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The Nobel Prizes , established by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895 , have recognise achievement in a rooms of science and the people behind those scientific pinnacles . Here ’s a list of the 2016Nobel Prizewinners , which will be updated each day as new laurels are announce . resilient Science also explain , in unembellished English , how the Nobel Laureates contributed to science and humanity .
Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
Fukuoka , Japan - born scientist , Yoshinori Ohsumi enlighten a cellular process called autophagy , or " self - eating , " in which cells take unnecessary or damaged stuff , include entire organelle , and channelise them to a recycling compartment of variety — in yeast cell , this compartment is call the lisosome , while vacuole dish up a similar purpose in human cell .
Ohsumi figured out a elbow room to observe the intimate workings of yeast cell and unwrap autophagy inside them . He went even further to key out the genes involve in yeast autophagy and to show that similar self - feed mechanism hap inside human cellular telephone . His find in the nineties lead to a new understanding of how the cell recycles its contents , open up a windowpane into the importance of autophagy to several physiologic processes and even to empathize sealed diseases . mutation in autophagy have been linked to disease such as cancer and neurological disorders like Parkinson ’s disease . [ scan more about Ohsumi ’s Nobel Prize body of work . ]
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A monument to Nobel Prize founder Alfred Nobel in New York City, as seen in 2006.
Nobel Prize in Physics
David J. Thouless , F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz were jointly awarded this class ’s Nobel Prize in physics for " theoretical discoveries of topologic form transitions and topologic phases of matter . " ( Topology refers to " a branch of mathematics that describes properties that change step - wise , " fit in to the Nobel Foundation . )
These theoretical discoveries revealed the possibleness of a bizarre world where matter can take on different , and strange , states . Using advanced mathematics , the trio examined weird states of matter , such as superfluids , or substances that act like liquids but have zero viscosity or resistance to flow . In superfluids , there is no friction obstruct the liquid ’s stream and so its particles represent as one topnotch subatomic particle . Other exotic states of subject admit thin magnetised films and superconductors .
Some examples of the remaining conduct of these states of matter admit : superfluid whirl that preserve to gyrate without retard down , forever , and when electrical current flow , with no resistance , through a superconductor .
Yoshinori Ohsumi attends a press conference at the Tokyo Institute of Technology on Oct. 3, 2016 in Tokyo, Japan.
" Thanks to their pioneer work , the hunting is now on for new and alien phases of matter . Many people are promising of future software program in both material science and electronics , " reads a statement by the Nobel Foundation .
[ translate more about the breakthrough that led to the Nobel in physics . ]
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Jean - Pierre Sauvage , Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa were jointly present the Nobel Prize in Chemistry " for the design and synthesis of molecular automobile . " In other word , this trio developed the world ’s modest machine by linking together molecules into a unit that , when energy is added , could do some variety of work . These machine , a thousand time thin than a strand of whisker , include a lilliputian rhytidoplasty , mini motor and stilted muscles .
By miniaturizing machines , these Nobel Laureates have " take chemistry to a new dimension,“according to a Nobel Prize statement .
[ Read more about the research that lead to the chemistry Nobel . ]
Here, a slide shown during the announcement of the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics, showing the three winners (from left to right): David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz.
Nobel Peace Prize
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has wonthe Nobel Peace Prize"for his resolute campaign to bring the country ’s more than 50 - twelvemonth - longsighted civil war to an end , a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to 6 million multitude , " grant toa statement by the Nobel Foundation .
President Santos help to negociate a peace deal between the Colombian government and Marxist FARC guerrillas , or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia . He ensured that Colombians could voice their opinion about the peacefulness pact in a referendum ; however , a narrow absolute majority of elector aver no to the pact . Even so , because of the accord , a ceasefire went into effect at the end of August . The pact is contingent on a referendum that will be hold this calendar month .
" If you compare it to other peace correspondence throughout the recent account , you will find that this is the most comprehensive and the most all over . We did not leave any item out , " he told CNN ’s Christiane Amanpour , according to a CNN tidings article .
Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos, with wife Maria Clemencia Rodriguez, after voting in the referendum on a peace accord to end the civil war between the government and the FARC guerrillas, on Oct. 2, 2016.
Because of the deficiency of heart-whole support among Colombians , the peace cognitive process could stall and civil warfare could erupt again , fit in to the Nobel Foundation .
" The accolade should also be view as a testimonial to the Colombian multitude who , despite not bad hardships and abuses , have not given up hope of a just peace , and to all the parties who have conduce to the peace treaty operation , " the Nobel Foundation said . " This tribute is paid , not least , to the congressman of the countless victim of the civic war . "
Nobel Prize in Literature
Robert Zimmerman , more commonly know as Bob Dylan , has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature , " for having created new poetical expressions within the great American song tradition , " Sara Danius , Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy , saidin a financial statement .
He is the first musician to be honored in this category , and Danius key out himin an interviewas " a neat poet in the English - speaking custom , " with a eubstance of study span 54 days .
In fact , Dylan emerge early on in his life history as more than just a instrumentalist . His lyrics , which were both poetical and precipitously observant , spotlight social inequalities and injustice across America ; his early songs , in exceptional , championed the right of workers , masses living in poverty , and people who had been victimized by institutionalized racism . He was a prominent part of the American folk music scene in the sixties and performed at legion protests for polite rights and against the warfare in Vietnam — his gravelly and distinctive voice is , for many , the vocalisation of their propagation .
Musician Bob Dylan performs onstage during the AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Michael Douglas at Sony Pictures Studios on 25 March 2025 in Culver City, California.
