Source: China News Service
According to the official website of the Nobel Prize, on the afternoon of the 6th, Beijing time, the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced. American scientist David MacMillan and German scientist Benjamin List were awarded the award for "progress in asymmetric organic catalytic research."
Image source: Screenshot of the official social networking website account of Nobel Prize.
Nobel Prize in Chemistry seems out of reach, but in fact, behind the "high-end" is closely related to the daily life of each of us; in recent years, the gradual expansion of women's influence in this field has also added more weight to this award.
"Above the Cloud" Chemistry Award, what does
have to do with ordinary people?
If Nobel Prize in Literature can also make ordinary people comment, then the Chemistry Prize is too profound. In addition to looking at "who won the prize this year", the overall impression it gives is still "high in the cloud".
In fact, the scientific research results of the Chemistry Award have long been integrated into the lives of ordinary people. Let’s take a look at two examples:
- mobile phone battery
Imagine if the phone has to be plugged in to use, it will be powered off if it is unplugged. Will there be the technological progress of "traveling all over the world with one machine in hand" today?
Yes, the "heroic" that frees the mobile phone from the socket is the lithium battery.
Data picture: 2019 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry Akira Yoshino.
In October 2019, the "father of lithium batteries" Goodinav , the inventor of modern lithium batteries Yoshino Akira , and Weitinghan, who has pioneering research in the field of lithium batteries, shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry that year.
Nobel Prize official website gives the reason: "They created a rechargeable world."
Look in your hands, and then look around you. Are lithium batteries already everywhere in the world we live in?
—Plastic
Toothbrush, takeaway box, mobile phone case, aircraft parts... It can be said that plastic has been integrated into all aspects of modern society.
Data picture: During the COVID-19 pandemic, a plastic baffle was installed on the desks of a school in Daejeon, South Korea to prevent the spread of the virus.
However, when we use these inconspicuous plastic products "taken for granted", have we ever thought that they all come from advanced theories and are not long ago.
In 1953, German science Staudinger won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for its contribution to polymer chemistry; in 1963, Italian scientist Nata and German scientist Ziegler won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for synthesizing polymer plastics.
Thanks to their discoveries and research, the development process of human society has also been greatly promoted.
However, in recent years, people seem to have "colored changes" when talking about plastics, because this white garbage not only brings us convenience, but also causes serious damage to the environment.
However, although environmental protection issues make people feel disgusted with plastics, scientific research is endless. Maybe in a few years, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry will be awarded to a scientist who can properly solve plastic pollution.
In addition to these two examples, including the "NMR" technology that has been popularized in hospitals and the neon lights that decorate the night sky, they are all typical examples of the application of Nobel Prize results in practice.
As Ignaro, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, said, "Any scientific discovery that wins the Nobel Prize should not be left behind, but should benefit the public."
Data picture: 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners Carpentier and Dudner.
The influence of women increases
"Preferring boys over girls" has improved
Open the list of Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and they are almost all men. As for women, there are only a few people including , Madam Curie, . The issue of
has also been widely criticized by the outside world, and has even been criticized for "favoring boys over girls".
However, after entering the 21st century, especially in recent years, this situation has improved. Look at a set of data intuitively.
From 1901 to 2020, 185 people have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, including only 7 women, and 4 of them have won the award after entering the 21st century.
Especially in 2020, for its contribution to gene editing technology , French scientist Carpentier and American scientist Doodner shared the chemistry award that year, marking the first time in history that two women won the award. It was also rated by United Nations as one of the top ten women's moments in 2020.
Carpentier also sent a message to the majority of female researchers: "Women can also make a difference in the scientific community through their research."
More news!
Who have won awards in the past decade?
The following is the list of Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry in the past 10 years and their main achievements:
2020:
Emmanuel Carpentier (France) and Jennifer Dudner (US) in recognition of their contributions to gene editing technology.
2019:
John Goodinoff (US), Stanley Whitingham (US) and Akira Yoshino (Japan), shared the Nobel Prize for their contributions in the field of lithium battery research and development.
2018:
Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Francis Arnold (US), George Smith (US) and Gregory Winterley (UK) for their achievements in the directional evolution of enzymes and their phage display technology for polypeptide and antibodies.
2017:
Joachim Frank (German/US), Richard Henderson(English), Jacques Dubochy (Swiss ) developed cryoelectron microscopy technology to determine the biomolecular structure in the solution with very high resolution.
2016:
Jean-Pierre Sovic (France), Fraser Stoddat (UK) and Bernard Ferringa (Netherlands) won the award for "designing and synthesizing molecular machines".
2015:
Thomas Lindal (Swedish ), Paul Modric (US), Aziz Sanjar (Turkey /US), won awards for their contributions to the research of gene repair mechanisms.
2014:
Eric Betsig (US), William Mona (US), Stefan Hale (German), won the award for "developing a super-resolution fluorescence microscope ".
2013:
Martin Capras (US/Austria ), Michael Levitt (UK/US), Aliye Vashell (US/Israel) share the Nobel Prize, and the three contributed to the development of multi-scale complex chemical system models.
2012 :
Robert Lefkovitz (US), Brian Kbilka (US), won the award for "G protein coupled receptor research".
2011:
Daniel Sheikhtmann (Israel) won the award for discovering quasi-crystal .
Original title: "Two scientists share the Nobel Prize in Chemistry! These inventions from "cloud" to daily life
