Nobel Prize in Medicine
The winners of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine have been researchers James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo , also known as the “fathers of immunotherapy.” His work has been a true revolution in cancer therapies and “they have totally changed the way we see how to deal with the disease”, the members of the jury have announced.
Nobel Prize in Physics
This year, the Nobel Prize in Physics has focused on advancements in the field of laser physics, and the prestigious award has been shared by three researchers who have made significant advances in this area of study. Arthur Ashkin invented the so-called ‘optical tweezers’ with which he was able to catch live bacteria without damaging them. The other half of the award went to Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland “for their method of generating high intensity ultrashort optical pulses”. It should be noted that it is the first time since 1963 that the Nobel Prize in Physics goes to a woman.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Half of the award goes to Frances Arnold , a researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Arnold carried out the first directed evolution of enzymes, and thanks to this process, today biofuels to pharmaceuticals can be produced. The second half of the award is shared between George P. Smith and Sir Gregory P. Winter , for the use of phages for the production of new pharmaceutical products. Today, this technique has allowed the development of antibodies that neutralize toxins and can cope with autoimmune diseases and metastatic cancer.
Nobel Peace Prize
This year, the Nobel Peace Prize went to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. Both laureates have made a crucial contribution to combating war crimes and drawing attention to this global problem. According to the Academy, both have helped to give greater visibility to sexual violence in times of war.
Doctor Denis Mukwege has spent much of his life helping victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nadia Murad is one of 3,000 girls and women belonging to the Yazidi religious minority who have been victims of rapes and abuses by the Islamic State in northern Iraq.
Nobel Prize in Economics
This year, the Nobel Prize in Economics recognizes the effort to integrate innovation and climate change into economic growth. Half the award went to William D. Nordhaus “for integrating climate change into long-term macroeconomic analysis.” The other half is for Paul Romer, who has shown how knowledge and innovation can function in the long term as engines of economic growth. “Nordhaus and Romer have devised methods to address some of the most basic and pressing questions of our time , relating to how to build long-term sustainable economic growth,” the Swedish academy said in a statement.
