The Nobel Prize winners have started to get announced, most notably the Noble Prizes for Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry and Medicine. Every year, these awards are given to honor outstanding individuals that have made game-changing contributions to the community in these fields.
Here is a list of the notable Nobel Prize winners so far.
Nobel Prize Winners: Nobel Peace Prize 2015. The Nobel Peace Price has been awarded to the National Dialogue Quartet, for its contribution to the building of pluralistic democracy in Tunisia after the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet is a coalition of civil society organizations that formed an alternative and peaceful political process in 2013 when Tunisia was at the verge of civil war.
Nobel Prize Winners: Nobel Prize in Literature 2015
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2015 was awarded to Belarusian investigative journalist and prose writer Svetlana Alexievich, for her polyphonic writings. She is the 14th woman to win this prize, and her work has been referred to as a monument to suffering and courage in our time.
Nobel Prize Winners: Nobel Prize in Physics 2015
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald. The Japanese and Canadian physicists were recognized for discovering neutrino oscillations, which confirm that neutrinos have mass.
Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are produced by the decay of radioactive elements. They were believed to carry no charge until Kajita and McDonald proved otherwise from the University of Tokyo and Queen’s University in Kingston respectively.
Nobel Prize Winners: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015
This year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar. They were awarded for their pioneering work in the mechanistic studies of DNA repair. The trio discovered how cells repair their DNA to protect it from assaults that the body and the environment put them through.
Dr. Lindahl, Swedish, discovered how cells generally fix DNA damage. Dr. Modrich, James B. Duke Professor Biochemistry at Duke University, was recognized for showing how cells correct mistakes in DNA replication during cell division. Dr. Sancar, Turkish, was recognized for his work in mapping how cells repair DNA damage from ultraviolet light.
Nobel Prize Winners: Physiology or Medicine 2015
This year recognized three scientists for their work in medicine. These findings concerned malaria and infections caused by roundworm parasites. William C. Campbell, Irish-born American, and Japanese biochemist Satoshi Omura were recognized for their discoveries concerning a new therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites, called avermectin.
The third in this group of Nobel Prize winners is Tu Youyou, an 84-old Chinese pharmacologist. She was recognized for her discovery of artemisinin, a drug that currently treats Plasmodium palciparum malaria the fastest.
Other Nobel Prize Winners: Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2015
Angus Deaton was awarded the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel of 2015.
