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Nobel laureates receive prizes at home amid pandemic
Stockholm (AFP) - Adjusting to a world where travel is hampered by the pandemic, this year's Nobel laureates will receive their prizes at home this week following the cancellation of the traditional Stockholm and Oslo ceremonies. The awards in the six categories were announced in nearly typical fashion in October, albeit with fewer reporters in physical attendance. However, none of the winners will travel to Stockholm or Oslo to receive their diplomas and medals due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The ceremonies are traditionally held on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of the prize's ...
AFP
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American duo wins Nobel Economics Prize for work on auctions
Stockholm (AFP) - US economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work on commercial auctions, including for goods and services difficult to sell in traditional ways such as radio frequencies, the Nobel Committee said.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences noted that the discoveries by Milgrom, 72, and Wilson, 83, "have benefitted sellers, buyers and taxpayers around the world," it said in a statement."Auctions affect all of us at every level. Moreover, they are becoming increasingly common and increasingly complicated," the academy said, listing example...
AFP
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American poet Louise Gluck wins Nobel Literature Prize
Stockholm (AFP) - American poet Louise Gluck won the 2020 Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, an unexpected choice known for themes of childhood and family life that draw inspiration from myths and classical motifs.Gluck, 77, was honoured "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal," the Academy said.She won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for her collection "The Wild Iris" and the National Book Award for her latest collection, "Faithful and Virtuous Night", in 2014.The pick came as a surprise to the poet herself, who told news agency TT that she...
AFP
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American poet Louise Gluck wins Nobel Literature Prize
Stockholm (AFP) - The Nobel Literature Prize went Thursday to American poet Louise Gluck, the jury at the Swedish Academy said, honouring a writer known for themes of childhood and family life.Gluck, 77, was honoured "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal," the Academy said.Gluck has previously won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for her collection "The Wild Iris", and the National Book Award in 2014.A professor of English at Yale University, she "seeks the universal, and in this she takes inspiration from myths and classical motifs, present...
AFP
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US-French duo win Nobel Chemistry Prize for gene editing tool
Stockholm (AFP) - Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the US on Wednesday won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping "scissors", the first time a Nobel science prize has gone to a women-only team.Using the tool, "researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision," the Nobel jury said."This technology has had a revolutionary impact on the life sciences, is contributing to new cancer therapies and may make the dream of curing inherited diseases come true."The technique has...
AFP
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Trio win Nobel Physics Prize for black hole research
Stockholm (AFP) - A trio of scientists, Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the US, won the Nobel Physics Prize on Tuesday for their research into what the Nobel committee called "one of the most exotic phenomena in the universe, the black hole." Penrose, 89, was honoured for showing "that the general theory of relativity leads to the formation of black holes", while Genzel, 68, and Ghez, 55, were jointly awarded for discovering "that an invisible and extremely heavy object governs the orbits of stars at the centre of our galaxy," the jury said. Ghez is just...
AFP
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US Nobel winner's 25-year odyssey to black hole at center of galaxy
Washington (AFP) - For US astronomer Andrea Ghez, who won this year's Nobel Physics Prize, what makes black holes so fascinating is how tricky they are to conceptualize.If she's asked to explain them to an average person, her standard answer is: "A black hole is an object whose pull of gravity is so intense that nothing can escape it -- not even light."That doesn't always satisfy people's curiosity."Very few people understand what a black hole is -- but I think so many people are fascinated by them," the professor at the University of California, Los Angeles told AFP by phone after she was co-...
AFP
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US-British trio win Nobel Medicine Prize for Hepatitis C discovery
Stockholm (AFP) - Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice together with Briton Michael Houghton won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, paving the way for a cure, the Nobel jury said.The three were honoured for their "decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world." The World Health Organization estimates there are around 70 million Hepatitis C infections globally, causing around 400,000 deaths each year. It is characterized by poor appet...
AFP
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Nobel laureates say 'political will' needed to end virus outbreaks
New York (AFP) - Technological advancements and international cooperation have accelerated scientific understanding of COVID-19 but it will take political will to end virus outbreaks, the new Nobel laureates in medicine said Monday.Americans Charles Rice of The Rockefeller University and Harvey Alter of the National Institutes of Health were honored along with Briton Michael Houghton for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus.In separate press conferences, the laureates noted how long it had taken them to achieve their results. "It is a long story, kind of a 50 years saga," said 85-year-old Al...
AFP
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US-British trio win Nobel Medicine Prize for Hepatitis C discovery
Stockholm (AFP) - Americans Harvey Alter and Charles Rice together with Briton Michael Houghton won the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, the Nobel jury said.The three were honoured for their "decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world," the jury said.Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have "essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatl...
AFP
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