Nobel Prizes

It is the end of the year and once more the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology and Medicine and Peace, as well as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prizes mark outstanding contributions in the fields.

The Physics Prize
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2008 with one half to Yoichiro Nambu, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, IL, USA, "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics".
The other half is jointly awarded to Makoto Kobayashi, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Japan, and Toshihide Maskawa, Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), Kyoto University, and Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan, "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature".

About the Science
Both the prizes are for discoveries regarding the importance of symmetries in physics. While symmetries are widely known in Nature they are often not exact. For example you can rotate this book around and when it is upside down it looks identical to when it is upright (even though you may not be able to read it any more!). If you take a circle and rotate it, it looks identical, whether you rotate it just a little or a lot. In fact, it looks the same even as you rotate it continuously.
Such symmetries are called continuous symmetries. In the case of the book, only certain angles of rotation result in identical patterns, so these are called discrete symmetries.
Physicists have always had a passion for symmetry. Many theories are based on certain exact symmetries that predict correctly the behaviour of particles in Nature. For example, a certain continuous symmetry is responsible for the fact that electric charges in Nature are not random: the electron and proton have exactly equal and opposite charges.
The modern world of particle physics attempts to unify all known fundamental forces into a theory with exact mathematical symmetries. So far, electromagnetic, strong and weak forces have been successfully unified this way. A complete theory of gravity is awaited.
The manner in which particles interact as a result of such forces is determined by what are called the force carriers. Their interactions and their properties (such as mass and charge) can now be understood in terms of Nambu's mathematical description of spontaneous broken symmetry in elementary particle physics.
Spontaneous broken symmetry conceals nature's order under an apparently jumbled surface. It has proved to be extremely useful, and Nambu's theories are the cornerstone of the Standard Model of elementary particle physics.
The spontaneous broken symmetries that Nambu studied, differ from the broken symmetries described by Kobayashi and Maskawa in 1972. They discussed discrete symmetries. Particle physics predicts the existence of an anti-particle for every particle in Nature. For example, the positron is the anti-particle of the electron. It is identical to the electron in all respects except that it has positive charge (the same as that of the proton).
While anti-particles have been seen and well-studied in the laboratory, it has been established that our Universe is filled with matter rather than anti-matter. If the Universe began with the Big Bang and evolved to what it is today, we would expect that matter and anti-matter are equally possible in the Universe. Why there is such an imbalance in reality is one of the biggest puzzles that scientists are trying to explain.
The broken symmetry predicted by Kobayashi and Maskawa explains how such an imbalance can occur. For this to happen, they required the existence of some extra particles (called quarks), which have since been found in the two particle detectors BaBar at Stanford, USA and Belle at Tsukuba, Japan, in 2001. The results were exactly as Kobayashi and Maskawa had predicted almost three decades earlier.
It is this broken symmetry that seems to have caused our cosmos to survive. The question of how this exactly happened still remains unanswered. Perhaps the new particle accelerator LHC at CERN in Geneva will unravel some of the mysteries that continue to puzzle us.

About the Scientists
Yoichiro Nambu, US citizen. Born 1921 in Tokyo, Japan. D.Sc. 1952 at University of Tokyo, Japan. Presently Professor Emeritus at Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, USA.
Makoto Kobayashi, Japanese citizen. Born 1944 in Nagoya, Japan. Ph.D. 1972 at Nagoya University, Japan. Presently Professor Emeritus at High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), Tsukuba, Japan.
Toshihide Maskawa, Japanese citizen. Born 1940. Ph.D. 1967 at Nagoya University, Japan. Presently Professor Emeritus at Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), Kyoto University, and Professor at Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan.

The Chemistry Prize 
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2008 jointly to Osamu Shimomura, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, MA, USA, Martin Chalfie, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA and Roger Y. Tsien, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA "for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP".

About the Science
The remarkable brightly glowing green fluorescent protein, GFP, was first observed in the beautiful jellyfish, Aequorea victoria, in 1962. Since then, this protein has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience.
With the aid of GFP, 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.

Glowing proteins 
Tens of thousands of different proteins reside in a living organism, controlling important chemical processes in minute detail. If this protein machinery malfunctions, illness and disease often follow. That is why it is important to map the role of different proteins in the body.
This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewards the initial discovery of GFP and a series of important developments which have led to its use as a tagging tool in bioscience. By using DNA technology, researchers can now connect GFP to other interesting, but otherwise invisible, proteins. This glowing marker allows them to watch the movements, positions and interactions of the tagged proteins.
In one spectacular experiment, researchers succeeded in tagging different nerve cells in the brain of a mouse with a kaleidoscope of colours.

The story
Osamu Shimomura first isolated GFP from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, found off the west coast of North America. He discovered that this protein glowed bright green under ultraviolet light. Since it is a natural protein, it can bond to other proteins. Its glow then reveals information about the bonding site or the protein it has bonded to. Such proteins are called genetic markers.
Martin Chalfie first showed that GFP could be used as a luminous genetic tag. He coloured six individual cells in the transparent roundworm, Caenorhabditis elegans, with the aid of GFP.
Roger Y. Tsien studied other proteins that glowed with different colours. This allowed scientists to follow several different biological processes at the same time.
These develoments in genetic marking are now indispensible tools for studies in genetics and biochemistry.

About the Scientists
Osamu Shimomura, Japanese citizen. Born 1928 in Kyoto, Japan. Ph.D. in organic chemistry 1960 from Nagoya University, Japan. Currently professor emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA and Boston University Medical School, MA, USA.
Martin Chalfie, US citizen. Born 1947 in Chicago, IL, USA. Ph.D. in physiology 1977 from Harvard University. William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, since 1982.
Roger Y. Tsien, US citizen. Born 1952 in New York, NY, USA. Ph.D. in physiology 1977 from Cambridge University, UK. Professor and Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA, since 1989.

The Physiology or Medicine Prize
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2008 with one half to Harald zur Hausen for his discovery of the "human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer" and the other half jointly to Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier for their discovery of the "human immunodeficiency virus".

About the Science
This year's Nobel Prize awards discoveries of two viruses causing severe human diseases, the HPV and the HIV.
In the 1970s, scientists did not believe that a virus could cause cancer. Harald zur Hausen went against this belief and postulated that oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) caused cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women. If this is indeed so, the DNA of the virus could exist in a non-productive state in the tumours, and could thus be detected.
zur Hausen found HPV to be a large and varied family of viruses. Only some HPV types cause cancer. His discovery has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV infection. This led to an understanding of the mechanisms of how HPV induced the cancer; finally, this led to the development of prophylactic vaccines against acquring HPV.
In particular, he made HPV16 and 18 available to the scientific community. Vaccines were ultimately developed that provide 95% protection from infection by the high risk HPV16 and 18 types. The vaccines may also reduce the need for surgery and the global burden of cervical cancer.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier discovered the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The disease, where the immune system becomes severely compromised, was first identified in 1981.
Virus production was identified in lymphocytes from patients with enlarged lymph nodes in the early stages of acquired immunodeficiency. The virus was also found in the blood from patients with late stage disease. They studied the virus and characterised it according to its physical properties (morphology), as well as its biochemical and immune protperties.
They found that HIV degraded the immune system because of massive virus replication. This led to damage to lymphocytes which are white blood cells that are important in the body's defence against disease.

Importance of the HIV discovery
Soon after the discovery of the virus, several groups of workers showed that HIV is the cause of the acquired human immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery made rapid cloning of the HIV-1 genome possible. So important details in its replication cycle and how the virus interacts with its host can be studied.
The discovery also helped to screen patients and in fact blood products to limit the spread of AIDS. While a cure is not yet available, a combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease. It has also dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients.
Never before has science and medicine been so quick to discover, identify the origin and provide treatment for a new disease entity. Today, life expectancies for persons with HIV infection are similar to those of uninfected people.

About the Scientists 
Harald zur Hausen, born 1936 in Germany, German citizen, MD at University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Presently Professor emeritus and former Chairman and Scientific Director, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.
Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, born 1947 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, Institut Pasteur, Garches, France. Presently Professor and Director, Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
Luc Montagnier, born 1932 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, University of Paris, Paris, France. Presently Professor emeritus and Director, World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, Paris, France.

The Economics Prize
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 to Paul Krugman Princeton University, NJ, USA, "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity".

About the Science
This year's prize is awarded to studies in International Trade.
Patterns of trade and location have always been key issues in the economic debate. What are the effects of free trade and globalization? What are the driving forces behind worldwide urbanization?
Paul Krugman formulated a new theory to answer these questions by combining an understanding of international trade with economic geography.
It is well-known that goods and services can be produced more cheaply in long series, a concept generally known as economies of scale. Meanwhile, consumers demand a varied supply of goods.
Traditional trade theory assumes that countries are different and explains why some countries export agricultural products whereas others export industrial goods. This would mean that countries would trade with other countries which offer very different goods from what they themselves produce.
The new theory says that countries producing similar goods actually trade more with each other. This seems weird! However, for example, Sweden both exports and imports cars. This kind of trade enables specialization and large-scale production, which result in lower prices and a greater variety of commodities.
So, the trade market seems to be driven to large-scale production. This has been helped by reduced transport costs. This combination has resulted in more people moving to large cities. It also explains why one city trades in many different varieties of the same product (For example, Detroit and Santiago are known as the car capitals of the World).
Once a city starts to grow, wages increase, the buying power increases. This leads to a more diversified supply of goods. This, in turn, stimulates further migration to cities.
Krugman's theories have shown that the outcome of these processes can well be that regions become divided into a high-technology urbanized core and a less developed "periphery".

About the Scientist 
Paul Krugman, US citizen. Born 1953 in New York, NY, USA. Ph.D. 1977 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton U niversity, NJ, USA, since 2000.

Compiled from the Nobel Foundation Archives: http://nobelprize.org/