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Scientists Benjamin List and David WC MacMillan recognized for having developed a new type of catalyst to speed up chemical reactions.
The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to German scientist Benjamin List of the Max Planck Institute and Scottish scientist David WC MacMillan of Princeton University.
The work of the two scientists has advanced pharmaceutical research and “made chemistry greener,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Wednesday in a statement announcing the winners.
List and MacMillan, working independently of each other, had developed a new type of catalyst to speed up chemical reactions called asymmetric organocatalysis. Such catalysts are essential in molecular construction, the academy said.
“This concept of catalysis is as simple as it is ingenious, and the fact is that many people have wondered why we had not thought of it sooner,” said Johan Aqvist, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
It is common for several scientists working in related fields to share the prize. Last year, the award went to Emmanuelle Charpentier from France and Jennifer A Doudna from the United States for the development of a gene editing tool that revolutionized science by providing a way to modify DNA.
The prestigious award is accompanied by a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $ 1.1 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the creator of the prize, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.
Monday, the Nobel committee awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize to the Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discoveries on how the human body perceives temperature and touch it.
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded on Tuesday to three scientists – Japanese-American scientist Syukuro Manabe, German Klaus Hasselmann and Italian Giorgio Parisi – for climate models and understanding physical systems.
Over the next few days, prizes will also be awarded for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics.
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