In March 1888, Alfred Nobel read his own obituary in a newspaper. Journalists confused him with his brother and hurried to report the death of the "dealer in death." Nobel was upset because of his brother, because of the mistake of journalists, but especially because of the tone of the obituary. Then he decided to leave behind something other than dynamite and ordered the establishment of the Nobel Prize.
"All my movable and real estate must be converted into liquid value by my executors, and the capital thus collected placed in a reliable bank. The income from investments should belong to the fund, which will distribute them annually in the form of bonuses to those who during the previous year have brought the greatest benefit to humanity., - bequeathed Nobel.
For more than a hundred years, the Nobel Committee unwittingly violated the will of the founder several times and mistakenly awarded the prize for not very useful inventions.
miraculous lamps
Dane Niels Ryberg Finsen was in poor health since childhood. Growing up, he noticed that after walking in the sun he felt much better.
At the university, he began to study the healing effects of ultraviolet rays. Popularity in scientific world he won thanks to innovations in the treatment of smallpox, but later switched to lupus - tuberculosis of the skin (not to be confused with systemic lupus erythematosus - an autoimmune disease). In 1885, he bought powerful arc carbon lamps for research, which played a cruel joke on him.
Finsen irradiated lupus patients with lamps daily for two hours. As a result, after a few months, they improved, and many even got rid of ugly scars and wounds and recovered. A year later, Finsen was already heading the institute for phototherapy, which bore his name. Half of the patients who received his treatment made a full recovery, and the other half felt much better.
Outstanding results were noticed, and in 1903 Finsen received the Nobel Prize in recognition of his merits in the treatment of diseases, especially lupus.
It was later revealed that the lenses Finsen used did not transmit ultraviolet radiation at all. It was not light at all that had the therapeutic effect, but singlet oxygen, which appeared due to the sparkling carbon rods of the lamp. Nevertheless, phototherapy, which Finsen became the founder of, is really effective for some diseases.
a special oxygen molecule that has twice as much energy as normal
wedge wedge
At the beginning of the 20th century, syphilis was an incurable disease. At the most severe stages, it gave complications to the brain, and patients developed progressive paralysis - a psycho-organic disease, death from which occurred within several years. A fifth of the patients in psychiatric clinics were sick with syphilis and, as a result, with progressive paralysis.
Julius Wagner-Jauregg worked in a psychiatric clinic and was interested in the physiological causes of mental illness. He noticed that among the patients with progressive paralysis were those who survived. It was they who were examined by Wagner-Jauregg. It turned out that all of them suffered a severe fever during their illness with progressive paralysis.
First, he infected patients with tuberculosis. But the tuberculosis fever was short and weak.
The doctor began to look for ways to cause severe fever in patients with progressive paralysis. He first infected them with tuberculosis and then treated it with tuberculin. But the tuberculous fever was short and weak, so that it was not suitable for the treatment of progressive paralysis. In addition, some patients died because tuberculin did not help them.
A breakthrough in research came in 1917, when quinine was discovered for the treatment of malaria: malarial fever was quite strong and prolonged. Wagner-Jauregg infected patients with malaria and then treated them with quinine.
Significant improvements occurred in 85% of patients, but mortality remained high. Later, the doctor isolated a weakened strain of malarial pathogens and reduced the danger of malaria therapy. Nevertheless, he was not always able to control the course of malaria, and some patients died. But then it was considered an acceptable risk.
In 1927, Wagner-Jauregg received the Nobel Prize for discovering the therapeutic effect of malaria infection in the treatment of progressive paralysis.
His discovery is still controversial: whether malaria stimulated the immune system, or high body temperature created hostile environment for causative agents of syphilis, or both worked at the same time. We were saved from mass malaria therapy by the invention of penicillin, which helps to cure syphilis in the initial stages before progressive paralysis occurs in patients.
Get ready for complications
In 1948, Paul Müller received the Nobel Prize for discovering the dangerous properties of one of the most poisonous substances on earth - dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, known as DDT or dust. Müller found that DDT could be used as a powerful insecticide to control locusts, mosquitoes and other pests.
DDT was better than all known insecticides: it was considered to be of low toxicity, but it was deadly to all insects without exception. It was quite simple and cheap to produce and easy to spray on entire fields. For humans, a single dose of 500-700 mg was considered absolutely harmless, so the substance was sprayed even in populated areas.
DDT stopped epidemics of typhus in Naples, malaria in India, Greece and Italy, increased crops and gave hope for victory over hunger in many countries. During its wide use in the world, 4 million tons of dust have been sprayed. Its benefits were obvious, and the dangerous consequences came much later.
During its wide use in the world, 4 million tons of dust have been sprayed.
In the 1950s, the first studies appeared that proved that DDT accumulates in the environment and animals and leads to irreversible changes. Of particular concern was the fact that as it moved up the food chain, DDT increased the concentration, and theoretically it could reach doses that were deadly for humans. By 1970, all developed countries had banned the use of DDT in their territories.
Millions of tons of poisonous substances continue to "walk" around the world in the bodies of birds and animals, accumulate in soil and water, concentrate in plants and again enter the organisms of animals. Today, traces of DDT are found even in the Arctic. This process will continue for several generations: the period of decomposition of DDT is 180 years, and we still do not know about all the consequences of its use.
The secret of obedience
Rosemary Kennedy - the elder sister of the President of the United States - was a difficult child. IN early childhood she pleased her mother with her complaisant character, gentleness and obedience. Over time, the girl began to lag behind her peers in development, with difficulty remembering something new, could not master the letter. When Rosemary noticed that she was different from other children, her character deteriorated: she became irritable and quick-tempered.
In 1941, a frustrated Joe Kennedy gave permission for his daughter to undergo a surgical procedure that doctors said would calm Rosemary and make her more manageable. Dr. Walter Freeman pierced the soft bones above Rosemary's eye and cut open her brain.
Alexander Fleming, Ernst Chain, Howard Florey. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945.
"Nobel" formulation: for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effects in various infectious diseases.
In fact: for antibiotics.
A new class of drugs, hundreds of thousands of lives saved - all thanks to the fact that Alexander Fleming did not like to wash Petri dishes after him. A fungus flew into the cup left on the table, grew on tasty agar and killed the bacteria that lived there. Fleming himself was never able to isolate penicillin and establish its production - he had to call for help Cheyne and Flory. True, recently people have been abusing antibiotics, bacteria are becoming resistant to them, and soon humanity will need a new Fleming.
4th place
Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano, Shuji Nakamura. Nobel Prize in Physics 2014.
"Nobel" formulation: for the invention of the efficient blue light-emitting diode, which led to bright and energy-efficient white light sources.
The LEDs themselves were created by the young Soviet physicist Oleg Losev back in the 1920s. Why was the award given to the Japanese and specifically for blue LEDs? We are all interested in white light: it surrounds a person in nature from morning to evening, so for comfortable artificial lighting you need light that is as close to natural as possible. But white is not "independent" and is obtained by a combination of red, green and blue. The first two types of LEDs were made a long time ago, but nothing worked with the blue ones: the wavelength was too short. The Japanese were able to solve this problem and at the same time finally bury incandescent lamps - LEDs are brighter and last longer, and they consume much less energy.
3rd place
William Shockley, John Bardeen, Walter Brattain. Nobel Prize in Physics 1956.
"Nobel" formulation: for his research on semiconductors and his discovery of the transistor effect.
In fact: for all electronics and computer equipment.
Transistors are the basis of any electronics, from a radio receiver to a processor. Without exception, all electronic devices are based on the invention of Nobel laureates. True, evil tongues claim that Shockley "joined" the work of Bardeen and Brattain, but this is not known for sure. But John Bardeen received two prizes in physics at once: he is the only one in the world who has achieved such recognition.
2nd place
Photo: Syda Productions/shutterstockr
William Conrad Roentgen. Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901.
"Nobel" formulation: in recognition of the exceptional service he rendered to science by the discovery of the remarkable rays which were later named after him.
In fact: for the creation of a universal detector.
X-rays are used everywhere: from the diagnosis of fractures and computed tomography to the study of black holes: the matter falling on them "shines" precisely in the X-ray range. So the first Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to the most worthy scientist.
1st place
Alexander Prokhorov, Nikolai Basov, Charles Townes. Nobel Prize in Physics 1964.
"Nobel" formulation: for fundamental work in the field of quantum electronics, which led to the creation of oscillators and amplifiers based on the laser-maser principle.
In fact: for a universal technology used absolutely everywhere.
At one time, lasers were called "a solution that is looking for a task." Today they are everywhere: welding - laser, cutting - laser, scalpel - laser, even stones in the bladder crush - laser; play with a cat - a laser in a pointer, play a new instrument - Jean-Michel Jarre and a laser harp. Not to mention the DVD.
By the way, none of the three laureates built the first laser. It was made by Theodor Meiman, but the Nobel Prize is not divided by four.
Alexey Paevsky
Chemist, engineer and inventor Alfred Nobel made his fortune primarily through the invention of dynamite and other explosives. At one time, Nobel became one of the richest on the planet.
In total, Nobel owned 355 inventions.
At the same time, the fame that the scientist enjoyed cannot be called good. In 1888 his brother Ludwig died. However, by mistake, journalists wrote in the newspapers about Alfred Nobel himself. Thus one day he read his own obituary in the press, entitled "Death Dealer Is Dead." This incident made the inventor think about what kind of memory he will remain in future generations. And Alfred Nobel changed his will.
The new will of Alfred Nobel offended the relatives of the inventor, who ended up with nothing.
A new will was read out to the millionaire in 1897.
According to this paper, all movable and immovable property of Nobel was to be converted into capital, which, in turn, should be placed in a reliable bank. The income from this capital should be annually divided into five equal parts and handed over in the form of scientists who have made the most significant discoveries in the field of physics, chemistry, medicine; writers who created literary works; and also to those who have made the most significant contribution "to the rallying of nations, the abolition of slavery or the reduction of the size of existing armies and the promotion of peace congresses" (Peace Prize).
First laureates
Traditionally, the first award is given in the field of medicine and physiology. So the very first Nobel laureate in 1901 was the German bacteriologist Emil Adolf von Behring, who was developing a vaccine against diphtheria.
Next, the laureate in physics receives the prize. Wilhelm Roentgen was the first to receive this award for the discovery of the rays named after him.
The first Nobel Prize winner in chemistry was Jacob van't Hoff, who investigated the laws of thermodynamics for various solutions.
The first writer to receive this high honor was René Sully-Prudhom.
The Peace Prize is awarded last. In 1901 it was divided between Jean Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy. Humanist from Switzerland Dunant - founder International Committee Red Cross (ICRC). Frenchman Frederic Passy is the leader of the movement for peace in Europe.
Advice 2: Which Russian writers were awarded the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in science, culture and social activities. Several domestic writers have also received this award for services to literature.
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin - the first Russian laureate
In 1933, Bunin became the first Russian writer to receive the Nobel Prize "for the truthful artistic talent with which he recreated into a typical character." The work that influenced the decision of the jury was the autobiographical novel "The Life of Arseniev". Forced to leave his homeland due to disagreement with the Bolshevik regime, Bunin is a poignant and touching work, full of love for the Motherland and longing for it. Having witnessed the October Revolution, the writer did not accept the changes that had taken place and the loss of tsarist Russia. He sadly recalled the old days, magnificent noble estates, measured life in family estates. As a result, Bunin created a large-scale literary canvas in which he expressed his innermost thoughts.Boris Leonidovich Pasternak - award for poetry in prose
Pasternak received the award in 1958 "for outstanding services in the modern and traditional field of great Russian prose." The novel "Doctor Zhivago" was especially noted by critics. However, in the homeland of Pasternak, a different reception awaited. A profound work about the life of the intelligentsia was negatively received by the authorities. Pasternak was expelled from the Union of Soviet Writers and virtually forgotten about its existence. Pasternak had to refuse the award.Pasternak not only wrote works himself, but was also a talented translator.
Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov - singer of the Russian Cossacks
In 1965, Sholokhov received a prestigious award for his large-scale epic novel Quiet Flows the Don. It still seems incredible how a young, 23-year-old aspiring writer could create such a deep and voluminous work. There were even disputes about Sholokhov's authorship with supposedly irrefutable evidence of plagiarism. Despite all this, the novel was translated into several Western and Eastern languages, and Stalin personally approved it.Despite the deafening fame of Sholokhov at an early age, his subsequent works were much weaker.
Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn - not accepted by the authorities
Another Nobel Prize winner who did not receive recognition in his native country is Solzhenitsyn. He received the award in 1970 "for the moral strength gleaned from the tradition of great Russian literature." After being imprisoned for political reasons for about 10 years, Solzhenitsyn was completely disillusioned with the ideology of the ruling class. He started publishing quite late, after 40 years, but only 8 years later he was awarded the Nobel Prize - no other writer had such a rapid take-off.Iosif Alexandrovich Brodsky - the last laureate of the award
Brodsky received the Nobel Prize in 1987 "for his all-encompassing authorship, full of clarity of thought and poetic depth." Brodsky's poetry caused rejection by the Soviet authorities. He was arrested and was in custody. After Brodsky continued to work, he was popular at home and abroad, but he was constantly monitored. In 1972, the poet was given an ultimatum - to leave the USSR. Brodsky received the Nobel Prize already in the USA, but he wrote the speech for the speech in Russian.Related videos
Tip 3: Which writers were awarded the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious awards. Since its inception, the Alfred Nobel Literary Prize has been awarded to 106 writers around the world.
What is the Nobel Prize in Literature awarded for?
The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded every year since 1901 to Nobel Prize winners in the field of literature. The Swedish Academy has the right to name. During its existence, writers from all over the world have received 106 Alfred Nobel Prizes.
In 1914, 1918, 1935, as well as during the Second World War from 1940 to 1943, not a single writer was awarded. According to the Nobel Foundation, the prize may not be awarded in the absence of worthy candidates. Four times in the history of the award's existence, two laureates at once became laureates: in 4, 17, 66 and 74 years of the last century.
Countries where Nobel laureates lived and worked
France (13), Great Britain (10), Germany and the USA (9 each) gave the world the largest number of Nobel Prize winners in literature. They are followed by Sweden, 7 writers who were born and worked in this country received the Nobel Prize. Among the Nobel laureates are 6 Italians, 5 Spaniards, 4 residents of Poland and the former USSR. 3 natives of Norway, Ireland and Denmark received the Alfred Nobel Prize in Literature. Greece, China, Chile, Switzerland, South Africa and Japan each have 2 Nobel Prize winners. Once during the presentation of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the names of writers born in such countries as Austria, Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Guatemala, Egypt, Israel, India, Iceland, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Portugal, Saint -Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Finland, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia. The stateless writer who received the Nobel Prize is Ivan Bunin, who emigrated from Russia to France in the 1920s.
Women and men who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
The beautiful half of humanity is a small part of the Nobel laureates:
Selma Lagerlöf received this prestigious award in 1909.
Grazia Deledda - in 1926.
Sigrid Unset - in 1928.
Pearl Buck - in 1938.
Gabriela Mistral - in 1945.
Nelly Zaks - in 1966.
Nadine Gordimer - in 1991.
Toni Morrison - in 1993.
Wislava Szymborska - in 1996.
Elfrida Jelinek - in 2004.
Doris Lessing - in 2007.
Herta Müller - in 2009.
Alice Munro - in 2013.
The Nobel Prize was awarded to such men:
1901 - Sully Prudhomme
1902 - To Theodor Mommsen
1903 - Bjornstjerne Bjornson
1904 - Frederic Mistral and José Echegaray y Eizagirre
1905 - Henryk Sienkiewicz
1906 - Giosuè Carducci
1907 - Rudyard Kipling
1908 - To Rudolf Aiken
1910 - Paul Heise
1911 - Maurice Maeterlinck
1912 - To Gerhart Hauptmann
1913 - Rabindranath Tagore
1915 - to Romain Rolland
1916 - to Carl Heydenstam
1917 - Karl Gjellerup and Henrik Pontoppidan
1919 - Karl Spitteler
1920 - To Knut Hamsun
1921 - Anatole France
1922 - Jacinto Benavente y Martinez
1923 - To William Yeats
1924 - Vladislav Reymont
1925 - Bernard Shaw
1927 - To Henri Bergson
1929 - To Thomas Mann
1930 - Sinclair Lewis
1931 - Eric Karlfeldt
1932 - To John Galsworthy
1933 - to Ivan Bunin
1934 - Luigi Pirandello
1936 - To Eugene O'Neill
1937 - Roger Martin du Garou
1939 - Frans Sillanpää
1944 - Wilhelm Jensen
1946 - to Hermann Hesse
1947 - André Gidoux
1948 - To Thomas Eliot
1949 - To William Faulkner
1950 - to Bertrand Russell
1951 - Peru to Lagerquist
1952 - Francois Mauriacou
1953 - To Winston Churchill
1954 - Ernest Hemingway
1955 - To Halldor Laxness
1956 - Juan Jimenez
1957 - Albert Camus
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1959 - Salvatore Quasimodo
1960 - Saint-John Perse
1961 - Ivo Andricu
1962 - To John Steinbeck
1963 - Yorgos Seferis
1964 - Jean-Paul Sartre
1965 - Mikhail Sholokhov
1966 - To Shmuel Agnon
1967 - Miguel Asturias
1968 - Yasunari Kawabata
1969 - To Samuel Beckett
1970 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
1971 - Pablo Neruda
1972 - Heinrich Böll
1973 - To Patrick White
1974 - To Eyvind Yunson and Harry Martinson
1975 - Eugenio Montale
1976 - Saul Bellow
1977 - Vicento Aleisandre
1978 - to Isaac Bashevis-Singer
1979 - Odyseas Elitis
1980 - Cheslav Milos
1981 - Elias Canetti
1982 - To Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1983 - To William Golding
1984 - Yaroslav Seifert
1985 - Claude Simon
1986 - Wole Shoyinka
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1988 - Nagibu Mahfuzu
1989 - Camilo Selu
1990 - Octavio Pasu
1992 - Derek Walcott
1994 - Kenzaburo Oe
1995 - Seamas Heaney
1997 - Dario Fo
1998 - Jose Saramago
1999 - To Gunther Grass
2000 - Gao Xingjian
2001 - Vidiadharu Naipolu
2002 - Imre Kertéssu
2003 - To John Coetzee
2005 - To Harold Pinter
2006 - Orhan Pamuk
2008 - Gustave Leclezio
2010 - Mario Vargas Llosa
2011 - To Tumas Transtromer
2012 - Mo Yan
Sources:
- Nobel Laureates
The history of the Nobel Prize began in 1889, when the brother of the famous inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, Ludwig, died. Then the journalists mixed up the information and posted an obituary on the death of Alfred, calling him a death dealer in it. It was toga that the inventor decided to leave behind a softer legacy that would bring joy to those who really deserved it.
Instruction
After the announcement of the will, Nobel broke out - the relatives were against the fact that a lot of money (which, according to those in modern times) went to the fund, and did not go to them. But despite the ardent condemnation of the relatives of the inventor in 1900, the fund was still founded.
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901 in Stockholm. The winners were scientists and researchers from various fields: physics, medicine, literature. The very first person to receive such a valuable award was Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen for the discovery of a new form of energy and rays, which received his name. Interestingly, Roentgen was not at the award ceremony. He learned that he became a laureate while in Munich. Moreover, laureates usually receive the prize second, but as a sign of deep respect and recognition of the importance of the discovery made by Rentegn, he was given the prize first.
The next nominee for the same prize was the chemist Jacob van't Hoff for his research in chemical dynamics. He proved that Avogadro's law is valid and valid for dilute solutions. In addition, van't Hoff experimentally proved that the osmotic pressure in weak solutions obeys the gas laws of thermodynamics. In medicine, Emil Adolf von Behring received recognition and honor for his discovery of blood serum. This study, according to the professional community, was an important step in the treatment of diphtheria. This helped to save many human lives, which before that were simply doomed.
The fourth in the same year received the prize writer - Rene Sully-Prudhomme. He was awarded for outstanding literary merit, the presence of high idealism in his works, artistic excellence, as well as for an unusual combination of sincerity and talent.
The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the founder of the International Red Cross, Jean Henri Dunant. So the judges noted his peacekeeping work. After all, Dunant founded a society for the protection of prisoners of war, initiated a campaign against the slave trade, and supported the exiled peoples.
Despite the fact that the first official Nobel Prize ceremony was held in 1901, it is believed that the very first such prize was awarded in 1896. Then the Imperial Russian Technical Society decided to award the engineer-technologist Alexei Stepanov for scientific merits. He received this honor for his research on "Fundamentals of Lamp Theory". She was not counted as the main one due to the fact that she bore the name not of Alfred Nobel, but of his brother Ludwig.
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Several million Swedish crowns, an honorary title, worldwide fame, authority and respect in society. This is the short summary of receiving in Stockholm or Oslo the most prestigious prize in the world - the Nobel Prize. The list of Nobel laureates dating back to 1901 also includes several dozen people who are directly or indirectly related to Russia/Soviet Union/RF.
Instruction
The history of the Nobel Prize began at the end of the 19th century. In 1896, Alfred Nobel, a well-known Swedish industrialist and "arms king", died. Nobel is famous, first of all, for the fact that he received over 350 patents for his inventions. Including dynamite. By the way, several of his enterprises that supplied weapons were in Russia and worked for the tsarist army.
Before his death, Alfred Nobel made a will, according to which part of his huge fortune - 31 million Swedish crowns - was to go to the establishment of special prizes. They could only be paid for outstanding achievements in various fields of science and culture that benefited all of humanity and were not directed to the creation of weapons.
MOSCOW, October 3 - RIA Novosti. The discovery of the mechanism of autophagy by Nobel laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi may lead to new approaches to cancer treatment and infection control, Deputy General Director for scientific work Federal Research Center for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology named after Rogachev Alexei Maschan.
Nobel laureate Yoshinori Ohsumi admitted that since childhood he dreamed of the prizeAt the same time, the laureate's wife, who was present at the press conference, said that her husband had never been an ambitious person, and she was first of all surprised.On Monday, the Nobel Committee announced in Stockholm that the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Japanese professor Yoshinori Ohsumi of the Tokyo Institute of Technology for discovering the mechanism of autophagy. A press release from the Nobel Committee states that "this year's laureate has discovered and described the mechanism of autophagy, the fundamental process of removing and utilizing cell components." Disturbances in the process of autophagy or cell cleansing of "garbage" can lead to the development of diseases such as cancer and neurological diseases, so knowledge about the mechanism of self-cleaning of cells can lead to a new and effective generation of drugs.
"Any open mechanism that studies cell death could potentially be useful in approaches to cancer treatment. Because the goal of cancer treatment is to destroy tumor cells as completely as possible," Maschan said.
He reported that before the discovery of autophagy, two mechanisms of cell death were known: "necrosis, when the cells swelled, swelled and burst, and the so-called apoptosis, which is exactly the opposite, when the cells shrank, the nucleus fragmented, and they died and were consumed by surrounding cells."
"But this mechanism, it is intermediate, also programmed, also regulated by a large number of genes, and it is a very interesting third mechanism of cell death. Therefore, of course, this is a very important fundamental discovery, from which really new approaches in treatment of tumors," the expert added.
At the same time, Maschan noted that this discovery can also be used in immunology, namely, to control infections and long-term support of immunity against their pathogens.
The Nobel Week in Stockholm started the day before, it was traditionally opened by the announcement of the winners of the prize for research in the field of physiology and medicine. The winners are James Ellison from the USA and Tasuku Honjo from Japan for the discovery of a new type of therapy in the treatment of oncological diseases.
The size of the Nobel Prize this year is 9 million crowns (slightly more than $1 million).
In a conversation with RBC director Institute of Physics Lebedev of the Russian Academy of Sciences Nikolai Kolachevsky noted that the methods of scientists for which the Nobel Prize was received have been used in laboratories for a long time. “These are the workhorses that are used both in Russia and abroad, and in commercial devices. This is a whole large layer of practical work behind these methods,” he said.
According to him, optical tweezers are used in biology, medicine, research related to chemistry. “[Optical tweezers] This is a method that allows you to capture small particles, sensors, sensors and objects in a focused laser beam that can be embedded in some kind of tissue or liquid and knead them in the right way,” says Kolachevsky. According to him, the method turned out to be very promising. “Then it turned out that it is possible to capture not one, but several particles, creating some light structures, and of a rather complex shape, that is, you can draw an asterisk or some kind of lattice using a laser,” he explained.
Working on a method for generating high-intensity ultrashort optical pulses, scientists have long tried to create the most powerful light pulse. “It would seem that there are laser amplifiers that allow you to amplify power, but from some point, if the power is already very high, the amplifying medium itself begins to break down,” he explained.
According to Kolachevsky, scientists came up with the idea of splitting the pulse into colors, making a rainbow out of it, “by driving it through amplifiers several times.” “And then [you need] to compress it with the reverse process. This results in extremely high-intensity high-power laser pulses, which can then be used in a wide range of applications. There are many research tasks in chemistry, areas of biology adjacent to chemistry. This is a huge layer of medical, biological and technological tasks,” he said.
The prize in the field of physics was awarded 111 times, 207 people received it, the first in 1901 was William Roentgen (Germany) for the discovery of radiation named after him. Among the laureates are 12 physicists from the USSR and Russia, as well as scientists who were born and educated in the Soviet Union, and then received a second citizenship. In 2010, Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov received awards for the creation of graphene (the world's thinnest material). In 2003, Alexey Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg, together with Anthony Leggett (Great Britain), received the award "for their innovative contribution to the theory of superconductors". In 2000, Zhores Alferov was awarded the prize for developing the concept of semiconductor heterostructures and its use in optoelectronics and high-speed electronics.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to US scientists Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss and Berry Berish. They received the award "for their decisive contribution to the laser-interferometric gravitational-wave observatory project and the observation of gravitational waves." And the only scientist to win the Physics Prize twice was John Bardeen: in 1956 for the invention of the bipolar transistor (with William Bradford Shockley and Walter Brattain), and in 1972 for the fundamental theory of conventional superconductors (with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Shriffer).
The Nobel Committee keeps the names of contenders for the award secret until the last moment. Among the possible winners in physics, researchers from Clarivate Analytics, analyzing the citation rating of scientists' articles in the Web of Science database, this year named American scientists David Oushalom and Arthur Gossard - for the discovery of the Hall effect in semiconductors, which explains the behavior of electrons in magnetic fields; astronomer and astrophysicist Sandra Faber from the USA - for studying the mechanisms of galaxy formation and the evolution of the large-scale structure of the Universe and for the theory of cold dark matter; American professor Yuri Gogotsi, Rodney Ruoff from South Korea and Patrice Simon from France - for discoveries in the field of carbon materials and supercapacitors. Physics World magazine named Lene Howe (Denmark) for experiments on reducing the speed of light using Bose-Einstein condensate, Yakir Aharonov (Israel) and Michael Berry (Great Britain) for the discovery of a number of quantum phenomena.