Appendix the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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Appendix The Nobel Prize in Chemistry Alfred Bernard Nobel (1833-1896) amassed an enormous fortune from his inventions and improvements in the manufacture of explosives. His father was also an explosives manufacturer, and in 1863 Alfred developed a detonator based on mercury fulminate, which made possible the use of the liquid explosive nitroglycerine. Nobel continued his experiments in spite of an explosion in 1864 that destroyed the factory and killed five people including his younger brother. In 1867 he patented dynamite, in which nitroglycerine was absorbed by the inert solid kieselguhr and was therefore much safer to handle. In 1875 he introduced the more powerful blasting gelatin.e, in which the nitroglycerine was gelatinised with nitrocellulose. These inventions made possible major civil engineering projects like the Corinth canal and the St Gotthard tunnel. In 1887 Nobel introduced ballistite, a smokeless explosive for military use. Nobel hoped that the destructive capabilities of the new explosives would reduce the likelihood of war. Nobel left his fortune for the establishment of five prizes to be awarded annually for achievements in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature of an idealistic tendency, and the promotion of world peace. The rust awards were made in 1901. The Nobel Prize for Economics was founded in 1968 by the National Bank of Sweden and the rust award was made in 1969. The Nobel Prizes have become the most highly regarded of all international awards. A Prize cannot be shared by more than three people, and cannot be awarded posthumously. A list of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry is given below. On occasions the work that has resulted in awards in physics and physiology or medicine has been to some extent chemical in content or application. 1901 Jacobus Hemicus van't Hoff 'For the laws of chemical dynamics (1852-1911) and of osmotic pressure.' 1902 Emil Hermann Fischer 'For his syntheses in the groups of (1852-1919) sugars and purines.' 1903 Svante August Arrhenius 'For his theory of electrolytic (1859-1927) dissociation. ' 260 Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 261 1904 William Ramsay 'For the discovery of the gaseous, (1852-1916) indifferent elements in the air and the determination of their place in the periodic system.' 1905 Johann Friedrich Wilhelm 'For his researches on organic Adolf von Baeyer dyestuffs and hydroaromatic (1835-1917) compounds.' 1906 Ferdinand-Frederick Henri 'For his investigation and isolation Moissan of the element fluorine and for (1852-1907) placing at the service of science the electric furnace which bears his name.' 1907 Eduard Buchner 'For his biochemical researches and (1860-1917) his discovery of cell-free fermentation.' 1908 Ernest Rutherford 'For his investigations into the (1871-1937) disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances.' 1909 Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald 'For his work on catalysis and for (1853-1932) his investigations into the fundamental principles governing chemical equilibria and rates of reaction.' 1910 Otto Wallach 'For his pioneer work in the (1847-1931) field of alicyclic compounds.' 1911 Marie Sklodowska Curie 'For her services to the (1867-1934) advancement of chemistry by the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.' 1912 Fran~ise August Victor Grignard 'For the discovery of the so-called (1871-1935) Grignard reagent, which in recent years has greatly advanced the progress of organic chemistry.' 262 Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry Paul Sabatier 'For his method of hydrogenating (1854-1941) organic compounds in the presence of finely divided metals.' 1913 Alfred Werner 'In recognition of his work on the (1866-1919) linkage of atoms in molecules, by which he has thrown fresh light on old problems and opened up new fields of research, especially in inorganic chemistry.' 1914 Theodore William Richards 'For his exact determination of the (1868-1928) atomic weights of a large number of chemical elements.' 1915 Richard Martin Willstiitter 'For his researches on plant (1872-1942) pigments, especially chlorophyll.' 1916 No award 1917 No award 1918 Fritz Haber 'For the synthesis of ammonia from (1868-1934) its elements.' 1919 No award 1920 Hermann Walther Nernst 'In recognition of his work in (1864-1941) thermochemistry. ' 1921 Frederick Soddy 'For his important contributions (1877-1956) to our knowledge of the chemistry of radioactive substances and his investigations into the origin and nature of isotopes.' 1922 Francis William Aston 'For his discovery, by means of his (1877-1945) mass spectrograph, of isotopes in a large number of non-radioactive elements, and for his enunciation of the whole-number rule.' 1923 Fritz Pregl 'For his invention of the method (1869-1930) of microanalysis of organic substances. ' Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 263 1924 No award 1925 Richard Adolf Zsigmondy 'For his demonstration of the (1865-1929) heterogeneous nature of colloid solutions and for the methods he used, which have since become fundamental in modem colloid chemistry. ' 1926 Theodor Svedberg 'For his work on disperse systems.' (1884-1971) 1927 Heinrich Otto Wieland 'For his investigations of the (1877-1971) constitution of the bile acids and related substances.' 1928 Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus 'For the services rendered through (1876-1959) his research into the constitution of the sterols and their connection with the vitamins.' 1929 Arthur Harden 'For their investigations of the (1865-1940) fermentation of sugar and Hans Karl August Simon fermentative enzymes.' von Euler-Chelpin (1873-1964) 1930 Hans Fischer 'For his researches into the (1881-1945) constitution of hemin and chlorophyll and especially for his synthesis of hemin.' 1931 Carl Bosch 'In recognition of their (1874-1940) contributions to the invention and Friedrich Bergius development of chemical high- (1884-1949) pressure methods.' 1932 Irving Langmuir 'For his outstanding discoveries (1881-1957) and investigations within the field of surface chemistry.' 1933 No award 1934 Harold Clayton Urey 'For his discovery of heavy (1893-1981) hydrogen.' 264 Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1935 Irene Joliot-Curie 'For their synthesis of new (1897-1956) radioactive elements.' Jean Frederic Joliot (1900-1958) 1936 Peter Joseph William Debye 'For his contributions to the study (1884-1966) of molecular structure through his investigations on dipole moments and on the diffraction of X-rays and electrons in gases.' 1937 Walter Norman Haworth 'For his investigations on (1883-1950) carbohydrates and vitamin C.' Paul Karrer 'For his researches and (1889-1971) investigations on carotinoids, flavins, and vitamins A and B.' 1938 Richard Kuhn 'For his work on carotinoids and (1900-1967) vitamins.' 1939 Adolf Butenandt 'For his work on the mammalian (b. 1903) sex hormones.' Leopold Stephen Ruzicka 'For his work on polymethylenes (1887-1976) and higher terpenes.' 1940 No award 1941 No award 1942 No award 1943 George Charles Hevesy 'For his work on the use of (1885-1966) isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.' 1944 Otto Hahn 'For his discovery of the fission of (1879-1968) heavy nuclei.' 1945 Artturi Ilmari Virtanen 'For his research and (1895-1973) discoveries in the field of agricultural and nutrition chemistry, and particularly his method of preserving animal fodder.' Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 265 1946 James Batcheller Sumner 'For his discovery that enzymes can (1887-1955) be crystallised.' John Howard Northrop 'For their preparation of enzymes (1891-1987) and virus proteins in pure Wendell Meredith Stanley form.' (1904-1971) 1947 Robert Robinson 'For his investigations on plant (1886-1975) products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids.' 1948 Arne Wilhelm Kaurin Tiselius 'For his research on electrophoresis (1902-1975) and on analysis by adsorption, in particular for his discoveries concerning the heterogeneous nature of the proteins of the serum.' 1949 William Francis Giauque 'For his contributions in the (1895-1982) field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures.' 1950 Otto Paul Hermann Diels 'For their discovery and (1876-1954) development of the diene Kurt Alder synthesis. ' (1902-1958) 1951 Glenn Theodore Seaborg 'For their discoveries in the (b. 1912) chemistry of the transuranium Edwin Mattison McMillan elements.' (b. 1907) 1952 Archer John Porter Martin 'For their invention of partition (b. 1910) chromatography. ' Richard Laurence Millington Synge (b. 1914) 1953 Hermann Staudinger 'For his discoveries in the (1881-1965) field of macromolecular chemistry. ' 266 Appendix: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1954 Linus Pauling 'For his research into the nature of (b. 1901) the chemical bond and its application to the structure of complex substances.' 1955 Vincent du Vigneaud 'For his work on biochemically (1901-1978) important sulphur compounds and particularly for the first synthesis of a polypeptide hormone.' 1956 Cyril Norman Hinshelwood 'For their researches into the (1897 -1967) mechanisms of chemical reactions.' Nikolai Nikolaevich Semenov (1896-1986) 1957 Alexander Robertus Todd 'For his work on nucleotides and (b. 1907) nucleotide coenzymes.' 1958 Frederick Sanger 'For his work on the structure of (b. 1918) proteins, especially that of insulin.' 1959 Jaroslav Heyrovsky 'For inventing and developing the (1890-1967) polarographic