Tag Archives: Nobel prize

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Three women honored together with Nobel Prize

The Nobel Committee honors women’s right to voice their demand for global peace by honoring three women with annual peace prize. One of the awarded is from Yemen while rest two are Liberians.

Ellen Johnson, Liberia’s first elected and female president along her compatriot  Leymah Gbowee shares the most prestigious award with Arabian activist Tawakul Karman.

The Nobel Committee justified awarding the trio because world can not achieve full democracy and peace until the women also get equal opportunities with men in all spheres, revealed the committee’s chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.

Johnson-Sirleaf, 72  has won election in Liberia for a second term as President. She is called as “Iron Lady” by her opponents. Achieving this award might also reduce her vote potentiality, doubted many diplomats, however, Sirleaf dismissed all doubts.

Awarding Yemeni protesters, who are still fighting to pressurize their autocratic rulers to step down, may also be taken as an indication that Oslo has put its hands away from former ally Ali Abdullah Saleh, the current president of Yemen.

Karman stated that her achievement should be considered as a prize for the victory of Yemeni people and all revolutionaries of the Arab world.

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Nobel Prize nominee in Medicine dies before award

This year 3 scientists were to share the Nobel Prize in medicine. Their contribution in the field of medicine is specifically focussedon discoveries regarding the immune system.  Dr. Bruce A. Beutler, Dr. Jules A. Hoffmann and Dr. Ralph M. Steinman have been awarded on Monday, however,   Dr. Steinman died a day before on Sept. 30.

The three scientist were to achieve this award on Monday for their findings in immunology. The status of the prize was also questioned as one of the recipient died.

Nobel Prizes have never been awarded posthumously so far. This is why the sudden death of Dr. Steinman Rockefeller University in Manhattan left the Nobel jury red faced. Finally for the first time in the history of Nobel Prizes, the awarding committee retained its decision of awarding the deceased scientist as it was not aware of his death at the time of selection.

The Nobel Committee of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden decided to carefully think over the rules of the prizes. The Nobel Prizes were first time awarded in 1900 after the death of Alfred Nobel, to fulfill his wish mentioned in his will regarding his properties and assets.

Dr. Steinman received one-half the prize whereas other half has been shared by Dr. Bruce A. Beutler of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif as well asDr. Jules A. Hoffmann of France.

 

The three scientists have received this honor for their milestone findings on necessary actions of immune systems in response to any infection. Dr. Hoffmann in 1996 had discovered the cell receptors in laboratory fruit flies which become activated by the infection by pathogenic fungi or bacteria.

 

Dr. Beutler followed Hoffman in this field and recognized the cell receptors in mice 2 years later. These cell receptors reacted in response to a substance coated with bacteria. In the case of over-stimulation, these cell receptors created septic shock too.

In 1973, Dr. Steinman foundanother type of cell which played a great role in the adaptive immune system. These cells are known as dendritic cells.

. Dr. Steinman was a native of Canada, however he spent most of his life working with Rockefeller University.