With the announcement of the Economics Prize on October 12, all Nobel Prizes in 2020 have their final answers. It is worth noting that women accounted for a larger proportion of Nobel Prize winners this year. The literature prize was won by one woman alone, the chemistry prize was shared by two women, and one of the three physics prize winners was a woman.
Andrea Gates shares the Physics Prize
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on October 6 that it will award the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics to three scientists. British scientist Roger Penrose won the award for proving that black holes are the direct result of Einstein’s general theory of relativity; German scientist Reinhard Genzel and American scientist Andrea Gazein discovered supermassive objects in the center of the Milky Way And winning.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release that Penrose used clever mathematical methods to prove that black holes were a direct result of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. He proved that black holes can indeed form and described them in detail. His seminal paper is considered to be Einstein’s most important contribution to general relativity.
The communique also stated that since the early 1990s, Genzel and Gates respectively led a research team to observe a region called “Sagittarius A*” in the center of the Milky Way with various advanced telescopes. They all discovered a very massive and invisible celestial body: about 4 million solar masses gathered in a space no more than the solar system, causing the surrounding stars to spin rapidly. This pioneering work provides the most convincing evidence to date that there is a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a press release about the Nobel Prize in Physics that the three scientists shared this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics because of their discovery of one of the most strange phenomena in the universe, a black hole.
Gates was born in New York City in 1965 and received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 1992. She is currently a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. Gates is also the fourth female scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Gates said in a live phone connection: “Science is very important to mankind. I am very keen to teach the younger generation the ability to ask questions and think, which is very important to the world.” She said that what prompted her to enter the field of research, “The first is the combined factors of suspicion and excitement. We still don’t know what is in the black hole. This is a fascinating part, which will help us to understand the new world.”
Charpentier and Dadner share chemistry prize
On October 7, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners. The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to French female scientist Emmanuel Charpentier and American female scientist Jennifer Mordner for their contributions in the field of genome editing methods.
The permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Goran Hansson, announced the list of winners and major achievements at the Royal Academy of Sciences. Han Song said that this year’s award-winning research result is “gene scissors-a tool for rewriting the code of life.”
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the French scientist Emmanuel Charpentier (left) and the American female scientist Jennifer Mordner.
According to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Selection Committee, the two winners discovered one of the sharpest tools in gene technology, namely “CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology.” Based on this technology, researchers can change the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision, and is expected to change the life cycle of certain organisms. This technology has had a breakthrough impact on life science research, helps to develop new cancer therapies, and may make it possible to cure genetic diseases.
The selection committee said in the press release that Charpentier discovered a previously unknown molecule tracrRNA while studying a bacteria that is harmful to humans-Streptococcus pyogenes. This molecule is part of CRISPR/Cas, the ancient immune system of bacteria. It can cut the virus’s DNA to eliminate the virus. Charpentier published the results of this research in 2011. In the same year, she collaborated with senior biochemist Dadna to reconstruct the bacterial “gene scissors” with the above-mentioned cutting function in a test tube, and simplified the molecular composition of the “scissors” for use.
The communiqué pointed out that in an epoch-making experiment, Charpentier and Dadner modified the “gene scissors”. In its natural form, the “scissors” can recognize virus DNA. But the two winners found that they can exercise control over this “scissors” so that they can cut any DNA molecule at any predetermined position. Once the DNA is cut, rewriting the code of life becomes simple.
The chairman of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Selection Committee, Klas Gustafsson, said: “This gene editing tool has tremendous power. It not only triggered changes in the field of basic science, but also produced many innovative results and will bring originality. New treatment method for sex.”
Charpontier said in the phone connection at the press conference. She was pleasantly surprised when she learned that she won the award. “As a female scientist who won this honor, I hope to be able to give Passing the message, women can make a difference in the scientific world and win the Nobel Prize.” She also emphasized that the “gene scissors” technology may develop therapies to defeat bacteria in the future.
Charpentier was born in France in 1968 and is currently the director of Max Planck’s Etiology Laboratory in Berlin, Germany; Dadner was born in the United States in 1964 and is currently a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
As of 2019, among the 183 Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry, 5 are women. Two new members have been added to this cohort in 2020.
Louise Gluck wins the literary prize
The Swedish Academy announced on October 8 that it will award the 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature to the American poetess Louise Glück. When announcing the winners at a press conference in Stockholm that day, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy Mats Malm said that Glück used her “with a simple and beautiful, clear and poetic voice to make the individual’s existence universal.”
The Faculty of Letters stated in a press release issued that day, “She draws inspiration from myths and classical patterns and presents them in most of her works.”
Malm said that he had contacted Glück by phone, and she was very surprised to learn that she won the prize. Due to the new crown pneumonia epidemic, this year’s Nobel Prize was changed to remote awards. I hope that Glück will be invited to Stockholm next year.
Gluck was born in New York, USA in 1943. He published his first collection of poems “Firstborn” in 1968. He has authored many collections of poems and essays on poems. He has won many awards such as the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He is considered the United States One of the most outstanding contemporary poets. She is the 16th female Nobel Prize winner in literature.
