On Monday, Oct. 6, the Nobel Committee began the week-long process of awarding the prizes for contributions to science, literature, peace, and economics. The winners for the prize in physiology or medicine were determined by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, while the winners for the prizes in chemistry and physics were determined by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The winner for the prize in literature was decided by the Swedish Academy, and the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize were decided by the Norwegian Nobel committee, as per the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor who established the five prestigious prizes in 1895.
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2014 was awarded to British neuroscientist John O’Keefe and Norwegian neuroscientist couple May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. Moser for “their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.” The prize, which was half awarded to O’Keefe and half awarded to the two Moser’s, was announced by Goran K. Hansson, the Secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine.
“This year’s Nobel Laureates have discovered a positioning system, an ‘inner GPS’ in the brain that makes it possible to orient ourselves in space, demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function,” explained a Karolinska Institutet press release.
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2014 was awarded to Japanese physicists Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, and Shuji Nakamura for “the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources.” The prize, announced by Permamnent Secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Staffan Normark, was split equally between all three physicists.
“This year’s Nobel Laureates are rewarded for having invented a new energy-efficient and environment-friendly light-source – the blue light-emitting diode (LED),” explained a press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “In the spirit of Alfred Nobel, the prize rewards an invention of greatest benefit to mankind; using blue LEDs, white light can be created in a new way. With the advent of LED lamps, we now have more long-lasting and more efficient alternatives to older light sources.”
John O’Keefe – Photo Courtesy Per Henning/NTNU via CC BY 2.0.
May-Britt and Evard Moser – Photo Courtesy Geir Mogen/NTNU via CC BY-NC 2.0.
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2014 was awarded to American chemist Eric Betzig, Romanian-German chemist Stefan W. Hell, and American chemist William E. Moerner for “the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.” The prize, announced again by Staffan Normark, was split equally between all three recipients.
“For a long time optical microscopy was held back by a presumed limitation: that it would never obtain a better resolution than half the wavelength of light,” explained a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences press release. “Helped by fluorescent molecules, the Nobel Laureates in Chemist ingeniously circumvented this limitation. Their ground-breaking work has brought optical microscopy into the nanodimension.”
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2014 was awarded to French author Patrick Modiano for “the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the occupation.” The prize, announced by Professor Peter Englund, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, came as a surprise to some – including the author himself.
“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” the typically publicity-shy Modiano said in a press conference in Paris. “It was like I was a bit detached from it all, as if a doppelganger with my name had won.” The French author, 69, was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, a suburb of Paris. The Nobel Academy described Modiano, who beat out favourites Haruki Murakami, Japanese writer, and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kenyan novelist, poet and playwright, as a “a Marcel Proust of our time.”
Modiano’s sixth novel, Missing Person (Rue des boutiques obscures), won the Prix Goncourt in 1978. Other prizes awarded to the author include Le Grand prix du roman de l’Academie francaise in 1972, the 2010 prix mondial Cino Del Duca by the Institut de France for lifetime achievement, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2012.
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 was awarded jointly to Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.” The prize was announced by Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Yousafzai rose to prominence a few years ago in her campaigning for the female right to education. At 15, she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan. Surviving the attempted murder, Yousafzai went on to continue to champion education for girls. Now 17, Yousafzai is the youngest person to win the prestigious Peace Prize.
“When I found I had won the Nobel peace prize I decided I would not leave my school, rather I would finish my school time,” said Yousafzai, speaking after her school day at the Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham. “I went to the physics lessons, I learned. I went to the English lesson. I considered it like a normal day.”
Satyarthi, 60, founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childhood Movement) in 1980, and his actions have led to the protection of the rights of almost 80,000 children. The Nobel committee noted that Satyarthi has maintained the tradition of Gandhi and “headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain.”
“It’s an honour to all those children who are still suffering in slavery, bonded labour and trafficking,” said Satyarthi to the CNN-IBN. “It’s an honour to all my fellow Indians. I am thankful to all those who have been supporting my striving for more than the last 30 years.”
The Nobel prizes are traditionally handed out on Dec. 10 – the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. Worth approximately $1.11 million each, each Nobel laureate also receives a diploma and a gold medal. Of course, in the wise-beyond-her-years words of Yousafzai, “this award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room.This is encouragement […] to go forward.”