Major Developments Major Developments by Calendar Year

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.

Nobel prize in Chemistry in 2008 has been awarded to Osamu Shimomura (USA), Martin Chalfie (USA), Roger Y. Tsien (USA). Among them Osamu Shimomura shared one-third, Martin Chalfie shared one-third and Roger Y.Tsien shared one-third of Nobel Prize

“for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP”

as described by the Nobel foundation.

In 1962, the work of Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, Roger Y. Tsien led to the discovery of the proteins aequorine and green fluorescent protein (GFP) in a small glowing jellyfish. Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) is a protein, which exhibits bright green florescence when exposed to blue light. GFP genes are used to make biosensors. In cell and molecular biology, the GFP gene is frequently used for sensing by inducing GFP (which emits high fluorescent green color) into a cell, it becomes easier to recognize cells under microscopy and easier to study them. The GFP gene has been induced in many bacteria, yeast and other fungi, fish (such as zebra), plant, fly, mammalian cells, including human and has been confirmed that any living thing can emit color throughout its body with a single gene (GFP protein). When a GFP is attached to virus, then we can clearly see when virus transmits from one person to other with green glow. If we attach GFP to Protein, then we can clearly see in microscope how it is moving in a cell.

Tsien mainly contributed to know how GFP works and for developing new techniques. In 1994 Tsien showed the mechanism how GFP chromofore is formed in a chemical reaction, which requires only oxygen (without proteins). The GFP gene can be introduced into organisms and maintained in their genome (in a cell) through breeding. Their work confirmed that living organisms can also produce light.

Nobel Prize in Literature in 2008 has been awarded to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (France and Mauritius) for his article Dans la forêt des paradoxes as it being focused on the environment, especially the desert, as described by Nobel foundation. His article Dans la forêt des paradoxes means forest of paradoxes in English.

He is the first French citizen to receive the Nobel Prize since Gao Xingjian in 2000. When a survey is conducted by French Literary magazine, he was considered as greatest living French language writer. He has published books that include short stories, novels, essays and on the subject of Indian mythology. He brings out different shades of loneliness, different states of mind and nature in his articles. His writing career may be divided into two main periods, from 1963 to 1975. He used to write articles about insanity (permanent disorder of mind) and language. Before his writing career, he used to experiment on himself. In the late 1970s, he stopped experimentation and the mood of his novels changed and started writing articles on childhood, adolescence and traveling, attracting a broader and more popular audience. In 1980, Le Clézio was the first winner of the newly created grand prix Paul-Morand, awarded to his article Désert by the Académie française. Horace Engdahl, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, commented to reporters after announcement of Nobel Prize to Le Clézio, that Le Clézio is not a French writer. He also said that he is a nomadic (a person who moves from one place to other) writer and doesn’t belong to anywhere. He used to deal with subjects like Exile (form of punishment), Migration,Childhood and Ecology.