With the latest announcement of the recipients of The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2009, 11 Americans have been awarded the Nobel Prize in 2009. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award Elinor Ostrom the prize "for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons" and Oliver E. Williamson "for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm".

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 will be awarded President Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". The Norwegian Nobel Committee attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. The press release of the Committee includes the following statement:

"Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened."

On October 7, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced their decision to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 jointly to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (USA), Thomas A. Steitz (USA) and Ada E. Yonath (Israel) "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. Ribosomes produce proteins, which in turn control the chemistry in all living organisms. As ribosomes are crucial to life, they are also a major target for new antibiotics.

On October 6, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences made official their decision to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2009 with one half to Charles K. Kao and the other half jointly to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith. This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for two scientific achievements that have helped to shape the foundations of today’s networked societies. They have created many practical innovations for everyday life and provided new tools for scientific exploration. Charles K. Kao has been awarded the prize "for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication" and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith "for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit – the CCD sensor".

On October 5, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet made official their decision to award the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 jointly to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for the discovery of "how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase". This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase.
Source: Nobelprize.org


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