Major Developments Major Developments by Calendar Year

The 2009 Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to researchers Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak for studying the way chromosomes are protected and for discovering the ‘immortality enzyme’ telomerase. The research could have ample implications on diseases such as cancer and other age related conditions. In keeping with the Nobel tradition, the Nobel Prize for medicine has been awarded first. The Nobel laureates shared a $1.4 million purse and a diploma, along with an invitation to the prize ceremonies to be held at Stockholm. For the first time in history, two women shared the Nobel Prize in medicine.

The scientists have been honored for their study of the way chromosomes are protected by the cap like telomeres and their discovery of the enzyme telomerase that allows cells to divide incessantly without dying. Telomeres are cap like structures at the tail end of the chromosomes that are bestowed with a unique DNA sequence that prevents their deterioration. The telomeres also act as deterrents to chromosomal rearrangement which may itself result in abnormalities. Telomeres are lost with each cell division exposing the chromosomes to unfavorable possibilities like cancer and aging. Blackburn and Szostak strived to explain that the unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from deterioration while Carol Greider and Blackburn identified the enzyme telomerase that replenishes or helps to rebuild the lost sequences of the telomeres. Cells age when the cap like telomeres are shortened. However, on the other hand, if the activity of the telomerase enzyme is sufficient enough telomere deterioration can be controlled and aging thwarted. Blackburn’s discovery proved the fact that stress has a definite impact on telomere reduction thus strengthening the mind body connection. Though increased telomere activity could ward off aging for a while it also increases a person’s risk to ward off cancer. This means that the steady shortening of the telomeres and the accompanying decreased telomerase activity is believed to be a process that is inbuilt in man as a survival mechanism.

Nobel prize in Physics in 2008 has been awarded to Yoichiro Nambu (USA), Makoto Kobayashi (Japan), and Toshihide Maskawa (Japan). Among them, Yoichiro Nambu shared one-half of the Nobel Prize for his contribution as described by the Nobel foundation

“for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics”.

In 1960, Nambu introduced spontaneous broken symmetry. Spontaneous broken symmetry means a symmetric system becoming asymmetric when it enters into asymmetrical system. A common example of Spontaneous symmetry breaking is, when a ball which is symmetrical when placed at top of a hill, it is no more symmetrical as small force makes it roll down from hill and it has different symmetries in different directions. Spontaneous broken theory led to the invention of three families of Quarks (the smallest building blocks of matter). He also worked on rapid (fast) conductivity in metals, when electric currents suddenly flow without any resistance.

Makoto Kobayashi shared one-fourth and Toshihide Maskawa shared one-fourth of noble prize

“for their discovery of the origin of three families of quarks in nature”

as described by the Nobel foundation. Yoichiro Nambu’s discovery, mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry laid foundation for the discovery of quarks.

Quarks are fundamental matter particles that combine together to form neutrons and protons in nucleus of atom. They first appeared in particle physics experiments in 1964, and very recently, scientists confirmed the existence of quarks. There are three families of quarks. They are top quark, bottom quark, and charm quark. They vary in mass and electronic charge. Earlier Atomic model was considered to study on particles. Now Quarks are part of the Standard Model of particle physics that combines all the smallest building blocks of matter.

The Nobel Prize in Economics for 2007 was awarded to Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin, and Roger Myerson of the United States of America for their leading work on making markets work with more efficiency. They were awarded the prize for their work on Mechanism Design Theory, a branch of economics that looks at ways to make imperfect markets work efficiently. The markets may be either social or economic exchanges. The theory was initiated by Hurwicz in 1960, was later pursued by Maskin and Myerson in the late 1970s, and has helped economists identify efficient trading mechanisms, regulation schemes, and voting procedures. The theory helps identify mechanisms that realize the largest benefit from trade, maximize a seller’s expected gain, or provides an insurance scheme that gives the best coverage without inviting misuse. According to the classical theory of economics there exists an ideal world where markets work hundred percent efficiently to bring buyers and sellers together as they exchange rare resources. But, in the practical world, however, such markets rarely exist because the consumers may not be fully informed about their choices and there may also be social costs beyond price, pollution for example, that is to be taken into consideration. Similarly, the transactions within a company or between organizations may upset the workings of an idealized market place. The economists of the Mechanism Design Theory aim at making these imperfect markets as efficient as possible, calculating, and valuating very complex models in the process. A typical test would be to see whether social welfare provisions go to the most needy or to assess how government regulations affect specific sectors. The aim of this theory is to distinguish the conditions where the markets work efficiently from the conditions where they would not .

Leonid Hurwicz is the Regent’s Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and won the US National Medal of Science in Behavioral and Social Science for his outstanding work in mechanism design. Eric Maskin is professor of Social Science in Princeton University and Roger Myerson is professor of Economics at the University of Chicago.

The Nobel Prize for Economics was not mentioned by Nobel in his will. It was created by Swedish Central Bank to mark its tercentenary in 1968. It was awarded first in 1969 and is also funded by the bank. The prize includes a gold medal, a diploma and 10 million Swedish kronor (1.53 million US dollars) to be shared between them.

The former United States Vice President Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace. The IPCC is a United Nations network of scientists. They were instrumental in spreading the harmful effects of global warming and climate change. A cautionary movie about the consequences of climate change, “An Inconvenient Truth” won the 2007 Academy Award for best documentary. The Nobel committee called Gore as the single individual who has done a lot of work to create a greater worldwide understanding of the needs to be adopted to save the planet. Mr Gore announced that he would give his portion of the $1.5million to the non-profit organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, that he founded last year. Gore considered it the world’s pre-eminent scientific body devoted to enhancing our understanding of the climate crisis.

Mr. Rajendra Prachauri who chairs the U.N. Body on climate change observed that the Nobel Prize committee had realized the value of knowledge in tackling the climate change crisis. The climate change panel was established in 1988 and had issued a series of reports assessing the climate conditions of our planet.

Mr.Al Gore was born in 1948 and was very active in politics and was the Vice President of the USA from 1993 till 2000.

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to Dorris Lessing for her deep autobiographical writing that has swept across continents reflecting her engagements with the social and political issues of her time. The Swedish Academy has described her as “that epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism,fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny.” The award comes with about $1.6 million.

Miss Lessing was born in Persia and never completed her high school. She largely educated herself through voracious reading. She has written dozens of books of fiction, as well as plays,nonfiction and two volumes of autobiography. Her name was on the shortlist for a long time that she had almost forgotten about it and had given up the hope of becoming a Nobel Laureate. She became quite noted with her breakthrough novel, “ The Golden Notebook”. The growing feminist movement saw this book as a pioneering work and which belonged to that category of books that informed the 20th century view of the male-female relationship. Ms.Lessing wrote about the inner lives of women and rejected the notion that they should give up their choice and lifestyle for marriage or children.

“The Golden Notebook”, tracked the story of Anna Wulf, a woman who wished to live freely and in some ways was Ms Lessing’s alter ego.
Ms Lessing was born Doris May Taylor in 1919 in what is now Iran. After a painful childhood in Zimbabwe, she moved to Southern Rhodesia. She published her first novel in 1949, in Britain, “The Grass Is Singing” which recorded the relationship between a white farmer’s wife and her black servant.

Her childhood experiences drawn from the cultural differences and the racial discrimination among the whites and the blacks in colonial Rhodesia formed the basis for her first novel. “The Golden Notebook” had only sold around 6,000 copies when it came into the market but they had galvanized the American female society to a great extent. Ms. Lessing’s other novels include “The Good Terrorist”,“Martha Quest” and “The Cleft”. She even dabbled in science fiction and some of her later works show her interest in Sufi mysticism,which according to her stresses a link between the fates of individuals and the society.