It's Nobel season

[Eta C]

Yes, the first week of October is coming and it's time for the announcement of this year's Nobel Prizes. The schedule, according to the Nobel website

Medicine: Monday October 3
Physics: Tuesday October 4
Chemistry: Wednesday October 5
Peace: Friday October 7
Economics: Monday October 10
Literature: TBD

Most of us will lose interest after Wednesday, of course. But those three days should be interesting. Any thoughts on what might win? One strong possibility in physics are the folks at SNO and SuperKamiokande who resolved the solar neutrino "problem" and opened the way to some new physics beyond the standard model.

On the other hand, maybe one of our "alternative" types might win and we'll all have to eat crow. ..........Nah!!!!!!

[Charlie in Dayton]

from the September 2005 issue of
The mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*#*

The Fifteenth 1st Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony

The new winners will be journeying, from slightly more than four
continents, to attend the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony on

Thursday night, October 6, at Harvard University.

This year's theme is INFINITY. The ceremony will include three
Infinite Lectures, as well as the premiere of the mini-opera "The
Count of Infinity," and the Win-a-Date-with-a-Nobel-Laureate
Contest.

TICKETS: Tickets for the ceremony are on sale from the Harvard Box
office: <http://140.247.170.40/tickets/details.cfm?EVENT_ID=4537>
Telephone: (+1) 617-496-2222.

WEBCAST: The live webcast is at <http://www.improbable.com>.

TIME: The webcast will begin at 7:15 pm. with a special pre-
concert ("Infinite Chopsticks") by pianist Nicholas Carstoiu.
The ceremony proper begins at 7:30 pm.

AUDIENCE DELEGATIONS: If you have five or more tickets and wish to
register as an audience delegation, please do. The registration
deadline is FRIDAY, SEPT. 30.
<http://www.improbable.com/ig/2005/2005-details.html#delegations>

DETAILS: are at < http://www.improbable.com/ig/2005/2005-details.html>

[Gillianren]

hey, the only two I stand a shot of understanding/having heard of are TBD and Friday, so what's all this about losing interest? (well, maybe medicine. medicine's relatively easy to understand.)

[Eta C]

Sorry Gillian, I intended no disrespect toward the Literature prize. It's just that the physics and chemistry (and perhaps medicine) prizes would have more in common with the theme of the board.

[TriangleMan]

Maybe this year the Nobel Committee for Medicine will grant me the recognition I deserve for my intensive research into whether a diet of primarily pizza will cause weight gain!

I will admit that despite my background in accounting I have never had an interest in who wins the Economics prize. The Peace prize is interesting but hard to predict as it often goes to organizations or to people who have done much helping causes that get little attention in North America (conflicts in the third world, etc.). Physics and Chem? I'm not well-versed enough to know about the cutting-edge breakthroughs but I like to read about what the winners' research was all about.

[publiusr]

Sorry Gillian, I intended no disrespect toward the Literature prize. It's just that the physics and chemistry (and perhaps medicine) prizes would have more in common with the theme of the board.

True, and with generalists getting no funding--the prize will go to some over-specialized field with the winner being some obtuse paper that will go on the shelf and collect dust--since no one but a handful will read it. The carbon nano-sheet folks, however, deserve to win.

I went to a local college library and found some NASA Documents that couldn't have more dust on them than if they were in the Ark. I also saw old copies of The Journal of Spacecraft & Rockets--but my guess is I was the first human who picked one up ever since the series was donated.

Sickening.

[iron4]

Bono is in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize. One of the songs of U2 is called "Peace on Earth". Did it have any influence on his nomination?

[hhEb09'1]

Let's start chanting "Bono, Bono, Bono..." and see if it influences the decision. That's what I did with Bergoglio.

[Eta C]

Let the awards begin.

The 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren "For their discovery of the bacterium Helicobactor Pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease"

The press release explains the discovery.

Tomorrow: Physics.

[hhEb09'1]

The press release explains the discovery.

I can remember a few casual dismissals of this study in the early eighties. New heroes for the set upon.

[Eta C]

Yeah, add this to plate tectonics as an example of a dismissed idea that came out to be correct. Of course, they had the benefit of being right and of being able to provide scientific evidence for H. Pylori being the cause of ulcers.

We could turn this around on the "set upon," however. It's evidence that science does not suppress unorthodox ideas and that if evidence for one of them mounts, then that unorthodox idea will enter the mainstream.

[iron4]

Lubos Motl gives a list of possible winners in his weblog...

http://motls.blogspot.com/2005/09/no...-for-2005.html

Green
Schwartz
Witten
Shuji Nakamura
Yoshinori Tokura
Alan Guth
Linde
Steinhardt
Vera Rubin
Edward Lorenz
Peter Higgs... (this won't win I guess...)

[Matthew]

The 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren "For their discovery of the bacterium Helicobactor Pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease"

They're both Australians!

The Nobel Prize for physics went to two seperate entries:

• "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence"
• "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique"

See the Nobel information here.

[kucharek]

Let the awards begin.

The 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to Barry Marshall and Robin Warren "For their discovery of the bacterium Helicobactor Pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease"

That little rascal nearly killed me some 15 years ago. Due to the guys from Oz, I got the proper treatment and never had problems again.

[hhEb09'1]

Due to the guys from Oz, I got the proper treatment and never had problems again.

na zdrowie!

[Eta C]

They're both Australians!

The Nobel Prize for physics went to two seperate entries:

• "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence"
• "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique"

See the Nobel information here.

Acck. ToSeeked!. It figures one of the members from Australia would hear the news while I was asleep. The winners were:

Roy Glauber of Harvard : Half the prize for quantum optical coherence.

John Hall of U. Colorado & NIST
Theodor Hansch of Max-Plank-Institute for Quantum Physics: Shared the other half for laser based precision spectroscopy.

The press release is here

Interesting to note the prize was split between a theoritician (Glauber) and two experimentalists (Hall and Hansch). Sorry Iron4. Motl struck out (as did I).

[kucharek]

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2005 goes to Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis".

One French, two US. Gee, Nobel Prize Comittee is working hard on improving the relations between the US and Old Europe (compare with yesterdays Physics prize). Maybe they give the Nobel Peace Prize to George W. Bush and Fidel Castro?

[Eta C]

Press release here.

Why is this important? To quote the release

This represents a great step forward for "green chemistry", reducing potentially hazardous waste through smarter production. Metathesis is an example of how important basic science has been applied for the benefit of man, society and the environment.

One does have to wonder a bit about how the committee determines the split. Physics was half - quarter - quarter. Chemistry was evenly split since all three worked on the same thing. Although it's less cash on the barrelhead, in the long run, it doesn't matter. You still get the same medal & diploma and the long term job security that goes with the award.

Tomorrow, a day off. We get the IgNobels instead. That should be amusing.

[kucharek]

The French guy is pretty unhappy about the prize. He said, his research is long time ago and he is living now a quiet life he enjoyed. Due to the prize, he has now lots of trouble.

[Candy]

Americans, German Win Nobel Physics Prize

AP) - Two Americans and a German won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for optics research that is improving the accuracy of such precision instruments as GPS locators, atomic clocks and navigation systems.

I bet Swansont is ecstatic!

[hhEb09'1]

The French guy is pretty unhappy about the prize. He said, his research is long time ago and he is living now a quiet life he enjoyed. Due to the prize, he has now lots of trouble.

Check out the interview with Yuan T. Lee, "Maybe we should return the prize to the foundation?"

[swansont]

Americans, German Win Nobel Physics Prize


I bet Swansont is ecstatic!

Yep! I was a little suprised that it was this soon, though; I thought it would take a little more maturing of the frequency comb applications before he was seriously considered. I met Professor Haensch this summer at a conference - he was my thesis advisor's thesis advisor. I am now of Nobel blood, as it were (many colleagues in atomic physics are descended from Rabi and Ramsey)

And there's a reasonably good chance I'll be working on frequency combs myself in a few years. Technically the current application is frequency standards; to turn them into clocks is a different extension of the technique.

[kucharek]

http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/2005/index.html

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 goes to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei.

[Maha Vailo]

^ Well, that ought to make Glom happy.

- Maha "fission: a Nobel thing" Vailo

[Gillianren]

aw, man! I was so hoping I'd own an album by a Nobel Peace Prize winner! it would go so nicely on the shelf with the signed novel by a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

[Eta C]

OK, for completeness sake here's the latest. Technically it's not a Nobel, but the The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel went to Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling. The award was "For having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis"

The final Nobel of 2005, for Literature, will be announced on Thursday the 13th.

[ToSeek]

OK, for completeness sake here's the latest. Technically it's not a Nobel, but the The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel went to Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling. The award was "For having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis"

The final Nobel of 2005, for Literature, will be announced on Thursday the 13th.

Schelling is/was a neighbor of mine, in a generous sense - at least he worked at the University of Maryland, which is just a couple of miles from here.

[Candy]

I met Professor Haensch this summer at a conference - he was my thesis advisor's thesis advisor. I am now of Nobel blood, as it were (many colleagues in atomic physics are descended from Rabi and Ramsey)...

ToSeek brings up a thought - I wonder how many BAUTers are of Nobel blood. I remember reading where hhEb09'1 had telephoned a person who won the Nobel Prize, simply to discuss an additional idea or something to that affect. I think he was Grapes then. Grapes was surprised the man answered his own published number. Yes, this was a really really old thread I read.

[ToSeek]

One of my classmates in the class I took at MIT used to be on their faculty with Riccardo Giacconi (laureate) and Bruno Rossi (who would have been a laureate had he lived long enough). Alan Guth, not a laureate (yet) but just the developer of inflation theory, is in the same department as the professor who taught the course.

[Eta C]

When I was a grad student at Illinois my office/lab was just down the hall from John Bardeen's. He was an emeritus professor by then, but still came in every day. I never really talked with him except to exchange a good morning. The first time I crossed paths with him, though, I had to resist the temptation to fall down and worship the ground he'd just trodden.

Also, Burt Richter, who was the director of SLAC by then, used to come by my thesis experiment's control room every morning about 7AM to see how things were going, get a cup of espresso, and, perhaps, to visit the site of past glories (it was the same control room as the experiment that found the J/Psi). It could be quite disconcerting to a grad student on the owl shift (midnight to 8) to hear this booming voice behind you asking how the run was going. Usually, having been up all night, the response was somewhat muddled.