Nobel Prize Winners 2020: Groundbreaking Discoveries and Making History

Nobel Prize is the most prestigious award given to those who have contributed to the different sectors in society, such as economics, physics, medicine, chemistry, and literature.

Every October, the world waits for the winners of the award for each category, and they are given the prize every December in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway.

Nobel Prize winners

Here is the list of the Nobel Prize winners for 2020:

Economic Science

On October 12, economists Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson from America have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. This is for their contributions to auction theory.

Both Milgrom and Wilson are professors at Stanford University in California. They were recognized for their theoretical discoveries that improved how auctions work.

Milgrom and Wilson also designed auction formats for goods and services that are deemed too difficult to sell in a traditional way, like radio frequencies, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Also Read: Nobel Prize in Literature Awarded to Cambridge Poet Louise Gluck

Literature

On October 9, the Nobel Prize in Literature was given to Louise Glück, an American poet. She is the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature since 2016.

Glück is now the 16th woman to win the prize in the literature category. She has published 12 collections of poetry and has published numerous volumes of essays on poetry. Her writing focuses on themes of childhood and family relationships.

Medicine

On October 5, the Nobel Prize in Medicine has been given to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton, and Charles M. Rice for their discovery of the hepatitis C virus.

According to The New York Times, the three scientists made vital discoveries that eventually led to identifying a novel virus.

The assembly said that the three scientists made a decisive contribution to fight against hepatitis, which is considered a major global health problem that causes liver cancer and cirrhosis in people worldwide.

Chemistry

On October 7, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for their development of a method that has helped in genome editing, according to The Washington Post.

The two scientists discovered CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors, known as one of the sharpest and best tools in gene technology. Using these tools, researchers can change the DNA of plants, animals, and micro-organisms with very high precision.

Physics

On October 6, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to scientists Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez for their discoveries about black holes.

Penrose is a professor at the University of Oxford Penrose and had worked with Stephen Hawking in studying black holes and the Big Bang Theory. He was born in Colchester in England.

Ghez is the fourth woman to be awarded a prize in physics. She was born in New York City and is a professor at the University of California.

Genzel was born in Germany; he is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and a professor at the University of California.

Nobel Peace Prize

On October 9, it was announced that the World Food Programme won the Nobel Peace Prize for this year. The initiative was created in 1961, and it now provides food to more than 90 million people every year.