By Abigail Gilder
Staff Writer
On Oct. 2, the Nobel Prize Winners for 2023 were announced. The Nobel Prize was first developed conceptually by Alfred Nobel, a Renaissance inventor, entrepreneur, scientist and businessman. He also held interests in poetry and drama. Each of his interests are reflected in the six different types of Nobel Prizes, which are Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics.
The first category is the Nobel Prize in Physics. The 2023 winners are Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for the “experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter.” An attosecond is an incredibly short pulse of light, and is the natural timescale for the movement of electrons, as reported by PBS. It is one quintillionth of a second, and the aforementioned physicists have used experiments to generate these attoseconds in order to study the movement of electrons, according to Electro Optics. Electrons are small particles responsible for the atomic makeup of the elements, and understanding them and their functions has proven to be crucial to the development of scientific knowledge.
The second category is the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The 2023 winners are Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the “discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.” According to the British Council, a quantum dot is a nanoparticle that is made from a semiconductor material. They appear to have quantum effects due to their small size. These quantum dots have proven to be integral to the field of medicine due to their applications in drug delivery, live imaging and medical diagnosis, as the National Library of Medicine reports. For example, these dots can be used in MRIs, X-rays and even flu vaccines.
The third category is the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The 2023 winners are Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for “their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.” According to Penn Medicine, Dr. Kariko and her co-collaborator, Dr. Weissman discovered a way to modify mRNA fifteen years ago. This technique developed the ability to package the mRNA in a lipid base, in order for the mRNA to trigger an immune response and allow the vaccine to work. Not only has the development of this vaccine helped fight a pandemic, but it has allowed for the preservation of future generations to come.
The fourth category is the Nobel Prize in Literature. The 2023 winner is John Fosse for “his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” According to Britannica, John Fosse has written over seventy works, which have been translated into over fifty languages. His most famous works focus on the lives of ordinary people on the outer reaches of society, specifically describing the lives of the lower and working classes in a meaningful way, as reported by The Atlantic. His works “This Is How It Was” and “Strong Wind” are particularly popular as a result of this award.
The fifth category is the Nobel Prize in Peace. The 2023 winner is Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.” According to Britannica, Mohammadi is an Iranian journalist and human rights activist known for her position as director of the Defenders of Human Rights Center, which advocates for prisoners captured for political purposes by the Taliban. Not only has she been arrested for advocating for this cause, but she has also saved countless lives.
The sixth and final category is the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. The 2023 winner is Claudia Goldin for “having advanced our understanding of women’s labor market outcomes.” According to The New York Times, after studying women in the workforce and its implications, Goldin has uncovered massive gender gaps in the labor force and the causes for such phenomena. She is a Harvard professor intent on improving the world’s understanding of the mistreatment of women, whether it be in the workforce or in legal rights. Her research has shown that the rate of employed married women significantly decreased in the 1800s as people moved away from an agricultural economy. Not only has her research helped to advance the understanding of inequalities in the workforce, but she has made multiple publications of her research available to the public.
The Nobel Prize is not an easy prize to win; nominees must go through a difficult and arduous process in order to win the prize. Thousands of university professors and scientists are asked to submit nominations each year. While each subset of the Nobel Prize category has a different nominations and awards process, it is impressive, to say the least, to all winners selected.
