The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been announced. This year, 3 scientists received this award. These include American scientists David Baker, John Jumper and British scientist Demis Hassabis. The price is divided into two parts. The first part went to David Baker, who created a new type of protein.
Protein design is a technique in which proteins with new properties are prepared by modifying the structure of proteins. This helps make medicines and vaccines. The second part of the prize was awarded to Demis and John Jumper, who created an AI model to understand the structure of complex proteins.
A new protein used in medicine-vaccine
Protein functions as a chemical tool for the human body. It controls all chemical reactions occurring in the body and which are the basis of human life. Proteins are made up of around 20 different amino acids. In 2003, David Baker created a new type of protein using these amino acids. It is used in many vaccines and medicines.
AlphaFold AI model helps understand antibiotics
In the second discovery, an AI model was created to understand the structure of proteins. In fact, the amino acids in proteins are linked together in long chains that form a 3D structure. Since the 1970s, scientists have been trying to understand the structure of proteins based on amino acids, but without success.
In 2020, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper created an AI model AlphaFold 2. With its help, scientists were able to virtually understand the structure of 20 crore proteins. Today, the AlphaFold model is used by approximately 2 million people in 190 countries. Understanding the structure of proteins has helped scientists better understand antibiotics and create enzymes that break down plastic.
Profile of Nobel Prize winners
The 2024 Nobel Prize was awarded in the field of physics and medicine
The announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prize winners began on Monday October 7. On the first day, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun. This prize was awarded to him for the discovery of micro RNA (ribonucleic acid).
After that, the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced on Tuesday. This prize was awarded to Jeffrey E. Hinton, known as the godfather of AI, and American scientist John J. Donné in Hopefield. He received this honor for the development of new techniques related to machine learning based on artificial neurons. This Nobel Prize distribution will continue until October 14.
Scientists who will win the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was won by Maungi Bawendi, Louis Bruce and Alexey Ekimov. All three are American-born chemists. He received this honor for the discovery and development of quantum dots. Quantum dots are nanoparticles so small that their size determines their properties.
Quantum dots are now used to illuminate computer, cell phone and television screens. QLED technology is used there.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, of Indian origin, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, one of the most eminent scientists of Indian origin, was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the field of molecular biology. In 2000, he mapped the structure of the ribosome, made up of hundreds of thousands of atoms, using a method called X-ray crystallography. This helped greatly in making antibiotics.
Large and complex protein molecules manage all functions in the body of any organism. These are made in the ribosomes of the cell. Their genetic information is translated into chains of amino acids via RNA. This then produces proteins. Using this theory, he created the structure of the ribosome using X-ray crystallography.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 72, of Indian origin, lives in the United Kingdom. He holds American and British citizenship. He has carried out numerous works in biophysics and biochemistry.
Venkatraman was born in 1952 in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. He studied science in America and Britain. Apart from the Nobel Prize, Venkatraman was also awarded the Padma Vibhushan in 2010. He was selected for knighthood in the 2012 New Year Honors List.
Polonium was present in the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki, the scientist who discovered it received the Nobel Prize. Polish-born physicist and chemist Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie made many scientific discoveries. The discovery of two new elements, radium and polonium, was announced in 1898. It was a difficult task for Marie to separate pure samples of these elements. It took four years to extract 1 decigram of radium chloride from several tons of raw ore.
In 1911, Curie received his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of radium and polonium. A few years after Marie Curie was honored, America dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. Polonium was also a main element in the detonator of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Although Curie was not involved in the project of making the atomic bomb.
Marie Curie worked on radium and polonium with her husband Pierre Curie. Mary also received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903.
The chemist who made the lithium battery was the oldest Nobel laureate. The oldest Nobel Prize winner to date is John B. Pretty good. Goodenough was 97 years old when he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019. He was also the oldest laureate to be honored in a Nobel Prize field.
John Goodenough died on June 25, 2023. He was born on July 25, 1922 in Germany. Even at the age of 100, John was active in science.
In 1980, John Goodenough developed a lithium battery with a cobalt oxide cathode. Lithium ions can be placed at the molecular level in the cathode of cobalt oxide. This cathode gave a higher voltage than previous batteries. Goodenough’s contributions were significant in the development of the lithium-ion battery. Today it’s used in everything from cell phones to electric cars.
Know the Nobel Prize… On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will. In doing so, he devoted most of his will to a series of awards, the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is awarded in the fields of physiology, medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economic sciences.
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Nobel Prize in Medicine to two American scientists: awarded for the discovery of micro-RNA, useful in the identification of diseases such as cancer and diabetes
The announcement of the 2024 Nobel Prize winners began on Monday October 7. On the first day, the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology was announced. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun. He received this prize for the discovery of micro RNA (ribonucleic acid).