Physics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize for physics for 2008 to two researchers from Japan and an American colleague.
Professor Gunnar Oquist, secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced on October 7. Half of the award will go to Yoichiro Nambu from the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics', nobelprize.org noted."
Nambu first developed a mathematical description of spontaneous broken symmetry in elementary particle physics back in 1960. The theory helped give rise to the Standard Model of elementary particle physics, which unifies the smallest building blocks of all matter and three of nature's four forces in one single theory. Meanwhile, Makoto Kobayashi from Japan's High Energy Accelerator Research Organization and Toshihide Maskawa from Kyoto University's Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics will each receive a quarter of the total sum 'for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature.'
Medicine
The 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded to German citizen Harald zur Hausen, French citizens Francoise Barr�-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier.
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden's prime medical university, Karolinska Institute in Stockholm awarded one half of the prize to Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of 'human papilloma viruses (HPV) causing cervical cancer. The other half of the prize was awarded jointly to Fran�oise Barr�-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of 'human immunodeficiency virus' Harald zur Hausen, born 1936, is a German citizen and Professor Emeritus at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelbelg. Francoise Barr�-Sinoussi, born in 1947 and Luc Montagnier, born in 1932 are both French. Barr�-Sinoussi is a professor and director at the Institute Pasteur in Paris. Montagnier is professor emeritus at the World Foundation for Aids Research and Prevention in Paris. According to the Nobel Assembly, zur Hausen's discovery 'has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the development of prophylactic vaccines against HPV acquisition.' Barr�-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery of HIV 'was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the biology of the disease and its antiretroviral treatment.' This year's Nobel Prize awards discoveries of two viruses causing severe human diseases. Harald zur Hausen went against current dogma and postulated that oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) caused cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. He realized that HPV-DNA could exist in a non-productive state in the tumours, and should be detectable by specific searches for viral DNA. He found HPV to be a heterogeneous family of viruses. Only some HPV types cause cancer. His discovery has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the development of prophylactic vaccines against HPV acquisition. Fran�oise Barr�-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Virus production was identified in lymphocytes from patients with enlarged lymph nodes in early stages of acquired immunodeficiency, and in blood from patients with late stage disease. They characterized this retrovirus as the first known human lentivirus based on its morphological, biochemical and immunological properties. HIV impaired the immune system because of massive virus replication and cell damage to lymphocytes. The discovery was one prerequisite for the current understanding of the biology of the disease and its antiretroviral treatment. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly and Professor Lars Olson is the committee's chairman.
Chemistry
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008 jointly to Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, USA, Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, USA and Roger Y. Tsien, University of California, USA for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP. Professor Gunnar Oquist, Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in Stockholm on October 8, 2008. Osamu Shimomura, born in 1928, a Japanese citizen, was responsible in 1962 for isolating GFP from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria and discovering 'that this protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light.' The discovery of GFP has meant that 'researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread', the academy sources said. Martin Chalfie, born in 1947 and Roger Y Tsien, born in 1952, have been rewarded for their roles in developing the scientific application of the discovery. Chalfie, a professor at New York's Columbia University, 'demonstrated the value of GFP as a luminous genetic tag for various biological phenomena'. Tsien, a professor at the University of California, 'contributed to our general understanding of how GFP fluoresces. He also extended the colour palette beyond green allowing researchers to give various proteins and cells different colours.' Osamu Shimomura is Professor Emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory, Massachusetts, and Boston University Medical School. The Prize money of 10 million kronor ($1.38 million) is to be shared equally among the three Nobel Laureates.
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