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Home , Baruj Benacerraf, Gerty Cori, Jean Dausset, Marie Curie, Mario Molina

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The BioVisionAlexandria 2004 Conference Newsletter November 2003 Volume 1, Issue 2 BioVisionAlexandria 2004 aims to celebrate the The inventor, the industrialist outstanding and scholars, in a he is one of the highest distinctions recognized, granting its winner century dominated by instant fame. However, many do not know the interesting history and background technological and T that led to this award. scientific revolutions, through its It all began with a , known as Alfred Nobel, born in , Sweden in 1833. Nobel Day on 3 April Alfred Nobel moved to Russia when he was eight, where his father, Immanuel Nobel, 2004! started a successful mechanical workshop. He provided equipment for the Russian Army and designed naval mines, which effectively prevented the British Royal Navy from moving within firing range of St. Petersburg during the Crimean War. Immanuel Nobel was also a pioneer in the manufacture of arms, and in designing steam engines. INSIDE Scientific awards ...... 3 Immanuel’s success enabled him to Alfred met Ascanio Sobrero, the Italian Confirmed laureates ....4 Lady laureates ...... 7 provide his four sons with an excellent chemist who had invented Nitroglycerine education in natural , languages three years earlier. Nitroglycerine, a and literature. Alfred, at an early age, highly explosive liquid, was produced by acquired extensive literary knowledge, mixing glycerine with sulfuric and nitric mastering many foreign languages. His acid. It was an invention that triggered a Nobel Day is interest in , especially , fascination in the young for many dedicated to many of was also apparent. His father sent him years to come. that abroad for further training in chemical were inspired to engineering. It was in , in 1851, that struggle against odds, to withstand ANNOUNCEMENT disappointments and defeats, and to We are happy to announce that the conference, formerly known as BioAlexandria resolve never to give 2004 is now officially BioVisionAlexandria 2004. BioVisionAlexandria, held in up! Alexandria, EGYPT, will focus on Life Sciences and Sustainable Development, giving priority to concrete actions between the South and the North. It will be held every even year, therefore alternating with the World Life Sciences Forum BioVision, held every odd year in Lyon, . Page 2 BioVisionAlexandria 2004

Alfred was very interested in the the name of dynamite. He invented a practical use of nitroglycerine in detonator (blasting cap), which could be construction. Nitroglycerine explosive ignited by lighting a fuse, to set off the power was much higher than that of dynamite rods. These inventions, gunpowder. However, it could explode in together with the use of the diamond a very unpredictable manner if subjected drilling crown, greatly reduced the cost of to heat and pressure. It was therefore blasting, drilling, and other types of considered to be too dangerous to be construction work. used practically, and Alfred was aware The market for dynamite and blasting that a method for the controlled caps grew very quickly, and Alfred’s detonation of nitroglycerine had to be factory was soon exporting nitroglycerine developed for its safe use. Immanuel Nobel explosives to many countries in Europe, Alfred returned to Russia in 1852 to America and . He founded assist in his father’s enterprise, and factories in over 20 countries in 90 started experimenting with nitroglycerine different locations, and worked in them with the aim of developing it into a himself. Many of these companies have commercially and technically useful grown into industrial enterprises that still explosive. However, when the war play a major role in today’s world ended, his father went bankrupt and economy. They include AB Bofors, a returned to Sweden with his sons Alfred globally known firearm factory in and Emil. His other two sons remained in Sweden, as well as many others in Russia and developed successful France, Norway and Great Britain. careers in the oil industry. Alfred’s inventions were not limited to In Stockholm, Alfred concentrated on the explosives industry only. His developing nitroglycerine as an inventions included artificial silk, synthetic Alfred Nobel explosive. This was very dangerous, rubber and leather. He also played a leading to several explosions in the lab major role in the development of gelatin and killing many, including his brother, dynamite, which is safer to handle than Emil. This prompted the authorities to the original dynamite. He was granted a forbid further nitroglycerine experimen- total of 355 over his lifetime. tation within Stockholm city limits. Alfred, Alfred Nobel died, a very wealthy man, in still not discouraged, moved his San Remo, Italy, on 10 December 1896. experimentation to a large boat anchored Nobel’s will designated his fortunes to on Lake Mälaren. In 1864, he founded Sites on Nobel the awarding of yearly Nobel Prizes in the the company Nitroglycerine AB, and fields of , Chemistry, started mass production of nitroglycerine. www.nobel.se and , Literature, and Peace. He discovered that when mixed with These prizes can be considered as an www.almaz.com/nobel silica, nitroglycerine turned from a liquid extension of his lifetime interest, for he into a paste. This paste could be shaped www.nobelchannel.com was both the scientist and the poet. Many into rods suitable for insertion into drilling believe that Nobel’s friendship with www.nobel.no holes, therefore solving the safety Countess , a famous problem of handling nitroglycerine. In www.nobelprizes.com figure in the peace movement, is the 1867, he patented this invention under

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reason for including a Prize in Peace. In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank (Bank of OTHER SCIENTIFIC Sweden) introduced the Prize in ACHIEVEMENT Economic Sciences in his memory. AWARDS The executors of his will were two engineers who established the Nobel Fields Medal - commonly regarded Foundation, an organization responsible as mathematics' closest analog to the for the financial assets left by Nobel for Nobel Prize (which does not exist in this purpose. The Prize, being awarded The Fields Medal is made of mathematics). gold, and shows the head of since 1901 for works of greatest benefit Archimedes (287-212 BC) together with a quotation to mankind, consists of a medal, a Rolf Nevanlinna Prize - Prize in attributed to him: "Transire suum pectus personal diploma and a monetary prize. mathematical aspects of information mundoque potiri" The number of prizewinners that can science. ("Rise above oneself and grasp the world") share a Nobel Prize was restricted, in Wolf Prize - In Science, the fields are 1968, to three. Agriculture, Chemistry, Mathematics, The Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Medicine, Physics, while in Arts, the Stockholm on 10 December each year, prize rotates annually among and the King of Sweden personally Architecture, Music, Painting and hands over the Prize in each field. Sculpture. However, the ceremony for the Nobel World Food Prize Ð It is given to Prize in Peace is held in Oslo, Norway. individuals who have advanced human The Nobel Prize is by far one of the development by improving the quality, most prestigious awards a scientist may quantity or availability of food in the receive, and one of the few that the world. general public is familiar with. It Einstein Prize Ð It aims to recognize recognizes men and women, who outstanding accomplishments in the through sheer will and determination field of gravitational physics. have changed the world, sometimes single-handedly. Tyler Prize - Award for environmental science, energy and medicine that give BioVisionAlexandria 2004 aims to great benefit to mankind. celebrate these outstanding scientists and scholars, in a century dominated by Welch Prize Ð Award for basic technological and scientific revolutions, chemical research. Nobel Prize medal through its Nobel Day on 3 April 2004. E.O. Lawrence Award Ð Award given Nobel Day is dedicated to many of the to scientists and engineers for their scientists that were inspired to struggle exceptional contributions in the field of against odds, to withstand atomic energy, broadly defined. disappointments and defeats, and to resolve never to give up! ¯ King Faisal Prize - Awards for Medicine, Science, Islamic Studies, Register Now at Service to Islam, and Arabic Literature. www.bibalex.org/bioalex2004conf

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MEET THESE NOBEL LAUREATES IN BioVisionAlexandria 2004!

Werner Arber (Nobel 1978)

Werner Arber is a Swiss microbiologist born in 1929. A For this work, Arber received the professor at the (1960Ð70) and later 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology at the University of Basel (1971–). Arber’s research or Medicine in (with Daniel Adams focuses on microbial evolution, with special attention to and Hamilton Smith). the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial viruses He is Vice President of the Swiss (bacteriophages) transfer to other bacteria. He also Science Council, President of the explored host defenses against such transfer and International Council of Scientific identified "restriction" sites where the viral DNA is Unions (since October 1996) and of Werner Arber attacked. The discovery that this process is controlled by the recently appointed International Scientific Advisory a class of enzymes, each of which cuts the DNA at the Board of UNESCO. Arber is also well known for his same point every time, is the basis of recombinant DNA personal involvement in the debate on problems posed by techniques and opened new paths to genetic engineering. genetic manipulation.

Jean Dausset (Nobel 1980)

Jean Dausset is a French hematologist and among people was responsible for immunologist, born in 1916, whose “discoveries the different levels of reaction to concerning genetically determined structures on the cell transfusions. He established the surface that regulate immunological reactions”, earned correlation between the survival of him a share (with George Snell and ) of tissue grafts and the incompatibility the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. of leukocyte groups and then defined the major Dausset’s introduction to immunohematology was complex, now known as Human during the Tunisian Campaign of World War II, where he Jean Dausset Leukocyte (HLA), thus performed blood transfusions in the army. After the war determining the laws of human transplants. he resumed his medical studies, receiving his degree in 1945, and devoted himself to research. He expanded on In 1977, he was named Professor of Experimental the work of Jean Bernard and Marcel Bessis, who had Medicine at the Collège de France, a post once held by developed a transfusion system for the complete Claude Bernard Ð the father of modern experimental replacement of blood in infants. He adapted the system medicine. In 1982, he became President of the for adults and obtained successful results with many Mouvement Universel de la Responsabilité Scientifique cases of leukemia and kidney failure caused by induced (MURS). He was also a member of the French Ethics abortions. Commission for eight years. In 1984, he created the Centre d'Etude du Polymorphisme Humain (CEPH), Dausset investigated the immunological reactions of making available to the international scientific community patients who had received many blood transfusions, and the invaluable material gathered during the course of his correctly hypothesized that a specific genetic variation genetic studies.

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Wole Soyinka (Nobel 1986)

Wole Soyinka, a playwright, poet, novelist, and critic, is His background, upbringing and considered to be one of Africa's finest writers. Born in education have given him unusual Nigeria in 1934, his work serves as a record of twentieth- conditions for a literary career. He century Africa's political turmoil and struggle to reconcile has his roots in the Yoruba people's tradition with modern culture. myths, rites and cultural patterns, which in their turn have historical Soyinka attended University of Ibadan and University of links to the Mediterranean region. Leeds where he earned his doctorate. He taught drama Through his education in his native and literature at various universities in Nigeria and has land and in Europe he has also Wole Soyinka been a visiting professor at the universities of Cambridge, acquired deep familiarity with western culture. Sheffield, and Yale. Soyinka has published over 20 works in a career that Soyinka has been imprisoned several times for his spans five decades. He is known for his novels, criticism and attitude to his country's civil war and from the autobiographical works, poetry, and criticism, and in 1970s has lived long periods in exile. Soyinka's plays 1986, he became the first African writer ever to be range from comedy to tragedy, and from political satire to awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He writes in the theatre of the absurd. He has combined influences English and his literary language is marked by great from Western traditions with African myth, legends and scope and richness of words. Soyinka has founded folklore, and such techniques as singing and drumming. various theater groups has produced his own plays and taken part as actor.

Jean-Marie Lehn (Nobel 1987)

Jean-Marie Lehn is a French chemist, born in 1939, who He shared the 1987 Nobel Prize received his Ph.D. from University of Strasbourg in 1963. in Chemistry with Pedersen and A professor at University (1970-78) and Donald J. Cram for the develop- later at the Collège de France (1979–), Lehn did ment and application of groundbreaking research in the creation of artificial with highly selective, structure enzymes. specific interactions, i.e. molecules that can “recognize” each other and Lehn expanded on the work of Charles J. Pedersen, in choose which other molecules they synthesizing crown ethers, a class of two-dimensional, will form complexes with. This laid Jean-Marie Lehn ring-shaped organic compounds that are capable of the foundation for the active interdisciplinary area of selectively recognizing and combining with other research within chemistry that has now come to be molecules. In the course of his efforts to synthesize three- termed host-guest chemistry or supramolecular dimensional molecules that would possess similar chemistry. reactive characteristics, Lehn created a that combines with the important neurotransmitter, Acetyl Choline, in the brain. This raised the possibility of creating artificial enzymes that function better than the natural enzymes found in the human body.

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Sir James Black (Nobel 1988)

Sir James Black is a British pharmacologist, born in the heart's demand for oxygen and 1924, who (along with George H. Hitchings and Gertrude could thus help relieve anginal B. Elion) received the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology pain. or Medicine for his development of two important drugs, Black used a similar approach to propranolol and cimetidine. develop a drug for stomach and Black's drug discoveries arose out of his research on the duodenal ulcers, which are caused interactions between certain cell receptors in the body mainly by the stomach's over- and chemicals in the bloodstream that attach to them. secretion of gastric acids. He Sir James Black Black wanted to find a drug that would relieve angina developed the first clinically useful H2-receptor pectoris, i.e., the spasms of intense pain felt in the chest antagonist, cimetidine, that could block the histamine when the heart is not receiving enough oxygen. receptors which stimulate the secretion of gastric acid in the stomach. This revolutionized the treatment of gastric It was known that beta-receptors in the heart muscle, and duodenal ulcers. when stimulated by the hormones adrenalin and noradrenalin, cause the heartbeat to quicken and Sir James joined King's College London in 1984. He was increase the strength of the heart's contractions, thus knighted in 1981, elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in increasing that organ's oxygen requirement. Black 1976, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1977 developed propanolol, a drug that blocked the beta- and appointed a Fellow of King's College London in 1989. receptor sites, thus preventing adrenalin and noradrenalin He is currently also Chairman of the James Black from attaching to them. The resulting inhibition reduced Foundation.

Sherwood Rowland (Nobel 1995)

Sherwood Rowland, born in 1927, is an American manufacture of CFC-based aero- chemist who shared the 1995 sols in the US, Canada and with and Paul Crutzen for research Scandinavia. The discovery of the on the depletion of the Earth's . Rowland so-called hole in the ozone layer specializes in the research areas of radiochemistry, over Antarctica in the mid-1980s, photochemistry, and . supported their theory further. In 1987, the of the Rowland, while working with Molina, discovered that Environment man-made , CFC propellants accele- Program became the first Sherwood Rowland rate the decomposition of the ozonosphere, which international agreement to control and reduce protects the Earth from biologically harmful ultraviolet atmospheric damages by banning CFC production after . 1996. Measurements of CFCs in the lower atmosphere Rowland and Molina theorized that CFC gases combine confirm that the global response to this protocol has been with solar radiation and decompose in the , remarkable. releasing of and that He is currently the elected Foreign Secretary of the are able to destroy large numbers of ozone molecules. National of Sciences. Rowland also received Their research initiated a federal investigation of the the Tyler World Prize in Ecology and Energy and the problem. Research on CFCs and stratospheric ozone Prize. eventually led, in the 1970s to the regulation of use and

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Ahmed Zewail (Nobel 1999)

Ahmed H. Zewail, born in Egypt in 1946, won the 1999 explore at its fundamental Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his groundbreaking work level. “showing that it is possible with rapid laser technique to Specifically, Zewail seeks to see how atoms in a molecule move during a chemical better understand the way that reaction." chemical bonds form and break. Professor of Chemical Physics, Professor With the development of laser of Physics at the California Institute of Technology techniques, he and his team have

(CalTech) and Director of the NSF Laboratory for been able to obtain greater insights Molecular Sciences, he is internationally recognized for about the exact nature of chemical his efforts in a field which he pioneered, known as bonds. The field has had wide-ranging impact on femtochemistry. This technique uses ultrafast lasers to chemistry and photobiology all over the world. probe chemical reactions as they actually occur in real His other honors include the Robert A. Welch Prize, the time. Wolf Prize, the King Faisal Prize, and the Reactions can take place in a millionth of a billionth of a Award. From Egypt he received the Order of the Grand second, therefore, Zewail's research has, with state-of- Collar of the Nile, the highest state honor, and postage the-art lasers, made it possible to observe and study this stamps were issued to pay tribute to his contributions to motion for the first time, and has allowed scientists to science and humanity.

HE ADY AUREATES T L L List of Female Laureates In 1903, only two years after the was Physics 1928, Sigrid Undset established, a Nobel Prize was awarded to a woman, 1903, Marie 1938, Pearl Buck , for the first time. Women have been winning 1963, Maria Goeppert-Mayer 1945, Gabriela Mistral Nobel Prizes ever since. In fact, one woman, Bertha von 1966, Nelly Sachs Chemistry Suttner was influential in convincing Alfred Nobel to set 1991, Nadine Gordimer 1911, Marie Curie 1993, Toni Morrison aside a Prize for peace. Later, this same woman won the 1935, Irène Joliot-Curie 1996, Wislawa Szymborska first Nobel Prize in Peace (1905). 1964, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin Peace Women have won Prizes in all categories with the Physiology or Medicine 1905, Bertha von Suttner 1947, exception of Economics (which was established in 1968 1931, 1977, Rosalyn Yalow and first awarded in 1969). Female laureates in 1946, Emily Greene Balch 1983, Barbara McClintock 1976, Betty Williams Literature and in Peace are many, with 9 and 11 1986, Rita Levi-Montalcini 1976, Mairead Corrigan laureates of each, respectively. However, when it comes 1988, Gertrude B. Elion 1979, Mother Teresa to the science categories, only a total of 11 women have 1995, Christiane Nüsslein- 1982, Alva Myrdal captured prizes in Chemistry, Physics or Medicine over Volhard 1991, Aung San Suu Kyi 102 years of Nobel history. Literature 1992, Rigoberta Mench’ Tum 1909, Selma Lagerlf For more on some of these outstanding women: 1997, Jody Williams http://www.nobel.se/peace/articles/heroines 1926, Grazia Deledda 2003, Shirin Ebadi

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