The Nobel Prize is the largest award in science. In the run-up, it was speculated whether the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology this year will go to scientists who have made a significant contribution to the development of Covid-19 vaccines. On Monday morning at 11.30 am, the committee of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm announced its decision: David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian will receive the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of receptors for temperature and touch.
Here you can see the announcement again:
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to up to three individuals for groundbreaking discoveries in the medical field. Due to the corona pandemic, the announcement will only take place with a limited number of participants on site. As every year, the award, which is endowed with the equivalent of around 984,000 euros, will be presented on 10 December, the anniversary of the death of the prize founder Alfred Nobel.
Last year, the discoverers of the Hepatitis-C virus Harvey Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles Rice Nobel Prize winner became. With their work, the scientists from England and the USA have made a significant contribution to treating the virus today and can often be healed. In Germany alone, around 300,000 people are chronically infected with the virus, which can cause liver inflammation and even liver cancer. In contrast to hepatitis A and B, there is no vaccination against hepatitis C. Since 2014, several antiviral drugs have been available that significantly increases the chances of healing the chronic infection.
The award of the Nobel Prize in Medicine is the prelude to the Nobel Prize Week. On 5 October, at 11.45 a.m. at the earliest, it will be clear who will receive this year's Nobel Prize in Physics. On 6 October, the laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry are announced; the announcement for the Nobel Prize for Literature, Peace and Economics follows on Thursday, Friday and the following Monday.
In 1901, the first medical nobility prize went to the German doctor Emil Adolph von Behring, who had developed from bloodsier remedies against diphtheria and tetanus and is considered a pioneer of vaccination. The tetanusserum saved numerous wounded in the First World War. Behring's work brought him to the population and pressed the nickname "Savior of children and soldiers".
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded annually in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace efforts. Since 1968, the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize for Economics has also been awarded. The Nobel Prize Committee keeps secret who the nominees are even decades after the award ceremony. At the earliest 50 years later, they will be made public in the database of the nominee archive.
