On October 4th, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced Alain Aspect from France, John F. Clauser from the USA, and Anton Zeilinger from Austria as Laureates for the Noble Prize in Physics 2022. The prize was awarded jointly to these scientists “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science.” These were groundbreaking experiments using entangled quantum states, where two particles behave like a single unit even when separated. Their results have cleared the way for new technology based on quantum information.
The Nobel Prizes are awarded to “those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” and are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields. First established in 1901 according to Alfred Nobel’s will, there are now six separate prizes in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Science.
This year the announcement of the Nobel Prize 2022 began on October 3rd and concluded on October 10th, 2022. Below is the list of the laureates in each field.
- Physics: Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger “for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities, and pioneering quantum information science.”
- Chemistry: Carolyn Bertozzi, Morten Meldal & Barry Sharpless “for click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.”
- Physiology or Medicine: Svante Pääbo “for concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution.”
- Literature: Annie Ernaux “for the courage and clinical acuity with which she uncovers the roots, estrangements and collective restraints of personal memory.”
- Economic Science: Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig “for research on Banks and Financial crises.”
- Nobel Peace Prize: Ales Bialiatski, organization Memorial and organization Center for Civil Liberties “for promoting the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens” and “for showing outstanding efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses, and the abuse of power.”
The tradition of these nobel prizes traces back to 1896 when Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite, died. In his will, he bequeathed all of his “remaining realizable assets” to be used to establish prizes that became known as “Nobel Prizes.” His sublime spirit passed down to posterity, and between 1901 and 2022, the Nobel Prizes were awarded 615 times to 989 people and organizations.
* Did you know that four different academic institutions work independently to select Noble Prize laureates?
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, and Economic Science, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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