The 2018 Nobel Prize Laureates and the women making history By PM Kooda

The Last Will of Alfred Nobel

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his third and last will at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris. When it was opened and read after his death, the will caused a lot of controversy both in Sweden and internationally, as Nobel had left much of his wealth for the establishment of a prize. His family opposed the establishment of the Nobel Prize, and the prize awarders he named refused to do what he had requested in his will. It was five years before the first Nobel Prize could be awarded in 1901.

In this excerpt of the will, Alfred Nobel dictates that his entire remaining estate should be used to endow “prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018

3.7 billion years ago, the first spark of life appeared, and since then almost every corner of Earth has filled with different organisms. Life has spread to hot springs, deep oceans and dry deserts, all because evolution has solved a number of chemical problems. Life’s chemical tools – proteins – have been optimised, changed and renewed, creating incredible diversity.

This year’s Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have “been inspired by the power of evolution and used the same principles – genetic change and selection – to develop proteins that solve mankind’s chemical problems.”

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018 with one half to Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA (“for the directed evolution of enzymes”).

In 1993, she conducted the first directed evolution of enzymes, which are proteins that catalyse chemical reactions. Since then, she has refined the methods that are now routinely used to develop new catalysts. The uses of Frances Arnold’s enzymes include more environmentally friendly manufacturing of chemical substances, such as pharmaceuticals, and the production of renewable fuels for a greener transport sector.

 The other half of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry is shared by George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter. In 1985, George Smith developed an elegant method known as phage display, where a bacteriophage – a virus that infects bacteria – can be used to evolve new proteins. Gregory Winter used phage display for the directed evolution of antibodies, with the aim of producing new pharmaceuticals.

The first one based on this method, adalimumab, was approved in 2002 and is used for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and inflammatory bowel diseases.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018

Arthur Ashkin invented optical tweezers that grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells with their laser beam fingers. This new tool allowed Ashkin to realize an old dream of science fiction – using the radiation pressure of light to move physical objects. He succeeded in getting laser light to push small particles towards the centre of the beam and to hold them there. Optical tweezers had been invented.

A major breakthrough came in 1987, when Ashkin used the tweezers to capture living bacteria without harming them. He immediately began studying biological systems and optical tweezers are now widely used to investigate the machinery of life.

Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland paved the way towards the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind. Their revolutionary article was published in 1985 and was the foundation of Strickland’s doctoral thesis. Using an ingenious approach, they succeeded in creating ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the amplifying material. First they stretched the laser pulses in time to reduce their peak power, then amplified them, and finally compressed them. If a pulse is compressed in time and becomes shorter, then more light is packed together in the same tiny space – the intensity of the pulse increases dramatically.

Strickland and Mourou’s newly invented technique, called “chirped pulse amplification”, CPA, soon became standard for subsequent high-intensity lasers. Its uses include the millions of corrective eye surgeries that are conducted every year using the sharpest of laser beams. These celebrated inventions allow us to explore the microworld in the best spirit of Alfred Nobel – for the greatest benefit to humankind.

 Two women win 2018 Nobel Prize

          In October 2018, the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology, and medicine awarded its top scientists with its highest honor, the Nobel Prize. For the first time ever, two female scientists won the award for both physics and chemistry, Dr. Donna Strickland and Dr. Frances Arnold. Female researchers have come a long way over the past century. But there’s overwhelming evidence that women remain underrepresented in the Stem fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

The rarity of female Nobel laureates raises questions about women’s exclusion from education and careers in science. Studies have shown those who persist in these careers face barriers to advancement.

Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics; she shared the 1903 award with her husband Pierre (Credit: Getty)

Donna Strickland paved the way towards the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by mankind

Received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2018Frances H. Arnold, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA (“for the directed evolution of enzymes”).