, China News Service, October 7th. On October 7th, local time, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American scientist Jennifer A. Doudna to commend their contributions in gene editing technology.
Looking back at the past winners, their loneliness and frustration were not known before reaping glory and wealth, but their frustration in life did not extinguish their enthusiasm for science; many scientists also missed the Nobel Prize, leaving behind regrets in life, but their achievements still benefit people today.
Data map: French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier (left) and American scientist Jennifer A. Doudna.
characters quick look
2 winners are the origins of?
According to the Nobel official website, Carpentier was born in Reveci on the Orges River in France in 1968, and is the director of the Marx Planck Ethics Research Office in Berlin, Germany; Dudner was born in 1964 in Washington, DC, and is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and the Howard Hughes Institute of Medical Research. The reason for the two of them to win the award is "developed a genome editing method."
According to reports, they have developed one of the sharpest tools in genetic technology: CRISPR/Cas9 "gene scissors". Using these techniques, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extreme precision. The technology has revolutionized the impact on life sciences and can help researchers develop new cancer therapies and make the dream of curing genetic diseases a reality.
A hundred years of storms and
View cross-border experts and the "strongest family"
Alfred Nobel, the founder of Nobel Prize , plays an important position in the history of chemistry. During his life, he obtained a total of 355 patents and was also famous for his invention of nitroglycerin explosives.
Data map: On December 7, 2017, local time, Sweden Stockholm, various Nobel Prize winners attended the press conference and they are about to attend the award ceremony.
, who is already "119 years old", is also a chronicle that records scientists who have achieved significant achievements in the field of chemistry.
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded 111 times. As of 2019, a total of 183 people have won awards, including only 5 women.
Among the many winners, there are two "cross-border masters", namely French scientist Madame Curie more than a hundred years ago and American chemist Linus Pauling more than half a century ago.
After winning the Physics Prize in 1903, Madame Curie won the Chemistry Prize in 1911 for her research on radiochemistry. After winning the Chemistry Award in 1954, Pauling won the 1962 Peace Prize for opposing the nuclear bomb test.
Madame Curie is not only the first scientist in the world to win two Nobel Prizes, but she and her family can be called the "strongest family" in the history of Nobel Prizes.
Curie and his wife won the Nobel Prize in Physics together. More than 30 years later, Madame Curie's eldest daughter, Irena and her husband also won the Chemistry Prize for their research on artificial radioactivity.
Although Madame Curie's youngest daughter, Eve Curie, did not devote herself to scientific research, in 1965, her husband, American diplomat Henry LaPowis, won the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of UNICEF.
Data picture: On December 10, 2018, local time, in Stockholm, Sweden, the Nobel Prize Dinner was held, with Nobel Prize winners, members of the Swedish royal family and many celebrities attending.
Surprise call
"October first week, a little insomnia"
For many scientists, the moment they learned of winning the Nobel Prize is the most unforgettable moment in their lives.
A few minutes before the Nobel Prize is announced, the award rating agency will call to notify the winners. When receiving a call from Sweden, the winners were not only excited, but also more incredible and incredible.
In 2007, German scientist Gerhard Etel won the award for his outstanding contributions to the field of surface chemistry research. The day he received the call was his 71st birthday.
He said that this was "a birthday gift that can only be obtained once in a lifetime", "I was so excited that I couldn't speak, and then shed tears."
Data picture: 2018 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Francis Arnold signed on a chair at the Nobel Museum for his autograph. When he received the call,
2014 Chemistry Award winner Eric Batesger thought, "Who will call me at 5:30 in the morning of ET? Is something wrong at home?" After trembling for 20 seconds and 20 seconds saying "OK" to the other end of the phone, Batesger hung up the phone in shock.
Due to the time difference, "surprise calls" usually occur at night. Scientists sometimes have to stay up late to wait because of their expectations. "When the first week of October comes, you will have a little insomnia," said Martin Charfe, a winner of the 2008 Chemistry Award. But he missed this important call, "insomnia".
is not just Charlefire who received the call. In 1991, Swiss scientist Richard Ernst learned that he had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the air. He was on his way from Moscow to New York at that time, and the captain passed the good news to him.
Long move forward
"Because of curiosity" and "spirit of a turtle"
After learning about winning the award, the next "highlight" is the award ceremony. Scientists will receive certificates, medals and bonus checks from the Swedish kings under the spotlight of the world, and reap glory and wealth. But before this highlight moment, they also experienced the pain of failure and moved forward alone on the road of science.
Data picture: On October 9, 2019, local time, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Yoshino Akira attended a press conference in Tokyo, Japan.
Japanese scholar Akira Yoshino won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his outstanding contribution to the research and development of lithium batteries. He recalled that after developing lithium batteries, they could not be sold for three years at first, and they were under great mental and physical pressure. Nowadays, the widespread use of lithium batteries has allowed telephones, computers, etc. to get rid of sockets, allowing people to enter the era of mobile communications.
Someone asked Yoshino Akira: "Do you do this research to benefit mankind or to make money?" Yoshino Akira said that neither is it. He only does research because he has "curiosity".
American scientist John Goodinav, who won the award with Yoshino Akira, was 97 years old at the time, so he broke the largest age record for Nobel Prize winners.
Goodinav suffered from dyslexia when he was young and chose to study physics at the age of 24. At the age of 57, he discovered lithium cobalt oxide material, which solved the problem of the early stages of dendrites that lead to explosions. At the age of 75, he developed a new material lithium iron phosphate, which accelerated the commercialization of lithium batteries.
He once said: "Some of us are like turtles, walking slowly and struggling all the way. We may not find a way out when we are thirty, but these turtles must continue to climb."
Nobel Prize winners sometimes not only face career bottlenecks, but also setbacks in life also cause heavy damage to them.
In 2018, American scholar Francis Arnold won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Arnold's first husband died of cancer, her ex-partner committed suicide, and her son died in an accident. Arnold himself also suffered from breast cancer.
But none of these sufferings “defeat” Arnold, who once said in her speech, “It is your responsibility to use your knowledge to make the world a better place, not just for yourself and your family.” It is the pursuit of science that has given her great power and helped her overcome difficulties in life.
Other spotlight
They have been connected with science, but they missed the Nobel Prize
html The hard work I put in over 0 years is recognized by the Nobel Prize, which will inevitably make people happy, but in the long river of a hundred years, there will inevitably be "left beads".Data picture: On December 10, 2016, local time, the Nobel Prize Ceremony was held in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. The picture shows King Carl XVI Gustav (right) presenting the award to Bernard Feringa, one of the Nobel Prize winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Many people have left a strong mark in the history of science, but unfortunately missed the Nobel Prize.But even if they don’t make it to the podium, they cannot deny their contribution to the world.
The most regrettable one is probably the Russian chemist Mendeleev. The periodic table of elements he formulated is one of the basic laws of the universe and also provides a yardstick with accurate scales for humans to understand nature.
Mendeleev was nominated for the Nobel Prize 9 times, the last time in 1906, but because some judges believed that it was difficult to evaluate who discovered the periodic table of elements in theory, Mendeleev ultimately failed to win the award. The next year, Mendeleev, 73, passed away due to illness.
Also regretful is the American chemist Gilbert Louis , one of the founders of chemical thermodynamics. He has won 41 Nobel Prize nominations, but none of them have won the Nobel Prize. Louis has taught at the University of California, Berkeley for more than 30 years. Although he missed the Nobel Prize, he has trained at least five Nobel Prize winners. The more tragic
is the American chemist Wallace Carrothers. Carrothers began to explore the polymer world in 1928. In 1935, he and his team invented nylon, a material that promoted the development of fashion trends. It can also be seen everywhere in daily necessities such as automobiles, electronic equipment, umbrellas, etc. But Carothers committed suicide in 1937 due to depression. Scientists say that if Carothers was still alive, the Nobel Prize would sooner or later be his "investment".
Over the past century, scientists' joy and regret have become the mark of history. Whether it is the pride of spring breeze on the podium or the silent hard work in the laboratory, they have never forgotten their original intention of pursuing science. (End)
Source: China News Network
