CPS 302 Society, Science, and Technology Wensheng Shen Department of Computational Science SUNY Brockport

The Nobel Prize What is Noble prize? Is it the most prestigious prize in the world? –Established in First prize in –Physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. –It is conferred annually on December 10. –Where is the award conferred? –Later on, an associated prize on economics was added in 1968 by Sweden’s Central Bank and first awarded in Who is Alfred Nobel? –1833—1896 What is his nationality?

World prize in mathematics Why there is not Nobel prize in Mathematics? – Maybe he was not particularly interested in mathematics or theoretical science. Fields medal –Founded in the name of Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields. –The top honor to a mathematician. –The receiver should be less than 40. –It is awarded every 4 years.

2009 Nobel Prize Winners Physics: –Charles K. Kao Standard Telecommunication Laboratories, Harlow, United Kingdom; Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China For groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication Copper wires Glass fibers Electromagnetic interference –Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith For the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit --- the CDD sensor CCD (charge-coupled device): convert light into electrons CCD sensor and CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) sensor

Chemistry: –Venkatraman Ramakrishnan MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom –Thomas A. Steitz Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA –Ada E. Yonath Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel The ribosome translates the DNA code 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

They have showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level. All three have used a method called X-ray crystallography to map the position for each and every one of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome. Inside every cell in all organisms, there are DNA molecules. They contain the blueprints for how a human being, a plant or a bacterium, looks and functions. But the DNA molecule is passive. If there was nothing else, there would be no life. The blueprints become transformed into living matter through the work of ribosomes. Based upon the information in DNA, ribosomes make proteins: oxygen-transporting haemoglobin, antibodies of the immune system, hormones such as insulin, the collagen of the skin, or enzymes that break down sugar. There are tens of thousands of proteins in the body and they all have different forms and functions. They build and control life at the chemical level. An understanding of the ribosome's innermost workings is important for a scientific understanding of life. This knowledge can be put to a practical and immediate use; many of today's antibiotics cure various diseases by blocking the function of bacterial ribosomes. Without functional ribosomes, bacteria cannot survive. This is why ribosomes are such an important target for new antibiotics. This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering.

Physiology or Medicine: –Elizabeth H. Blackburn: Professor of biology and physiology at the University of California, San Francisco –Carol W. Greider: Professor in the department of molecular biology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore –Jack W. Szostak: Professor of genetics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston They 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 solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres – and in an enzyme that forms them – telomerase

Peace Prize Barack H. Obama: For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people