The Nobel prize-awarding institutions have concluded the 2020 award ceremony. Awards were given for achievements in Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Peace and Economics.
The New York times reports: Nobel Prize season begins every October as committees in Sweden and Norway name laureates in a variety of prizes in the sciences, literature and economics, as well as peace work. The announcements started last week with the awarding of the prize in Physiology or Medicine. They wrapped up on Monday, when the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was announced.
The Nobel Prizes most years are presented to recipients in Stockholm and Oslo in December. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the committees are changing their approaches. Some of the events in Stockholm will be canceled in favor of a digital ceremony for the Nobelists, and medals and diplomas are to be distributed to the recipients’ embassies and handed over in their home countries. Recipients may be invited to the award ceremony for 2021, if possible.
The Oslo ceremony for the peace prize will be smaller than in most years, with a limited audience.
The Nobel committee also announced another change last month: Each prize will rise to 10 million Swedish krona, 1 million more than in the previous year. That’s a hike in the prize value of about $112,000 in current exchange rates.
Physiology or Medicine
Drs. Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice on Monday received the prize for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus. The Nobel committee said the three scientists had “made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives.”
Physics
Credit…Pool photo by Fredrik Sandberg
Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez received the prize on Tuesday for their discoveries that have improved understanding of the universe, including work on black holes.
Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was jointly awarded on Wednesday to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their work on the development of Crispr-Cas9, a method for genome editing.
Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on Thursday to Louise Glück, one of America’s most celebrated poets, “for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal.”
Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded on Friday to the World Food Program for its efforts to combat a surge in global hunger amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has swept around the world with devastating impact.
Economic Science
Paul R. Milgrom and Robert B. Wilson were awarded the Nobel in economic science on Monday for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats.
