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Nobel Prize 2013

"Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."

“Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”

The 2013 Nobel Prize awards for chemistry, physiology or medicine, and physics were recently announced as they are every year at around this time and posted here.

The Nobel Prize awards were established in 1895 according to the will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel and endowed by his estate. Other than the three natural science awards, Alfred also wanted awards for literature and peace. All five Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901. In 1968, Sweden’s central bank established and endowed the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their 300th anniversary. This prize for economics in honor of Alfred Nobel was first awarded the following year.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences grants the prizes for chemistry and physics (and economics), while the Karolinska Institute grants the prize for physiology or medicine.

The Nobel Prize awards are presented in Stockholm, Sweden (except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo, Norway) every year on December 10, which is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

The Nobel Prize science medals were designed by Swedish engraver Erik Lindberg in 1902. The Latin inscription on the medals is

Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes

and can be translated as And all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair. The inscription is from Book 6, line 663 of Vergil’s Aeneid:

And poets, of whom the true-inspired song deserved Apollo’s name;
and all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair;
(translation by Theodore C. Williams)

For the chemistry and physics medals, Erik Lindberg chose to show Nature being unveiled by the Genius of Science. For the medal for physiology or medicine, Erik chose to show the Genius of Medicine gathering water to quench the thirst of a sick child.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Chemistry: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is awarded to Université de Strasbourg scientist Martin Karplus, Stanford University School of Medicine scientist Michael Levitt, and University of Southern California at Los Angeles scientist Arieh Warshel for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physiology or Medicine: Genius of Medicine quenching the thirst of the Ill

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Yale University scientist James Rothman, University of California at Berkeley scientist Randy Schekman, and Stanford University scientist Thomas Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physics: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2013 Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to Université Libre de Bruxelles scientist François Englert and University of Edinburgh scientist Peter Higgs for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.

Nobel Prize 2012

"Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."

“Prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”

The 2012 Nobel Prize awards for chemistry, physiology or medicine, and physics were recently announced as they are every year at around this time and posted.

The Nobel Prize awards were established in 1895 according to the will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and inventor Alfred Nobel and endowed by his estate. Other than the three natural science awards, Alfred also wanted awards for literature and peace. All five Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901. In 1968, Sweden’s central bank established and endowed the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their 300th anniversary. This prize for economics in honor of Alfred Nobel was first awarded the following year.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences grants the prizes for chemistry and physics (and economics), while the Karolinska Institute grants the prize for physiology or medicine.

The Nobel Prize awards are presented in Stockholm, Sweden (except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo, Norway) every year on December 10, which is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

The Nobel Prize science medals were designed by Swedish engraver Erik Lindberg in 1902. The Latin inscription on the medals is

Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes

and can be translated as And all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair. The inscription is from Book 6, line 663 of Vergil’s Aeneid:

And poets, of whom the true-inspired song deserved Apollo’s name;
and all who found new arts, to make man’s life more blest or fair;
(translation by Theodore C. Williams)

For the chemistry and physics medals, Erik Lindberg chose to show Nature being unveiled by the Genius of Science. For the medal for physiology or medicine, Erik chose to show the Genius of Medicine gathering water to quench the thirst of a sick child.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Chemistry: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is awarded to Duke University Medical Center scientist Robert Lefkowitz and Stanford University School of Medicine scientist Brian Kobilka for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physiology or Medicine: Genius of Medicine quenching the thirst of the Ill

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Gurdon Institute scientist Sir John Gurdon and Kyoto University scientist Shinya Yamanaka for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.

"And all who found new arts, to make man's life more blest or fair"

Physics: Genius of Science unveiling Nature

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics is awarded to Collège de France scientist Serge Haroche and National Institute of Standards and Technology scientist David Wineland for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.

Periodic Tales

Hugh Aldersey-Williams offers an interesting look at the periodic table of the elements and the little-known stories behind their discoveries and properties. Besides a handful of common ones like copper, iron, silver, and gold, most of the elements remain mysterious. A lot of us do not know what most of them look like or of what use they are to us. Periodic Tales is a book of science and superstition, explorers and scholars, and the various ways the building blocks of matter make their way into our language, history, and culture. Aldersey-Williams takes us on a journey through artists’ studios and factories, cathedrals and ore mines, and shares with us the true stories of the elements.

ChemSpider

ChemSpider screenshot

ChemSpider entry for caffeine

ChemSpider is a chemical structure database by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) that provides access to over 50 million molecules, properties, and associated information from over 500 data sources including US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Structural Genomics Consortium, Thomson Pharma, and Web of Science. By integrating and linking compounds from these data sources, ChemSpider provides a comprehensive view of freely available chemical data in a single online search.

A number of available search modules are provided, including the use of mobile devices via free apps for iOS and Android, allowing for querying systematic names, trade names, synonyms, and registry numbers. The advanced search allows interactive searching by chemical structure, chemical substructure, using also molecular formulas and molecular weight ranges, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry numbers, and suppliers.

interactive 3D model of caffeine 1
interactive 3D model of caffeine 2

This can be done because each chemical is given a unique identifier, which forms part of a corresponding URL, e.g., caffeine (1,3,7-Trimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione) is 2424 and thus has the ChemSpider URL http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.2424.html.

Besides offering a static, two-dimensional structural formula of the molecule, ChemSpider also offers an interactive three-dimensional model which can be viewed via Jmol (using a Java applet) or JSmol (a JavaScript framework for Jmol to display on devices that do not have Java installed or for which Java is not available, e.g., smart phones and some tablet computers).

CAST 2011

cast2011

I went to Dallas for this year’s Conference for the Advancement of Science Teaching (CAST), the annual statewide meeting of the Science Teachers Association of Texas (STAT).

It was fun and exciting to see the vendor booths, attend informative sessions, and to meet and talk with science teachers from all over Texas. I learned a lot from both experienced and novice teachers as they shared with me their various ideas and tips that they took from their teaching toolboxes.

I also attended a luncheon hosted by the Associated Chemistry Teachers of Texas (ACT2), the chemistry affiliate of STAT. They acted as hosts to Jonathan Bergmann, their guest speaker. Bergmann talked about how he, along with fellow Colorado chemistry teacher Aaron Sams, flipped his chemistry classroom in order to provide more class time for student help and less for lecture.

Jonathan Bergmann

Aaron Sams