As many of you may have heard three Americans have recently won the 2017 Nobel prize in Medicine. But before we get there lets back track and learn more about what the Nobel Prize really is.
What is the Nobel Prize?
Alfred Nobel was a brilliant scientist who was born 184 years ago in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel invented dynamite and he was devastated when it’s used for harming other people instead of using it to blast the rocks. The invention of dynamite was catastrophic and led to a series of events that ultimately lead to making the nuclear and atomic bombs.
Alfred Nobel realized that his invention, although it was a great one, had done more harm than good. Because of this Nobel decided to award scientists who make important discoveries and inventions that will help people instead of harming them.
In his will, Alfred Nobel stated that he wanted to use the interest from his savings kept in the bank (He has about 250 million dollars in the bank today!) and to split it into 5 categories. These categories are chemistry, physics, medicine/physiology, literature, and peace.
Some famous people who have won Nobel prizes are; Martin Luther King Jr. for a Nobel Peace prize in 1972 4 years after he passed away. Marie Curie got 2 Nobel prizes one in chemistry and one in physics a few years later.
2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine
Three Americans, Michael W. Young, Michael Rosbash, Jeffrey C. Hall, won a Nobel prize in medicine on Monday, October 2, 2017. They won this prize due to the decoding of the internal biological clock. This clock is called as the circadian clock.
The circadian clock is a clock that your body follows regardless of whether it’s dark or light outside. For example, if it’s 8 am and it’s pitch black outside that doesn’t mean you’re still going to be in deep sleep, If it’s midnight and the sun’s out you will still fall asleep due to your internal clock.
The years of research they did on the biological clock might lead to a number of medical or pharmaceutical treatments/inventions especially related to time like Jetlag. Do you know what is the average age of the scientists who receive the Nobel Prize? Any guesses?
