Nobel prizes 2014 - when will they be announced? Nobel prize season began on Monday with the announcement of the 102nd Nobel prize for physiology or medicine, to be split between University College London’s John O’Keefe, and the Norwegian husband-and-wife team of Edvard and May-Britt Moser. The prize is awarded not for a lifetime’s body of work by a doctor or scientist, but for “the most important discovery”. O’Keefe and the Mosers were honoured this year “for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain”. May-Britt Moser becomes only the 11th ever female Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine. Only one woman – Barbara McClintock, in 1983 – has ever won an unshared Nobel in the field. Winners must be alive, but they are not contacted until very shortly before the official announcement. This proved a problem for the Nobel committee in 2011, when it emerged that one of the recipients of that year’s medicine prize, Canadian-born Ralph Steinman, had died of pancreatic cancer four days previously. The other Nobel prizes will follow over the next week. Physics Tuesday sees the award of the Nobel Prize in Physics. Charles Kresge, who invented molecular sieves in 1992, is being named as a possible contender for the prize. Chemistry The announcement of the Nobel prize in chemistry follows on Wednesday, with a China-US duo – Ching Tang and Steven van Slyke – cited as potential winners for the invention of the organic light-emitting diode, used in a range of gadgets including mobile phones. Literature Swedish money is on Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o taking the Literature Nobel on Thursday – though Bob Dylan fans keep the flame of hope alive that this may be the musician’s year. Peace As ever, much of the Nobel-related media attention is likely to be on the winner of this year’s Peace Prize, to be announced on Friday. Among the contenders are whistleblower Edward Snowden, who in September was awarded Sweden’s Right Livelihood Honorary Award, considered the “alternative Nobel”. Pope Francis is also among the record 278 nominees for the 2014 peace prize, as is 17 year-old Pakistani education activist Malala Yousafzai. Economics The Nobel prize in economic sciences will be the final award, announced on Monday. Not among the original prizes provided for by Alfred Nobel’s will, the economic sciences gong has only been given out since 1969, and is sponsored by Sweden’s central bank, the Sveriges Riksbank. Two possible contenders are New York University researchers William J. Baumol and Israel M. Kirzner, nominated for their work on entrepreneurism. Winners in all prize categories stand to take home 8.0 million Swedish kronor this year – just over £690,000.
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 05:00:27 +0000
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