A Brief Recap of the 2023 Nobel Prizes
(because I’m a chemistry major and the science prizes this year are mostly chemistry-related and my professors have been gushing about them)
This information was synthesized from the Nobel Prize website press releases and other information found on their website about the background of the prize winners.
Nobel Prize in Physics 2023
Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."
These scientists and their research groups worked with lasers to refine their ability to shine light on a molecule of interest for bursts of light lasting a mere 1×10−18 of a second, and improved our understanding of the photoelectric effect (when you shine light on a surface, sometimes it knocks electrons off of the surface). We can use this science to further understand interactions between light, matter, and electrons!
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023
Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexey I. Yekimov "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots."
These scientists created nanocrystals which have different properties at different sizes! This has increased our knowledge about nanomaterials. The prize-winning scientists’ groups did research in synthesizing and understanding the properties of quantum dots. They improved on techniques for making predictable nanomaterials with known structures. (PS: Take Nicole James’ Chemistry 315 and synthesize your own quantum dots!)
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman "for their discoveries concerning base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19."
These scientists worked on vaccinations that were coded using our body’s own messenger system, mRNA, and their years of research made the COVID-19 vaccines possible. When the human body processes mRNA, it has to have recognized tags added to some of the nucleotides that make the structure, or the body organizes an immune response that destroys the mRNA.
Nobel Prize in Literature 2023
Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”
Jon Fosse is a Norwegian writer whose works have been translated into many other languages. A Nobel Prize website post by Anders Olsson gives three recommendations on what to read: Stengd gitar (Closed Guitar(?), 1985), a novel about a woman searching for a way to get back to her baby in a locked apartment, centered around “the critical moment of irresolution”; Morgon og kveld (Morning and Evening, 2000), a short novel about a fisherman dying in the countryside; and a Septology of three books completed in 2021: parts I-II Det andre namnet (The other name) published in 2019, III-V Eg er ein annan (I Is Another) published in 2020, and VI-VII Eit nytt namn (A New Name) published in 2021. This septology focuses on a conversation between a painter and his unhappy, alcoholic friend with the same name, and centers on the painting he is unable to complete.
What to read: Jon Fosse. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2023. Wed. 8 Nov 2023. <https://www.nobelprize.org/what-to-read-jon-fosse/>
Nobel Peace Prize 2023
Narges Mohammadi “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
This engineer is an advocate for social justice and women’s rights. She has been imprisoned multiple times in Iran for assisting incarcerated activists and their families and is currently in prison for her activism against the use of the death penalty. She is writing from prison to condemn violence against political prisoners, encourage protests in Iran following the killing of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022 in Iranian morality police custody, and share her story. This award is also a way for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to recognize thousands of people who have demonstrated against oppressive conditions and discrimination in Iran.
“Woman – Life – Freedom” is a protest motto the Nobel Prize Committee used to summarize her work.