2009 Nobel Prize Winners

By: Dianne Blair | Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The 2009 Nobel Prize winners have been announced on Monday, October 12, 2009. The winners will receive their prizes on the Nobel Prize awarding ceremony which will be held at Oslo City Hall on December 10, 2009. Here are the winners this year:

Nobel Prize In Physiology / Medicine

Carolyn Widney “Carol” Greider (United States) – 48 years old ; Molecular biologist at the Johns Hopkins University
Elizabeth Helen Blackburn (Australia and US) – 61 years old ; Biological researcher at the University of California
Jack William Szostak (United States) – 57 years old ; Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School

They are awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology / Medicine for their discovery of how telomeres are protected from progressive shortening by the enzyme telomerase, work that has inspired experimental cancer therapies and may offer insights into aging.

Nobel Prize In Physics

Charles Kuen (“K. C.”) Kao (United States) – 76 years old ; Father of Fiber Optics
George Elwood Smith (United States) – 79 years old ; co-inventor of the charge-coupled device
Willard Sterling Boyle (Canada) – 85 years old ; co-inventor of the charge-coupled device

They are awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics for groundbreaking achievements concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication / the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit—the CCD sensor.

Nobel Prize In Chemistry

Ada Yonath (Israel) – 70 years old ; Israeli crystallographer
Venkatraman “Venki” Ramakrishnan (United States)- 56 years old ; Born in Tamil Nadu, India structural biologist at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England
Thomas Arthur Steitz (United States) – 69 years old ; Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Yale University

They have created detailed blueprints of ribosomes, the protein-making machinery within cells, research that’s being used to develop new antibiotics.

Nobel Prize In Literature

Herta Mueller (Germany) – noted for her works depicting the harsh conditions of life in Communist Romania under the repressive Nicolae Ceausescu regime. The concentration of poetry and the frankness of her prose made her nobel worthy in Literarary category.

Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. President Barack Obama – [See details here - Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize]

The Nobel Memorial Prize In Economic Sciences

Elinor Ostrom (United States) – 76 years old ; The first woman to win the Nobel Prize in this category and fifth woman to win a Nobel award this year.
Oliver Williamson (United States) – 77 years old ; American author in the area of transaction cost economics

Their work in economic governance made them nobel worthy in Economic Sciences category.

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