Nobel Prize summary 2019

Every year, the Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace and economics are presented. Each is considered the field’s most prestigious award, celebrating the greatest contributions made by living people to modern society. Here is my summary of the Nobel Prize winners of 2019.

Physics – Michel Mayor, Didier Queloz & James Peebles

Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. Currently, over four thousand exoplanets have been confirmed by observations. These have all been discovered in the last twenty-five years, thanks to Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz.

These two men were the first to discover an exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star; some had already been found around dead stars. That planet, now named Dimidium, is referred to as a ‘hot Jupiter’; it’s about half the size of Jupiter, but orbits its star, 51 Pegasi, ten times closer than Mercury is to our Sun.

The third recipient of the Physics prize, James Peebles, didn’t win for any one discovery. Instead, this award recognises his many contributions to astronomical theories that have since been confirmed. These include the existence of both dark matter and cosmic microwave background radiation. The scientists who confirmed these phenomena have already received Nobel Prizes, but their work wouldn’t have been understandable if not for the theories of James Peebles.

Chemistry – John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham & Akira Yoshino

If you’re reading this article on a laptop, phone or tablet, you’re using lithium-ion batteries. Since their commercial release in the 1990s, these batteries have revolutionised energy storage worldwide, leading their creators to be awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries were first thought of by M. Stanley Whittingham in the 1970s. He created a prototype that worked, but was too expensive and dangerous to sell. John B. Goodenough (the oldest ever Nobel recipient, aged 97) changed some of the materials so that much more energy could be stored. Akira Yoshino made further changes so that the batteries were finally safe enough to sell. He completed his work in 1985, although scientists are still developing improvements.

While these three men never worked together, their efforts combined to create one of the most common types of battery in the world. Without them, it’s possible that portable electronics may never have become as widespread as they are today.

Physiology or Medicine – William G. Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe & Gregg L. Semenza

It goes without saying that oxygen is incredibly important for humans (and animals) to survive. Each one of our cells requires a specific level of oxygen; too much or too little will result in death. The three recipients of this prize each worked on how cells react and adapt to changing oxygen levels.

William G. Kaelin Jr. studied a rare cancer called von Hippel-Lindau disease, which causes the body to create more blood vessels and red blood cells. He realised this happens because oxygen levels are measured incorrectly by the cells.

Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe earned the award for studying how kidneys detect low oxygen levels in the blood and release hormones to counteract it.

Gregg L. Semenza investigates how cancer growth is affected by oxygen levels in the body. This work has led to new treatments for tumours.

Together, their work provides a better understanding of how our cells interact with oxygen, and how to fix it when this goes wrong.

Literature – Olga Tokarczuk (2018) & Peter Handke (2019)

In 2018, a court case involving Academy members caused the Prize in Literature to be delayed a year. A year later, two winners were announced, triggering a new wave of controversy.

Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish novelist, best known for works such as Flight and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead. The former, although first published in 2007, became famous in 2018 after winning the prestigious Man Booker International prize. The delay in recognition for her work is due to the fact that Tokarczuk writes in Polish, and has only recently been translated into English.

Peter Handke is an Austrian writer, particularly known for his novels (including A Sorrow Beyond Dreams) and plays (Offending the Audience). His prize was criticised by many for his support of the former Serbian president, and convicted war criminal, Slobodan Milošević. Writer Hari Kunzru summarised this feeling as such: “he is a fine writer, who combines great insight with shocking ethical blindness”.

Peace – Abiy Ahmed Ali

In the 1960s, the east African country of Eritrea was annexed by neighbouring Ethiopia. This triggered two wars between the nations and decades of military tensions. This is the environment that Abiy Ahmed Ali faced when he became Prime Minister of Ethiopia.

In July 2018, just three months after being sworn in, Abiy signed an agreement with the Eritrean President, Isaias Afwerki. Through this, they agreed to formally accept peace terms to the border conflict between the two nations. This marked the end of a twenty-year hostility between the two nations, including a five-year war in which up to 300,000 people died.

Under the peace settlement, Ethiopia accepted a ruling that placed several disputed territories, including the town of Badme, within the borders of Eritrea. Previous Ethiopian governments had been unwilling to agree to this decision. Abiy Ahmed’s peacemaking actions have led to substantial further improvements in diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Economics – Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo & Michael Kremer

The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was not actually established through the will of Alfred Nobel, as the others were. Instead, ‘The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel’, as it is formally known, was begun and funded in the 1960s by the Swedish central bank. Despite this, it is treated as a full Nobel Prize in almost all contexts, including the ceremony itself, where Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer were awarded their prizes.

These three economists were honoured for their experiments investigating the best ways to improve conditions for people living in poverty. Using randomised control trials, the three have (both separately and together) tested possible methods of improving health and education in regions such as Africa and India. These results can be used by governments and policy makers to reduce the effects of poverty.

Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo are the first married couple to share this prize, of which Duflo is also the youngest winner.