Literature, peace, economics, medicine, physics and chemistry… Who are the 2024 Nobel Prize winners?
Each year, the six Nobel Prizes are awarded during the first week of October. These are the Prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, literature, peace… and economics. Created by the Swedish Central Bank “in memory” of the inventor, the “latest” Nobel Prize was, for the record, added in 1969 to the five traditional prizes provided for in Alfred Nobel’s will.
For each discipline, a reward in the amount of 10 million Swedish crowns (around 920,000 euros) is awarded to the winner, or shared between several recipients. The prizes are awarded during ceremonies organized in mid-December in Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway).
In 2024, the name(s) of the Nobel Prize winners will be made official from Monday October 7 to Monday October 14, announced in Stockholm and Oslo as well as on the foundation’s website, nobelprize.org. The “Nobel Prize date” corresponds to the communication of the identities of the laureates for each discipline and is therefore carried out over several days, whether it is physics, medicine, economics, chemistry, literature or peace.
The times are given each year by the official website nobelprize.org in local Swedish time, identical to local French time. As for the awarding of the Nobel Prizes, it takes place each year on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the “daddy” of the Nobels, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel. An awards ceremony is then held at Konserthuset Stockholm (Stockholm’s concert hall) and a banquet takes place at the Swedish capital’s town hall.
- Monday October 7, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prize medicine
- Tuesday October 8, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prize physical
- Wednesday October 9, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prize chemistry
- Thursday October 10, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prize literature
- Friday October 11, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prize peace
- Monday October 14, 2024: announcement of the Nobel Prizeeconomy
Who are the 2024 Nobel Prize winners in medicine?
The Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology was awarded to two American researchers, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNAa new class of tiny RNA molecules. The work has established the major role of these molecules in gene regulation for hundreds of millions of years.
Micro-RNA is an intermediary, which can start or stop the development of our muscle cells, intestinal cells and different types of nerve cells, so that they carry out their functions. The discoveries of Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun could have very practical uses in the future, notably for the treatment of serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes or autoimmunity, but also of hearing or speech disorders. view.
Born in 1896, this prestigious distinction was divided from the start into five categories – peace, literature, physics, chemistry and medicine – to which a sixth was later added (economics). The father of the Nobel Prize winner wanted to leave the image of a good man after his death. In his last wishes, via his will of November 27, 1895, which took up one page (opposite), the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite and seen by some as “a merchant of death”, therefore made a major wish: the proceeds of the inheritance will be distributed to those who, during the past year, have rendered “the greatest services to humanity”.
At the time of his death in 1896, Alfred Nobel was one of the richest men in the world. 32 million Swedish crowns (more than 3 million euros) are thus put at the service of a new foundation. The latter is responsible for paying each year the income accumulated via the millionaire’s capital to the holders of the five Nobel Prizes, created at the same time. Reserved for some of the best scientists, writers and peacemakers from around the world, the Nobel Prize has since gained international recognition. Today it is even considered the most prestigious Prize of all.
The very first five Nobel Prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901, by the King of Sweden and the Parliament of Norway, when the two countries still shared the same crown (since 1815). When they separated, in 1905, a distribution of prizes was made: a Nobel Peace Prize now awarded by Norway and Nobel Prizes in literature, physics, chemistry and medicine awarded by Sweden. As for the Nobel Prize in Economics, it was created in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden. Although it is not strictly speaking a “Nobel” prize because Alfred Nobel did not include it in his will, he is commonly referred to as a “Nobel in Economics”.
Following this integration, the Nobel Foundation decided to freeze the list of prizes so that no new discipline would be created. There will therefore never be a Nobel Prize in mathematics. On this subject, legend has it that the father of the Nobel wanted to take revenge on a rival in love, a mathematician named Gosta Mittag-Leffler who would have seduced his mistress, by not creating a Nobel in mathematics. But according to two Swedish authors published in the journal Mathematical Intelligencer, Lars Garding and Lars Hömander, this version is questionable. According to them, two reasons coexist to explain the absence of this key discipline in the Nobel panel: At the time of the creation of the Nobel Prize, there already existed a Scandinavian mathematics prize; and Alfred Nobel “didn’t really like” this discipline, which clashed with his practical nature.
The Nobel Prize was born from the last wishes of Alfred Nobel, a wealthy industrialist and chemist who invented dynamite (with the primary objective of using it in public works) but also a fervent defender of peace. Since then, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded each year to people “who have brought the greatest benefit to humanity”, through their inventions, discoveries and improvements in knowledge; by the most impactful literary work; or through their work to promote peace. Do you know the current amount of the Nobel Prize? The winners of each Nobel Prize share an amount of 10 million Swedish crowns (around 920 000 euros).