Nobel Prize Research Articles

From chemistry to genomics: A concise history of the porphyrias.

We describe developments in understanding of the porphyrias associated with each step in the haem biosynthesis pathway and the role of individuals whose contributions led to major advances over the past 150 years. The first case of erythropoietic porphyria was reported in 1870, and the first with acute porphyria in 1889. Photosensitisation by porphyrin was confirmed by Meyer-Betz, who self-injected haematoporphyrin. Günther classified porphyrias into haematoporphyria acuta, acuta toxica, congenita and chronica. This was revised by Waldenström into porphyria congenita, acuta and cutanea tarda, with the latter describing those with late-onset skin lesions. Waldenström was the first to recognise porphobilinogen's association with acute porphyria, although its structure was not solved until 1953. Hans Fischer was awarded the Nobel prize in 1930 for solving the structure of porphyrins and the synthesis of haemin. After 1945, research by several groups elucidated the pathway of haem biosynthesis and its negative feedback regulation by haem. By 1961, following the work of Watson, Schmid, Rimington, Goldberg, Dean, Magnus and others, aided by the availability of modern techniques of porphyrin separation, six of the porphyrias were identified and classified as erythropoietic or hepatic. The seventh, 5-aminolaevulinate dehydratase deficiency porphyria, was described by Doss in 1979. The discovery of increased hepatic 5-aminolaevulinate synthase activity in acute porphyria led to development of haematin as a treatment for acute attacks. By 2000, all the haem biosynthesis genes were cloned, sequenced and assigned to chromosomes and disease-specific mutations identified in all inherited porphyrias. These advances have allowed definitive family studies and development of new treatments.

Visionary figures in the field of electrochemistry who revolutionized voltammetry

Understanding energetics and electron behavior has been pivotal in elucidating numerous fundamental phenomena, including electricity, corrosion, respiration, energy generation in biological systems, intermolecular interactions within living organisms, organic synthesis, drug development, enzyme functions, and the design of biosensors, among others. As 2024 records the centennial anniversary of the completion of the first polarograph by Nobel laureate Jaroslav Heyrovský (awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1959), it presents an opportune moment to pay tribute to several eminent electrochemists who have made significant contributions to the field of voltammetric techniques. Following our recent acknowledgment of the outstanding women who have made substantial contributions to voltammetry in a prior publication, this article aims to briefly highlight the major achievements of several distinguished male figures in the field (Jaroslav Heyrovský, Allen J. Bard, Christian Amatore, Richard Compton, Jean-Michel Savéant, Fraser Armstrong, Fritz Scholz, Joseph Wang, Milivoj Lovrić, Valentin Mirčeski, Alan M. Bond). Given that many of these remarkable personalities have contributed both as authors and referees for the Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, this tribute serves as a fitting acknowledgment of their remarkable accomplishments on the occasion of the journal's 50th anniversary.

High‐Performance NiCo2O4/Graphene Quantum Dots for Asymmetric and Symmetric Supercapacitors with Enhanced Energy Efficiency

AbstractFor the sustainable growth of future generations, energy storage technologies like supercapacitors and batteries are becoming more and more common. However, reliable and high‐performance materials’ design and development is the key for the widespread adoption of batteries and supercapacitors. Quantum dots with fascinating and unusual properties are expected to revolutionize future technologies. However, while the recent discovery of quantum dots honored with a Nobel prize in Chemistry, their benefits for the tenacious problem of energy are not realized yet. In this context, herein, chemical‐composition tuning enabled exceptional performance of NiCo2O4(NCO)/graphene quantum dots (GQDs) is reported, which outperform the existing similar materials, in supercapacitors. A comprehensive study is performed on the synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical performance evaluation of highly functional NCO/GQDs in supercapacitors delivering enhanced energy efficiency. The high‐performance, functional NCO/GQDs electrode materials are synthesized by the incorporation of GQDs into NCO. The effect of variable amount of GQDs on the energy performance characteristics of NCO/GQDs in supercapacitors is studied systematically. In‐depth structural and chemical bonding analyses using X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopic studies indicate that all the NCO/GQDs composites crystallize in the spinel cubic phase of NiCo2O4 while graphene integration evident in all the NCO/GQDs. The scanning electron microscopy imaging analysis reveals homogeneously distributed spherical particles with a size distribution of 5–9 nm validating the formation of QDs. The high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy analyses reveal that the NCOQDs are anchored on graphene sheets, which provide a high surface area of 42.27 m2g−1 and high mesoporosity for the composition of NCO/GQDs‐10%. In addition to establishing reliable electrical connection to graphene sheets, the NCOQDs provide reliable 3D‐conductive channels for rapid transport throughout the electrode as well as synergistic effects. Chemical‐composition tuning, and optimization yields NCO/GQDs‐10% to deliver the best specific capacitance of 3940 Fg−1 at 0.5 Ag−1, where the electrodes retain ≈98% capacitance after 5000 cycles. The NCO/GQD‐10%//AC asymmetric supercapacitor device demonstrates outstanding energy density and power density values of 118.04 Wh kg−1 and 798.76 W kg−1, respectively. The NCO/GQDs‐10%//NCO/GQDs‐10% symmetric supercapacitor device delivers excellent energy and power density of 24.30 Wh kg−1 and 500 W kg−1, respectively. These results demonstrate and conclude that NCO/GQDs are exceptional and prospective candidates for developing next‐generation high‐performance and sustainable energy storage devices.

Gabriela Mistral: Nourished by and Constructed from the Sap and Blood of Life

Gabriela Mistral (1889-1957) was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and was a mentor to Pablo Neruda who also went on to become a Nobel laureate, yet Mistral’s work is rarely studied in English translation today. This article aims to bring attention to the author’s life and legacy, particularly through her diplomatic work and writing, with an emphasis on Mistral’s poetry in the hope of returning Gabriela Mistral to a place of distinction and standing that encourages future reading and study. Illustrative of the author’s voice, excerpts of Mistral’s work are woven throughout. The article traces key moments in Mistral’s life from childhood in the Elqui Valley of Chile through her years as a rural schoolteacher and onward to her position as a leader in education reform in Mexico. Through both her writing and diplomatic work, Mistral gained worldwide prominence. Her work through the League of Nations demonstrated an ongoing concern for human rights and especially for the rights of children and women in poverty and in the workplace. She was instrumental in the founding of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and an advocate for writers and artists and their crucial role in illuminating important societal issues. The article highlights Mistral’s 1937 talk before the Committee on Letters and Arts in Paris and addresses her connection with Pablo Neruda and the story of Juan Miguel, whom she adopted and called Yin-Yin; Yin-Yin died tragically at age seventeen. Finally, the article provides an overview of the life influences, themes, and timing of each of Mistral’s four major collections of poetry in their English translation by Doris Dana (1971): Desolation (1922), Tenderness (1924), Felling (1938) and Wine Press (1954).

Establishing a biochemical understanding of the initiation of chromosome replication in bacteria

In the mid-1950s, Arthur Kornberg elucidated the enzymatic synthesis of DNA by DNA polymerase, for which he was recognized with the 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He then identified many of the proteins that cooperate with DNA polymerase to replicate duplex DNA of small bacteriophages. However, one major unanswered problem was understanding the mechanism and control of the initiation of chromosome replication in bacteria. In a seminal paper in 1981, Fuller, Kaguni, and Kornberg reported the development of a cell-free enzyme system that could replicate DNA that was dependent on the bacterial origin of DNA replication, oriC. This advance opened the door to a flurry of discoveries and important papers that elucidated the process and control of initiation of chromosome replication in bacteria.

The synthesis behind the 2023 Nobel Prize.

The synthesis behind the 2023 Nobel Prize.

A ‘heavy hammer to crack a small nut'? The creation of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), 1963–1970

ABSTRACT This article reconstructs the complex diplomatic negotiations that led to the peculiar organization of molecular biology at the European level, by focusing in particular on the establishment of the European Molecular Biology Conference (EMBC), the intergovernmental structure founded in 1969–70 to support the scientific program of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). By combining the analysis of the informal decision-making kept in the Nobel Prize laureate John C. Kendrew’s personal papers (Oxford) with the in-depth exploration of the institutional documentation available in the EMBO and CERN archives (Heidelberg and Geneva) and the Swiss Federal Archives (Bern), the article sheds light on the importance of the EMBC not only for the construction of molecular biology as a scientific, social, and political field in the European context, but also for the broader process of definition of the European research policy. Far from being just a mere replica of CERN, the EMBO/EMBC inaugurated in fact an alternative and flexible ‘bottom-up’ model of science policy in the European context, based on competition, networking, and scientific excellence, which paved the way to the establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) in the early 2000s.

Robert Millikan, Japanese internment, and eugenics

Robert A. Millikan (1868–1953) was the second American to win the Nobel Prize in physics. At the peak of his influence, no scientist save Einstein was more admired by the American public. Millikan, the head of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) during its first 24 years, oversaw its rapid growth into one of the leading scientific institutions of the world. However, in response to demands for social justice following the murder of George Floyd, Caltech launched an investigation into Millikan. Caltech reached a decision to strip Millikan of honors (such as the library named after him), following accusations from various sources that he was a sexist, racist, xenophobic, antisemitic, pro-eugenic Nazi sympathizer. In short, Caltech threw the book at him. This article analyzes two accusations against Millikan. The first of these accusations was published in Nature: that he collaborated to deprive Japanese Americans of their rights during their forced relocation to internment camps during the Second World War. An examination of original historical sources will show that this accusation is false. On the contrary, Millikan actively campaigned during the war to promote the rights of Japanese Americans. This article traces the stages of misrepresentation that led to current false beliefs about Millikan. In view of Millikan’s extraordinary position in American science, this misrepresentation is a cautionary tale. The article also treats Caltech’s central accusation against Millikan: he lent his name to “a morally reprehensible eugenics movement” that had been scientifically discredited in his time. The article considers the statements purporting to show that eugenics movement had been denounced by the scientific community by 1938. In a reversal of Caltech’s claims, all three of Caltech’s scientific witnesses against eugenics—including two Nobel laureates—were actually pro-eugenic to varying degrees. This article concludes that Millikan’s beliefs fell within acceptable scientific norms of his day.

Hesitating, Lost, Reborn: Analysis of Female Images on “When We Were Orphans”

“When We Were Orphans” is a novel written by Ishiguro Kazuo, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature. In the novel, Banksy’s mother Diana, his girlfriend Sarah, and his adopted daughter Jennifer are representatives of different female types. Based on feminist literary criticism, this article interprets figures of the three females with distinct personalities and reveals the inevitability of their fates.

100 Years since Robert Barany's visit to the Zaragoza medical faculty.

In December 1923, a twelve-day course took place at the University of Zaragoza, specifically at the Faculty of Medicine, given by Professor Róbert Bárány, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1914 for his discoveries on the vestibular apparatus. Professor Robert Bárány came to the faculty at the invitation of Professor Victor Fairén through the University Exchange programme. This course consisted of four lectures and twelve lessons a day in which he presented his knowledge of the physiopathology of the vestibule and cerebellum, as well as practical demonstrations of the physical examination of nystagmus and cerebellar pathology. Lorente de Nó, a doctorate student of medicine, was one of the most outstanding students on the course. His intellect was already outstanding in those years, which helped him to discuss the physiopathology of nystagmus with Professor Bárány. The relationship he forged with the Nobel laureate in Zaragoza would be decisive for his future as a researcher. The aim of this work is to compile and integrate the available information on the course that Professor Bárány took in the city of Zaragoza, consulting official documents from the university and the city, articles, books and the press of the time.

The development of innovative therapeutic drugs targeting hypoxia responses

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Dr. William G. Kaelin Jr, Dr. Peter J. Ratcliffe, and Dr. Gregg L. Semenza for their elucidation of new physiological mechanisms "How cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability". Moreover, two different drugs, HIF-PH inhibitors and HIF-2 inhibitors were also developed based on the discovery. Interestingly, those three doctors have different backgrounds as a medical oncologist, a nephrologist, and a pediatrician, respectively. They have started the research based on their own unique perspectives and eventually merged as "the elucidation of the response mechanism of living organisms to hypoxic environments". In this review, we will explain how the translational research that has begun to solve unmet clinical needs successfully contributed to the development of innovative therapeutic drugs.

Clinical application and future perspectives of HIF-PH inhibitors

Anemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) occurs due to insufficient production of erythropoietin to compensate for the decrease in hemoglobin. Anemia in CKD has traditionally been treated with periodic injections of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs), which are recombinant human erythropoietin preparations. Although ESA improved anemia in CKD and dramatically improved the quality of life of patients, there are some patients who are hyporesponsive to ESA, and the use of large doses of ESA in these patients may have a negative impact on patient prognosis. Currently, HIF prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitors have been approved in Japan as a new treatment for anemia in CKD. HIF-PH inhibitors activate HIF and promote the production of endogenous erythropoietin. The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for groundbreaking research that uncovered the HIF pathway. Because HIF-PH inhibitors improve both erythropoietin production and iron metabolism, they are expected to be effective in treating ESA hyporesponsiveness and solve the inconvenience of injectable preparations. On the other hand, its effects are systemic and multifaceted, and long-term effects must be closely monitored.

Sleeping beauties in Finance

The term ‘sleeping beauty’ (SB) is commonly used to describe scholarly articles that go unnoticed for extended periods before suddenly gaining significant attention and seeing a surge in citations. In this research, we utilize both the three-parameter and citation delay methods to identify twenty instances of such sleeping beauty phenomena within the field of finance. This includes five influential works written by Nobel Prize laureates. We conduct an in-depth analysis of the content in two renowned sleeping beauty publications, specifically Markowitz's work from 1952 and Vickrey's from 1961, to uncover their lasting contributions to the field of finance. Additionally, this paper pinpoints potential candidates that may achieve SB status in the finance domain.

The Impact of Colloidal QD Science and Technology on the Display Industry

AbstractCongratulations to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus, and Aleksey Yekimov for winning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.” This is an outstanding achievement for them and for all of us who currently work or have worked on developing and commercializing colloidal quantum‐dot (QD) technology.

Chirality-Induced Spin Selectivity in Composite Materials: A Device Perspective.

ConspectusMagnetism is an area of immense fundamental and technological importance. At the atomic level, magnetism originates from electron "spin". The field of nanospintronics (or nanoscale spin-based electronics) aims to control spins in nanoscale systems, which has resulted in astronomical improvement in data storage and magnetic field sensing technologies over the past few decades, recognized by the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics. Spins in nanoscale solid-state devices can also act as quantum bits or qubits for emerging quantum technologies, such as quantum computing and quantum sensing.Due to the fundamental connection between magnetism and spins, ferromagnets play a key role in many solid-state spintronic devices. This is because at the Fermi level, electron density of states is spin-polarized, which permits ferromagnets to act as electrical injectors and detectors of spins. Ferromagnets, however, have limitations in terms of low spin polarization at the Fermi level, stray magnetic fields, crosstalk, and thermal instability at the nanoscale. Therefore, new physics and new materials are needed to propel spintronic and quantum device technologies to the true atomic limit. Emerging new phenomena such as chirality induced spin selectivity or CISS, in which an intriguing correlation between carrier spin and medium chirality is observed, could therefore be instrumental in nanospintronics. This effect could allow molecular-scale, chirality controlled spin injection and detection without the need for any ferromagnet, thus opening a fundamentally new direction for device spintronics.While CISS finds a myriad of applications in diverse areas such as chiral separation, recognition, detection, and asymmetric catalysis, in this focused Account, we exclusively review spintronic device results of this effect due to its immense potential for future spintronics. The first generation of CISS-based spintronic devices have primarily used chiral bioorganic molecules; however, many practical limitations of these materials have also been identified. Therefore, our discussion revolves around the family of chiral composite materials, which may emerge as an ideal platform for CISS due to their ability to assimilate various desirable material properties on a single platform. This class of materials has been extensively studied by the organic chemistry community in the past decades, and we discuss the various chirality transfer mechanisms that have been identified, which play a central role in CISS. Next, we discuss CISS device studies performed on some of these chiral composite materials. Emphasis is given to the family of chiral organic-carbon allotrope composites, which have been extensively studied by the authors of this Account over the past several years. Interestingly, due to the presence of multiple materials, CISS signals from hybrid chiral systems sometimes differ from those observed in purely chiral systems. Given the sheer diversity of chiral composite materials, CISS device studies so far have been limited to only a few varieties, and this Account is expected to draw increased attention to the family of chiral composites and motivate further studies of their CISS applications.

Toury’s Norms as Applied to the Translation of Arabic Literary Texts Into English

This study investigates the applicability of Toury’s norms to the translation of Arabic literary texts into English. It also tackles the translation of sociocultural terms from Arabic literary texts into English and highlights the sociocultural differences between the two languages. Moreover, it uses Toury’s norms to analyze the translated selections of texts by two translators to determine whether each decided to be loyal to the target reader and explain the expression, or if they decided to be loyal to the source text, translate it, and then explain the influence of each decision on the other norms. For this purpose, the researchers selected 40 excerpts from the novel Midaq Alley (1960) by 1988 Nobel Prize winning author (and the “Father of Arabic Literature”), Naguib Mahfouz, along with two translations by Trevor LeGassick (1966) and Humphrey Davies (2011). These 40 texts contained 74 cases or expressions concerning religion, clothing, food, tools, places, and binomials. The study concluded that Toury’s norms (that is, initial norms, preliminary norms, and operational norms) do, indeed, apply to the translation of Arabic literary texts into English. The study shows that the norms are applicable and that the English-translated texts from the Arabic language can be assessed by using these norms.

Bibliometric comparison of Nobel Prize laureates in physiology or medicine and chemistry.

The Nobel Prize is an annual honor awarded to the researchers who have made the greatest contribution to humanity with their work in the year in question. Nobel Prizes for physiology or medicine and chemistry most often have direct or indirect pharmacological relevance. In this study, we performed a bibliometric analysis of Nobel Prize laureates from 2006 to 2022. The parameters include the nationalities and age of the laureates, age at their productivity peaks, the research locations, the H-index, the age-adjusted H-index, and the number of citations and publications, and, for each parameter, a comparison of female and male award laureates. Men were much more often awarded the Nobel Prize than women. Surprisingly, women were younger than their male colleagues at the time of the award although the productivity peak was similar. There was a correlation between all publications and the H-index, which was slightly stronger for women than for men. The age-adjusted H-index showed no difference among genders. The USA were the country with the highest number of Nobel Prize laureates, both male and female. Overall, the bibliometric characteristics of male and female Nobel Prize laureates are similar, indicating that among the group of Nobel Prize laureates, there is no bias against women. Rather, the achievements of women are recognized earlier than those of men. The major difference is that the number of women becoming Nobel Prize laureates is much smaller than the number of men. This study provides a starting for future studies with larger populations of scientists to analyze disparities.

Multifacets of Fullerene-Metal Clusters: From Fundamental to Application.

ConspectusBuckminsterfullerene, C60, was discovered through a prominent mass peak containing 60 atoms produced from laser vaporization of graphite, driven by Kroto's interest in understanding the formation mechanisms of carbon-containing molecules in space. Inspired by the geodesic dome-shaped architecture designed by Richard Buckminster Fuller, after whom the particle was named, C60 was found to have a football-shaped structure comprising 20 hexagons and 12 pentagons. It sparked worldwide interest in understanding this new carbon allotrope, resulting in the awarding of the Noble Prize in Chemistry to Smalley, Kroto, and Curl in 1996.Intrinsically, C60 is an exceptional species because of its high stability and electron-accepting ability and its structural tunability by decorating or substituting either on its exterior surface or interior hollow cavity. For example, metal-decorated fullerene complexes have found important applications ranging from superconductivity, nanoscale electronic devices, and organic photovoltaic cells to catalysis and biomedicine. Compared to the large body of studies on atoms and molecules encapsulated by C60, studies on the exteriorly modified fullerenes, i.e., exohedral fullerenes, are scarcer. Surprisingly, to date, uncertainty exists about a fundamental question: what is the preferable exterior binding site of different kinds of single atoms on the C60 surface?In recent years, we have developed an experimental protocol to synthesize the desired fullerene-metal clusters and to record their infrared spectra via messenger-tagged infrared multiple photon dissociation spectroscopy. With complementary quantum chemical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, we determined that the most probable binding site of a metal, specifically a vanadium cation, on C60 is above a pentagonal center in an η5 fashion. We explored the bonding nature between C60 and V+ and revealed that the high thermal stability of this cluster originates from large orbital and electrostatic interactions. Through comparing the measured infrared spectra of [C60-Metal]+ with the observational Spitzer data of several fullerene-rich planetary nebulae, we proposed that the complexes formed by fullerene and cosmically abundant metals, for example, iron, are promising carriers of astronomical unidentified spectroscopic features. This opens the door for a real consideration of Kroto's 30-year-old hypothesis that complexes involving cosmically abundant elements and C60 exhibit strong charge-transfer bands, similar to those of certain unidentified astrophysical spectroscopic features. We compiled a VibFullerene database and extracted a set of vibrational frequencies and intensities for fullerene derivatives to facilitate their potential detection by the James Webb Space Telescope. In addition, we showed that upon infrared irradiation C60V+ can efficiently catalyze water splitting to generate H2. This finding is attributed to the novel geometric-electronic effects of C60, acting as "hydrogen shuttle" and "electron sponge", which illustrates the important role of carbon-based supports in single-atom catalysts. Our work not only unveils the basic structures and bonding nature of fullerene-metal clusters but also elucidates their potential importance in astrophysics, astrochemistry, and catalysis, showing the multifaceted character of this class of clusters. More exciting and interesting aspects of the fullerene-metal clusters, such as ultrafast charge-transfer dynamics between fullerene and metal and their relevance to designing hybrid fullerene-metal junctions for electronic devices, are awaiting exploration.

Nobel Prize–awarding institution receives an ACS HIST award plaque honoring the discovery of nuclear fission

Nobel Prize–awarding institution receives an ACS HIST award plaque honoring the discovery of nuclear fission

Steven Weinberg and Higgs physics

As a tribute to Steven Weinberg, we summarize the immense impact that he had on the understanding of the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking and on the physics of the Higgs boson. In particular, four landmark contributions to this field are highlighted. A first one is his early work with Goldstone and Salam on spontaneously broken continuous symmetries that paved the way to the Higgs mechanism. A second towering breakthrough is his model of leptons which later became the Standard Model of particle physics and for which he was awarded the Nobel prize with Glashow and Salam. A third seminal work is the so-called Weinberg-Linde lower bound on the Higgs boson mass that was derived from the requirement of the stability of the electroweak vacuum. Finally, we summarize his important contributions in model-building of new physics with extended Higgs sectors and their possible impact in flavor physics and CP-violation. The historical aspects as well as the contemporary way of viewing these four major topics are summarized and their impact on today Higgs physics, and more generally particle physics, is highlighted.