MODULE 32 NOBEL PRIZES

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Nobel Prize  Brief outline of the pioneering work by eminent scientists

32.1 INTRODUCTION Nobel prize is the annual international award to honour the eminent persons in academic, cultural and /or social activities. Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in the year 1895 and the first prizes were awarded in the year 1901 in various categories,Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physiology of Medicine

32.2 Nobel Prize winners

1901 Physics - W. C. Roentgen - Discovery of X-rays

X-rays were accidentally discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a German Physicist, on 8th November 1895 when he was working with cathode ray tube. He explored various properties of X-rays when it interacts with matter. He also contributed to the study of modification of the planes of polarized light by electromagnetic influences, of thermal conductivity of crystals and worked out on the influence of pressure on the refractive indices of various fluids.

1914 Physics - Diffraction of X-rays by crystals - M. Von Laue

Max Theodor Felix von Laue was greatly excited by Einstein's theory of relativity and published papers on the application of this theory. His major contribution is the discovery of the diffraction of X-rays by crystals, which was an evidence for the fact that X-rays are electromagnetic in nature. His research was also in other areas like optics, quantum theory, superconductivity and theory of relatively.

1915 Physics - Use of X-rays to determine crystal structure - W. H. Bragg and W. L. Bragg

William Henry Bragg's work majorly concerned with the “Theory of the Ionization of Gases” and Ionization Curves of Radium”. He is the inventor of X-ray spectrometer to examine the diffraction of X-rays from crystals. William Lawrence Bragg, son of W.H. Bragg derived a relationship between the wavelength of X-rays, inter-planar spacing and he angle of diffraction. Nobel prize was awarded jointly to father and son for their contribution in the field of X-ray diffraction.

1917 Physics - Discovery of the characteristic Roentgen radiation of the elements - C. G. Barkla

In 1909, characteristic X-rays were discovered by Charles Glover Barkla.

He was the first to show that secondary emission is of two kinds, one

consisting of X-rays scattered unchanged and the other a fluorescent

radiation characteristic to the particular substance. He received Nobel prize

in 1917 for the invention of secondary X-rays. He had shown both the

applicability and the limitation of the quantum theory in relation to Röntgen

radiation.

1929 Physics - The wave nature of the electron - L.-V. de Broglie

Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie received Nobel prize for the discovery of wave nature of electron particle. He discovered a series of important findings on quantum theory in his doctoral thesis which later served as a basis for developing “wave mechanics”. He also worked on Dirac's electron theory and the general theory of spin particles and the applications of wave mechanics to nuclear physics, etc.UNESCO awarded him the first Kallinga award in 1952, for the efforts he took to explain the phenomenon of modern physics to the layman.

1936 Chemistry - For the contributions towards understanding molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases - P. J. W. Debye

Peter Joseph William Debye, physical chemist, contributed enormously in the investigations of dipole moments, X-rays and light scattering in gases. His major work was on understanding the dipole moments to determine the degree of polarity of covalent bonds and to determine bond angles. The spatial configuration of molecules, say for example, the planarity of the benzene ring was confirmed by the measurements of dipole moments. He utilized the concept of dipole moment to understand the charge distribution in asymmetric molecules. He also analyzed the effect of temperature on X-ray diffraction patters of crystalline solids which is generally termed as Debye - Waller factor.

1937 Physics - Diffraction of electrons by crystals - C. J. Davisson and G. Thompson

Clinton Joseph Davisson and George Paget Thompson shared the prize in Physics in the year 1937 for their experimental discovery of the interference phenomena arising when crystals are exposed to electronic beams. Davisson performed experiments on the diffraction of electrons form the surface of a solid crystal. Thompson carried out experiments on the behaviour of electrons going through very thin films of metals, which showed that electrons behave as waves in spite of being particles.

1946 Chemistry - For his discovery that enzymes can be crystallised - J. B. Sumner

His ambitious idea to isolate an enzyme in pure form in this case urease, against the doubt on many of his colleagues and became successful. He was the first to crystallize an enzyme. Sumner had devised a general crystallization method for enzymes.

1954 Chemistry - For his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances - L. C. Pauling

He suggested, and attempted to carry out, an experiment on the orientation of iron atoms by a magnetic field, through the electrolytic deposition of a layer of iron in a strong magnetic field Nature of chemical bond. His contribution also concerns with the application of quantum mechanics to physical and chemical problems, including dielectric constants, X-ray doublets, momentum distribution of electrons in atoms, rotational motion of molecules in crystals, Van der Waals forces. Determination of structure of proteins, especially the nature of

1962 Physiology or Medicinealpha - The helix helical structure of DNA - F. Crick, J. Watson and M. Wilkins The Nobel Prize was awarded jointly to Francis Harry Compton Crick, James Dewey Watson and Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material. The formulation of double helical structure of the DNA with specific pairing of the organic bases, opened the most spectacular possibilities for the unravelling of the details of the control and transfer of genetic information.

1962 Chemistry - For their studies of the structures of globular proteins - J. C. Kendrew and M. Perutz

Kendrew produced a low-resolution 6 Å structure of myoglobin in the year 1957 and the high-resolution 2 Å structure in 1959. Perutz completed a low-resolution 5.5 Å map of hemoglobin that same year and a high-resolution 2.8 Å map in 1968. In recognition of what they had accomplished, Perutz and Kendrew shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1962.

1964 Chemistry - Structure of many biochemical substances including Vitamin B12 - Structure of many biochemical substances including Vitamin B12 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin

She received nobel prize for her determinations by X-ray techniques of the structures of important biochemical substances. She has solved the structures of pencillin and Vitamin B12 among others. Her pioneering work helped unravel the structures of proteins, including insulin, which she studied for more than 30 years.

1972 Chemistry - Folding of protein chains - Christian B. Anfinsen, Stanford Moore, William H. Stein

Anfinsen proposed that the information determining the tertiary structure of a protein resides in the chemistry of its amino acid sequence and also for his work on ribonuclease. One half of the prize was shared by Anfinsen and other half was equally shared by Moore and Stein for their contribution to of the connection between chemical structure and catalytic activity of the active centre of the ribonuclease molecule.

1976 Chemistry - Structure of boranes - W. N. Lipscomb

William N Lipscomb was awarded Nobel prize for his studies on the structure of boranes illuminating problems of chemical bondin. He has studied the pure electrically neutral borane molecules and also investigated charged borane molecules and other molecules closely related to the boranes. He has also contributed notably in the studies of the structure and mechanism of enzymes.

1982 Chemistry - Development of crystallographic electron microscopy and discovery of the structure of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes - A. Klug

The method developed by Klug is based on an ingenious combination of electron microscopy with principles from direct methods which allows electron microscope pictures of high quality to be obtained with very low radiation doses and without the use of heavy metal stains. He has also shown that the three-dimensional reconstruction of the object can be obtained by collecting the images / pictures in several different directions of projection. His method made it possible to determine structures at high resolution of functionally important molecular aggregates.

1985 Chemistry - Development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures - H. Hauptman and J. Karle

Nobel prize was jointly awarded to Hauptman and Karle in the year 1985 for their outstanding achievements in the development of direct methods for the determination of crystal structures. Direct methods are used to directly solve the phase problem by the use of phase relationships based on the observed intensities. Herbert Hauptman was the first mathematician to receive the Nobel Prize but in the field of chemistry.

1988 Chemistry - For the determination of the three-dimensional structure of a photosynthetic reaction centre - J. Deisenhofer, R. Huber and H. Michel

They unraveled the full details of how a

membrane-bound protein is built up,

revealing the structure of the molecule atom

by atom.Hartmut Michel succeeded in

crystallizing the membrane bound protein

and the structure was determined by

Deisenhofer and Huber which clearly

illustrated the reaction centre in a membrane

in a photosynthetic bacterium.

1991 Physics - Methods of discovering order in simple systems can be applied to polymers and liquid crystals - P.-G. de Gennes

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes has received the prize for his pioneering work on

lliquid crystals and polymers. He discoverws that methods developed for

studying order phenomena in simple systems can be generalised to more

complex forms of matter, in particular to liquid crystals and polymers. He

also developed the fundamental physical theories of liquid crystals which

underpin today's understanding of the beautiful and delicate state of matter,

ubiquitously found today in commercial flat-panel liquid crystal displays.

1992 Physics - Discovery of the multiwire proportional chamber - G. Charpak

He received the Nobel prize in the year 1922 for his invention and

development of particle detectors, in particular, the multiwire proportional

chamber. This invention is a breakthrough in technique for exploring the

innermost parts of the matter. In practice, even today, every experiment in

particle physics uses certain type of track detector that has been developed

from Charpak's original invention.

1994 Physics - Neutron diffraction - C. G. Shull and N. Brockhouse

Clifford G Sull and Bertram N. Brockhouse equally shared the prize for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter. Clifford G. Shull received the prize for the development of neutron diffraction technique and Bertram N. Brockhouse for the development of neutron spectroscopy.

1996 Chemistry - Discovery of the fullerene form of carbon - R.Curl, H. Kroto and R. Smalley

They discovered the new form of the carbon

element in which the carbon atoms are arranged in

a closed shell, called as fullerenes. Fullerenes are

formed when vapourised carbon condenses in an

atmosphere of inert gases. They performed the

experiment together with graduate students during a

period of eleven days in 1985. By fine-tuning the

experiment they were able to produce clusters with 60 carbon atoms and clusters with 70.

1997 Chemistry - Elucidation of the enzymatic mechanism underlying the synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and discovery of an ion-transporting enzyme - P. D. Boyer, J. E. Walker and J. C. Skou

They performed pioneering work on

enzymes that participate in the conversion

of high energy compound ATP. Boyer and

Walker shared half prize for their work on

how the enzyme ATP synthase catalyses

the formation of ATP. Boyer and his

co-workers have proposed the mechanism

for how ATP is formed from adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate based on the biochemical data. Walker and his co-workers have established the structure of the enzyme and verified the mechanism proposed by Boyer. Skou received half of the prize for the discovery of the enzyme sodium, potassium-stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (Na + , K + -ATPase) which maintains the balance of sodium and potassium ions in the living cell.

2003 Chemistry - Discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes - P. Agre and R. MacKinnon

Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon shared the prize equally for the discovery of water channels and for structural/mechanistic studies of ion channels, respectively. The prize was awarded for the title “discoveries concerning channels in cell membranes”. They have explored the family of molecular machines which are needed for the cell to function - channels, gates, valves.

2006 Chemistry - Studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription - R. D. Kornberg

He is the son of Arthur Kornberg who is the Noble prize winner in medicine in the year 1959. Roger D. Kornberg was awaarded Nobel prize in 2006 in Chemistry for his studies of molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription, the process by which genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA. He also solved the three dimensional crystal structure of RNA polymerase at atomic resolution.

2009 Chemistry - Studies of the structure and function of the ribosome - V. Ramakrishnan, T. A. Steitz and A. E. Yonath

They revealed how ribosomes translated the DNA code to life. All three have used X-ray Crystallography to determine structures showing exactly where different antibiotics attack bacterial ribosomes.

2010 Physics - For groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene - A. Geim and K. Novoselov

Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov won the Nobel prize for

their pioneering work on graphene. The inventive step that

made Geim and Novoselov that lead to the winning of the

prize was to find a way of transferring the ultra-thin flakes of

graphene from Scotch tape to a silicon wafer, the material of

microprocessors.

2011 Chemistry - For the discovery of quasicrystals - D. Shechtman

He discovered icosahedral phase which opened a new field of quasiperiodic crystals. A quasiperiodic crystal or quasicrystal is a structure that is ordered but not periodic. His work in the area of quasicrystals, ordered crystalline materials lacking repeating structures, such as this Al-Pd-Mn alloy was his Nobel Prize winning work.

2012 Chemistry - For studies of G-protein-coupled receptors - R. J. Lefkowitz and B. K. Kobilka

Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Koblika have shared the prize for their ground-breaking discoveries on the structure and function of the G-protien coupled receptors through which cells sense and respond to the signals.

2013 Chemistry - For the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems - M. Karplus, M. Levitt and A. Warshel

They developed powerful programs to

understand and predict the chemical processes.

They successfully developed methods that

combined quantum and classical mechanics to

calculate the chemical reactions using

computers.

SUMMARY

Nobel prizes that are awarded for the pioneering works of eminent scientists for their scientific achievements which directly or indirectly used the crystallographic techniques and methods are briefly outlined in this module.