2020 Nobel Prizes

The 2020 Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden. Six categories were awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.[1]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, programming for Nobel Week was limited, with some ceremonies and events taking place virtually.[2]

Prizes

Physics

Awardee(s)
Roger Penrose

(b. 1931)

British "for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity" [3]
Reinhard Genzel

(b. 1952)

German "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy"
Andrea M. Ghez

(b. 1965)

American

Chemistry

Awardee(s)
Emmanuelle Charpentier

(b. 1968)

French "for the development of a method for genome editing" [4]
Jennifer Doudna

(b. 1964)

American

Physiology or Medicine

Main article: 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Awardee(s)
Harvey J. Alter

(b. 1935)

 United States "for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus" [5]
Michael Houghton

(b. 1949)

 United Kingdom
Charles M. Rice

(b. 1952)

 United States

Literature

Main article: 2020 Nobel Prize in Literature
Awardee(s)
Louise Glück

(1943–2023)

 United States "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal" [6]

Peace

Main article: 2020 Nobel Peace Prize
Awardee(s)
World Food Programme

(founded 1961)

United Nations "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict." [7]

Economic Sciences

Main article: 2020 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
Awardee(s)
Paul Milgrom

(b. 1948)

 United States "for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats"[8] [8]
Robert B. Wilson

(b. 1937)

Controversies

Chemistry

The Chemistry Prize's awarding to Charpentier and Doudna provoked debates about who "discovered" CRISPR, with some arguing that scientists like Feng Zhang or Virginijus Šikšnys should have been properly credited.[9]

Changes

Each prize's awarding amount increased from 9 million Swedish krona to 10 million.[2]

References

  1. ^ "All Nobel Prizes 2020". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2024-12-09.
  2. ^ a b "2020 Nobel Prize Winners: Full List". The New York Times.
  3. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  4. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  5. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  6. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2020". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on 8 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  7. ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 2020". NobelPrize.org. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  8. ^ a b "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2020". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2020-10-12. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  9. ^ Chamary, J. V. "These Scientists Deserved A Nobel Prize, But Didn't Discover Crispr". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-12-09.