Benjamin List & David MacMillan wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize 2021 in Chemistry has been announced at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Benjamin List and David WC MacMillan have been awarded the Nobel Prize 2021 in Chemistry for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis.

The Nobel panel said List and MacMillan in 2000 independently developed a new way of catalysis. “It’s already benefiting humankind greatly,” Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, a member of the Nobel panel, said.

It is common for several scientists who work in related fields to share the prize. Last year, the prize went to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States for developing a gene-editing tool that has revolutionized science by providing a way to alter DNA.

The two scientists independently revealed that organic molecules can be used as catalysts, a fundamental tool in chemistry used to speed up reactions. Before the breakthrough there were just two classes of catalyst available: metals and enzymes.

The news comes just one day after the Academy awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi for their groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems. The researchers contributed to a better understanding of global complex systems such as climate.

About Nobel prize:

So far, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has recognised 186 people for their contributions in the field, with seven of them being women. The list of laureates includes Marie Curie, who received the Nobel Prize for her contributions to the advancement of chemistry through the discovery of the elements radium and polonium, the isolation of radium, and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element.

The Nobel prizes, for achievements in science, literature and peace, were created and funded in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. They have been awarded since 1901, with the economics prize first handed out in 1969.

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Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann, and Giorgio Parisi win Nobel Prize for Physics

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