The Nobel Peace Prize 2023

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

This year's peace prize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against Iran's theocratic regime's policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. The motto adopted by the demonstrators - "Woman - Life - Freedom" - suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi.

Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. Her brave struggle for freedom of expression and the right of independence has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime in Iran has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Narges Mohammadi is still in prison.

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2023 is awarded to the Norwegian author Jon Fosse, “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

His immense oeuvre written in Norwegian Nynorsk and spanning a variety of genres consists of a wealth of plays, novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books, and translations. While he is today one of the most widely performed playwrights in the world, he has also become increasingly recognised for his prose.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".

Physicists had long known that in theory, size-dependent quantum effects could arise in nanoparticles, but at that time it was almost impossible to sculpt in nano dimensions. Therefore, few people believed that this knowledge would be put to practical use.

However, in the early 1980s, Alexei Ekimov succeeded in creating size-dependent quantum effects in coloured glass. The colour came from nanoparticles of copper chloride and Ekimov demonstrated that the particle size affected the colour of the glass via quantum effects.

A few years later, Louis Brus was the first scientist in the world to prove size-dependent quantum effects in particles floating freely in a fluid.

In 1993, Moungi Bawendi revolutionised the chemical production of quantum dots, resulting in almost perfect particles. This high quality was necessary for them to be utilised in applications.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2023

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2023 was awarded jointly to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier "for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter".

The three Nobel Prize laureates in Physics 2023 are being recognized for their experiments, which have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules. They have demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy.

Pierre Agostini (Affiliation at the time of the award: The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA): Prize motivation: “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”

Ferenc Krausz (Affiliation at the time of the award: Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany; Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany): “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”

Anne L’Huillier (Affiliation at the time of the award: Lund University, Lund, Sweden): “for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter”

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2023

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.”

The discoveries by the two Nobel Prize laureates were critical for developing effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 during the pandemic that began in early 2020. Through their groundbreaking findings, which have fundamentally changed our understanding of how mRNA interacts with our immune system, the laureates contributed to the unprecedented rate of vaccine development during one of the greatest threats to human health in modern times.

 Image Courtesy: The Nobel Committe for Physiology or Medicine. Ill. Mattias Karlén

Katalin Karikó (Affiliation at the time of the award: Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA): “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.

Drew Weissman (Affiliation at the time of the award: Penn Institute for RNA Innovations, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA): “for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.