Charles Louis Guillemin             U.S.      research on pituitary hormones

Andrew Victor Schally               U.S.      research on pituitary hormones

Rosalyn S. Yalow          U.S.      development of radioimmunoassay

1978     Werner Arber  Switzerland      discovery and application of enzymes that fragment DNA

Daniel Nathans             U.S.      discovery and application of enzymes that fragment DNA

Hamilton Othanel Smith          U.S.      discovery and application of enzymes that fragment DNA

1979      Allan MacLeod Cormack          U.S.      development of the CAT scan

Sir Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield         U.K.      development of the CAT scan

1980     Baruj Benacerraf          U.S.      investigations of genetic control of the response of the immune system to foreign substances

Jean-Baptiste-Gabriel-Joachim Dausset        France investigations of genetic control of the response of the immune system to foreign substances

George Davis Snell       U.S.      investigations of genetic control of the response of the immune system to foreign substances

1981      David Hunter Hubel   U.S.      processing of visual information by the brain

Roger Wolcott Sperry U.S.      functions of the cerebral hemispheres

Torsten Nils Wiesel     Sweden              processing of visual information by the brain

1982     Sune K. Bergström       Sweden              biochemistry and physiology of prostaglandins

Bengt Ingemar Samuelsson    Sweden              biochemistry and physiology of prostaglandins

John Robert Vane        U.K.      biochemistry and physiology of prostaglandins

1983     Barbara McClintock    U.S.      discovery of mobile plant genes that affect heredity

1984     Niels K. Jerne  U.K.-Denmark theory and development of a technique for producing monoclonal antibodies

Georges J.F. Köhler     West Germany              theory and development of a technique for producing monoclonal antibodies

César Milstein Argentina         theory and development of a technique for producing monoclonal antibodies

1985     Michael S. Brown         U.S.      discovery of cell receptors relating to cholesterol metabolism

Joseph L. Goldstein    U.S.      discovery of cell receptors relating to cholesterol metabolism

1986     Stanley Cohen U.S.      discovery of chemical agents that help regulate the growth of cells

Rita Levi-Montalcini   Italy     discovery of chemical agents that help regulate the growth of cells

1987     Tonegawa Susumu      Japan   study of genetic aspects of antibodies

1988     Sir James Black             U.K.      development of new classes of drugs for combating disease

Gertrude Belle Elion    U.S.      development of new classes of drugs for combating disease

George Herbert Hitchings       U.S.      development of new classes of drugs for combating disease

1989     J. Michael Bishop         U.S.      study of cancer-causing genes (oncogenes)

Harold Varmus             U.S.      study of cancer-causing genes (oncogenes)

1990     Joseph E. Murray         U.S.      development of kidney and bone marrow transplants

E. Donnall Thomas      U.S.      development of kidney and bone marrow transplants

1991      Erwin Neher    Germany           discovery of how cells communicate, as related to diseases

Bert Sakmann Germany           discovery of how cells communicate, as related to diseases

1992     Edmond H. Fischer     U.S.      discovery of the class of enzymes called protein kinases

Edwin Gerhard Krebs U.S.      discovery of the class of enzymes called protein kinases

1993     Richard J. Roberts       U.K.      discovery of "split," or interrupted, genetic structure

Phillip A. Sharp             U.S.      discovery of "split," or interrupted, genetic structure

1994     Alfred G. Gilman          U.S.      discovery of cell signalers called G-proteins

Martin Rodbell              U.S.      discovery of cell signalers called G-proteins

1995     Edward B. Lewis           U.S.      identification of genes that control the body's early structural development

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard  Germany           identification of genes that control the body's early structural development

Eric F. Wieschaus        U.S.      identification of genes that control the body's early structural development

1996     Peter C. Doherty           Australia           discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells

Rolf M. Zinkernagel    Switzerland      discovery of how the immune system recognizes virus-infected cells

1997      Stanley B. Prusiner      U.S.      discovery of the prion, a type of disease-causing protein

1998     Robert F. Furchgott     U.S.      discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system

Louis J. Ignarro            U.S.      discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system

Ferid Murad    U.S.      discovery that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signaling molecule in the cardiovascular system

1999     Günter Blobel  U.S.      discovery that proteins have signals governing cellular organization

2000    Arvid Carlsson Sweden              discovery of how signals are transmitted between nerve cells in the brain

Paul Greengard             U.S.      discovery of how signals are transmitted between nerve cells in the brain

Eric Kandel      U.S.      discovery of how signals are transmitted between nerve cells in the brain

2001     Leland H. Hartwell      U.S.      discovery of key regulators of the cell cycle

R. Timothy Hunt          U.K.      discovery of key regulators of the cell cycle

Sir Paul M. Nurse         U.K.      discovery of key regulators of the cell cycle

2002    Sydney Brenner            U.K.      discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death (apoptosis)

H. Robert Horvitz        U.S.      discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death (apoptosis)

John E. Sulston            U.K.      discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death (apoptosis)

2003    Paul Lauterbur              U.S.      development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Sir Peter Mansfield      U.K.      development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

2004    Richard Axel    U.S.      discovery of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system

Linda B. Buck  U.S.      discovery of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system

2005    Barry J. Marshall          Australia           discovery of bacteria's role in peptic ulcer disease

J. Robin Warren           Australia           discovery of bacteria's role in peptic ulcer disease

2006    Andrew Z. Fire              U.S.      discovery of RNA interference—gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

Craig C. Mello U.S.      discovery of RNA interference—gene silencing by double-stranded RNA

2007    Mario R. Capecchi       U.S.      discovery of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells

Sir Martin J. Evans      U.K.      discovery of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells

Oliver Smithies             U.S.      discovery of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells

2008    Françoise Barré-Sinoussi         France discovery of human immunodeficiency virus

Luc Montagnier            France discovery of human immunodeficiency virus

Harald zur Hausen      Germany           discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer

2009    Elizabeth H. Blackburn            U.S.      discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase

Carol W. Greider          U.S.      discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase

Jack W. Szostak            U.S.      discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase

2010     Robert Edwards            U.K.      development of in vitro fertilization

2011      Bruce A. Beutler           U.S.      discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity

Jules A. Hoffmann       Luxembourg/France   discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity

Ralph M. Steinman      Canada              discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity

2012     Sir John Bertrand Gurdon      U.K.      discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent

Shinya Yamanaka        Japan   discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent

2013     James E. Rothman      U.S.      discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in cells

Randy W. Schekman   U.S.      discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in cells

Thomas C. Südhof       Germany/U.S. discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in cells

2014     Edvard I. Moser            Norway              discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain

May-Britt Moser           Norway              discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain

John O'Keefe   U.S./U.K.          discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain

2015     William C. Campbell   Ireland discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites

Ōmura Satoshi              Japan   discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites

Tu Youyou       China   discoveries concerning a novel therapy against malaria

2016     Yoshinori Ohsumi        Japan   discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy

2017     Jeffrey C. Hall U.S.      discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm

Michael Rosbash          U.S.      discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm

Michael W. Young       U.S.      discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm

2018     James P. Allison           U.S.      discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation

Honjo Tasuku Japan   discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation

2019     William G. Kaelin, Jr. U.S.      discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability

Peter J. Ratcliffe           U.K.      discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability

Gregg L. Semenza        U.S.      discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability

2020    Harvey J. Alter              U.S.      discovery of hepatitis C virus

Michael Houghton       U.K.      discovery of hepatitis C virus

Charles M. Rice             U.S.      discovery of hepatitis C virus

2021     David Julius    U.S.      discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch

Ardem Patapoutian     Leb./U.S.          discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch

2022    Svante Pääbo   Sweden              discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution

2023    Katalin Karikó Hungary/U.S. discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

Drew Weissman           U.S.      discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19

2024    Victor Ambros U.S.      discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation

Gary Ruvkun   U.S.      discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.

 

With affection,

Ruben