THE NOBEL FOUNDATION ANNUAL REVIEW • 2018 THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 1 For the greatest beneft to humankind ALFRED NOBEL 2 THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 “I can tell you how. It is very easy. The first thing you must do is to have great teachers.” Paul A. Samuelson, 1970 Laureate in Economic Sciences, on how to earn a Nobel Prize. obel Laureates often Luther King, Jr., and with a Nobel Prize attest to how crucial Teacher Summit on the theme Teach their teachers have been. Love and Understanding, with 350 Teachers, researchers and teachers from 15 countries attending. others who contribute Al Gore, the 2007 Peace Prize Lars Heikensten, Executive Director Nto increased knowledge are the heroes Laureate, addressed How to Solve the of the Nobel Foundation since 2011. and heroines of our age. When the very Climate Crisis when he spoke at the 2018 Photo: Kari Kohvakka idea of science is being questioned, our Nobel Peace Prize Forum in Oslo. During school systems are being allowed to the coming year, many of our outreach decay, children are even being prevented activities will focus on the climate crisis. from attending school and many people It will be a central issue at both the are still being denied fundamental hu- Nobel Week Dialogue in Gothenburg and man rights, the forces of open, tolerant the Nobel Prize Teacher Summit in and democratic societies need to defend Stockholm. We are also planning a major education, research and enlightenment – conference on the climate change issue proactively and passionately. in Washington D.C. during the spring of Denial of facts, nationalism and pro- 2020. tectionism are diametrically opposed to the vision of Alfred Nobel. He was con- ctivities of this kind, in the spirit vinced of the advantages of an open of the Nobel Prize, are what we world and the ability of science to make A want to carry out at a future the world even better. The Nobel Prize Nobel Center in Stockholm. This is why recognizes no boundaries of nationality, many of us were disappointed last au- and each year it rewards important tumn when the new political majority in contributions and discoveries for the the City of Stockholm halted the Nobel greatest beneft to humankind. Center project. But we have not given up, Among our biggest challenges today and we are continuing our dialogue with are human rights and climate change. the City. The heavily attended activities The 2018 Peace Prize was awarded to of this past year are an eloquent testi- Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad “for mony to the need for a new and larger their eforts to end the use of sexual vio- home for the Nobel Prize. lence as a weapon of war and armed Alfred Nobel’s vision is perhaps more confict”. Last year also marked the 70th important today than ever before. We anniversary of the United Nations Uni- will therefore continue to develop our versal Declaration of Human Rights and activities, both digitally and in various the 50th anniversary of the assassination places around the world. This Annual of Martin Luther King, Jr. We observed Review provides a picture of what is these anniversaries with the year’s big happening and of our 2018 activities. exhibition at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, A Right to Freedom – Martin I wish you enjoyable reading! THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 3 4 THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS 6 The 2018 Nobel Laureates 12 Celebrate and Understand 14 A Right to Freedom 17 Vital Learning 18 The Year in Numbers 20 An Eventful Year of Stockholm Activities 24 Research for the Greatest Benefit to Humankind 26 The Body as a Battlefield 28 2019 Programme 30 The Institutions that Select the Nobel Laureates 32 Alfred Nobel 34 New Visual Identity 36 The Nobel Foundation 38 To Engage, Inspire and Spread Knowledge 40 Highlights in December Photo: Alexander Mahmoud THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 5 THE 2018 NOBEL LAUREATES In October each year new THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS 2018 Nobel Laureates are presented, who all contributed to the “for groundbreaking greatest benefit of humankind inventions in the feld with their work. The Nobel Prize of laser physics” Award Ceremonies then take ARTHUR ASHKIN place in Stockholm and Oslo Arthur Ashkin “for the optical tweezers on 10 December. and their application to biological systems” GÉRARD MOUROU AND DONNA STRICKLAND “for their method of generating high-intensity, Gérard Mourou ultra-short optical pulses” The sharp beams of laser light have given us new opportunities for deepen- ing our knowledge about the world and shaping it. Arthur Ashkin invented opti- cal tweezers that grab particles, atoms, molecules, and living cells with their laser beam fngers. The tweezers use la- ser light to push small particles towards the center of the beam and to hold them there. In 1987, Ashkin succeeded in cap- Donna Strickland turing living bacteria without harming them. Optical tweezers are now widely used to investigate biological systems. In 1985, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland succeeded in creating ultrashort high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the amplifying mate- rial. First they stretched the laser pulses in time to reduce their peak power, then amplifed them, and fnally compressed them. The intensity of the pulse then increases dramatically. This technique, called chirped pulse amplifcation, CPA, has many uses, including corrective eye surgeries. 6 THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY 2018 THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE 2018 FRANCES H. ARNOLD JAMES P. ALLISON AND “for the directed evolution TASUKU HONJO of enzymes” “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative Frances H. Arnold GEORGE P. SMITH AND James P. Allison SIR GREGORY P. WINTER immune regulation” “for the phage display of peptides and antibodies” Cancer kills millions of people every year and is one of humanity’s greatest health challenges. By stimulating the Evolution - the adaption of species to inherent ability of our immune system diferent Environments - has created to attack tumor cells James P. Allison an enormous diversity of life. Frances and Tasuku Honjo have established an Arnold, George Smith, and Gregory entirely new principle for cancer therapy. Winter have used the same principles In 1994–1995, Allison studied a known George P. Smith – genetic change and selection – to Tasuku Honjo protein that functions as a brake on the develop proteins that solve humankind’s immune system. He realized the poten- chemical problems. tial of releasing the brake and thereby In 1993, Arnold conducted the frst unleashing our immune cells to attack directed evolution of enzymes, which are tumors. He then developed this concept proteins that catalyze chemical reac- into a brand-new approach for treating tions. The uses of her results include patients. more environmentally friendly manu- In 1992, Honjo discovered a protein on facturing of chemical substances, such immune cells and, after careful explora- as pharmaceuticals, and the production tion of its function, eventually revealed of renewable fuels. In 1985, George that it also operates as a brake, but with Smith developed an elegant method a diferent mechanism of action. Thera- Sir Gregory P. Winter known as phage display, where a bacte- pies based on his discovery proved to be riophage – a virus that infects bacteria strikingly efective in the fght against with its genes – can be used to evolve cancer. new proteins. Allison and Honjo showed how Gregory Winter used phage display diferent strategies for inhibiting the for the directed evolution of antibodies. brakes on the immune system can be Since 2002 this has led to new pharma- used in the treatment of cancer. ceuticals, such as medications to counteract autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. Ashkin, photo: Nokia Bell Labs Murad, photo: Ken Opprann All other portraits: Alexander Mahmoud THE NOBEL FOUNDATION · ANNUAL REVIEW 2018 7 THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE 2018 THE SVERIGES RIKSBANK PRIZE IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES IN MEMORY OF ALFRED NOBEL 2018 DENIS MUKWEGE AND WILLIAM D. NORDHAUS NADIA MURAD “for integrating climate “for their eforts to end change into long-run the use of sexual violence macroeconomic analysis” as a weapon of war and Denis Mukwege William D. armed confict” Nordhaus PAUL M. ROMER “for integrating technological Sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed confict constitutes both a war innovations into long-run crime and a threat to peace and secu- macroeconomic analysis” rity. A more peaceful world can only be achieved if women and their fundamen- tal rights and security are recognised and At its heart, economics deals with the protected. As a surgeon Denis Mukwege management of scarce resources. Nature has helped thousands of victims of dictates the main constraints on sexual violence in armed conficts in the economic growth and our knowledge Nadia Murad Democratic Republic of Congo. Both on Paul M. Romer determines how well we deal with these a national and an international level he constraints. Paul Romer has demon- has repeatedly condemned impunity for strated how knowledge can function as mass rape and criticized the Congolese a driver of long-term economic growth. government and other countries for not He showed how economic forces govern doing enough to stop the use of sexual the willingness of frms to produce new violence against women as a strategy ideas and innovations. Romer’s central and weapon of war. theory, which was published in 1990, Nadia Murad is herself a victim of war explains how ideas are diferent to other crimes. She is a member of the Yazidi goods and require specifc conditions to minority in northern Iraq, and in 2014 thrive in a market.