Nobel amputee season kicks off with no literature prize

The announcement Monday of the Nobel Prize for Medicine opens the season of amputated awards this year, with no literature prize for the first time in 70 years due to a #MeToo scandal.

As every year, Nobel aficionados have hugely speculated on the possible winners, given the number of deserving candidates in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, peace and the economy.

The Drug Pricing Committee of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm is the first to announce its choice of laureates on Monday at 11:30 am (09:30 GMT).

But his announcement risks being at least partially overshadowed by the verdict pronounced by a Stockholm court at about the same time against the Frenchman Jean-Claude Arnault, accused of rape.

His close ties with the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize for Literature, have caused a scandal and a deep split within the Academy, leading him to postpone this year's prize of 39, one year.

This is the first time the award has been postponed since the honor of William Faulkner in 1949 was awarded in 1950.

Without the Literature Award this year, the most anticipated award will be peace, announced Friday in Oslo.

But before that come the scientific awards, traditionally dominated by men working in American institutions.

Swedish public radio SR said the price of medicine could be awarded to two women for the gene modification technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA cleavage tool, a type of genetic "scissors" used to cut a mutated gene into a human embryo and replace it. it by a corrected version.

However, the discovery might be too early for a Nobel, with a recent study suggesting that the technique could damage more DNA than expected. A legal dispute is also raging over who discovered the technique.

It has been claimed on the one hand by the duo of Franco-American researchers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, and on the other hand by the American Feng Zhang, of Chinese origin.

– Audience, genes, opiates? –

Among the other researches mentioned as worthy of a Nobel prize include the cochlear implant, which can help the deaf to hear again, and gene sequencing, already awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1980, but whose vast advances have revolutionized medical, biological and evolutionary research since.

The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet cited opioid research and pain relief, the growth of new blood vessels and the creation of a gene and genome gene database, among some 39, other potentially award-winning domains.

The price of physics will follow Tuesday.

SR suggested that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences paves the way for research on zero-dimensional quantum dots – very small semiconductor particles that play a key role in data communication, light-emitting diodes, cells solar and medical imaging.

Svenska Dagbladet, meanwhile, said the discovery of the so-called "Spin Hall effect" in semiconductors could be honored, or innovative methods to determine the age, size and distance between galaxies.

Work on the mechanisms behind supercapacitors, a type of battery capable of storing large amounts of electricity, was also seen as a possibility.

The chemistry award, announced Wednesday, could go to John Goodenough, a 96-year-old electrochemist whose work led to the invention of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery found in cell phones, computers and electric cars, declared SR.

– Peace Prize in Korea? –

For the price of peace, the only Nobel Prize announced in Oslo, there are 329 candidates this year, but their names are kept secret.

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, was mentioned as an opportunity for his efforts to restore peace on the Korean peninsula.

But Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said it would be "inappropriate" to honor Trump after withdrawing the United States from international climate agreements and the Iranian nuclear program. .

In addition, Trump's only known nomination submitted to the Nobel Committee proved to be a fake.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in was also mentioned for his rapprochement efforts with North Korea.

But Smith said it would be "premature", recalling disappointed hopes after Moon's predecessor, Kim Dae-jung, won the award in 2000.

Other names in circulation include Congolese surgeon Denis Mukwege and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, both fighting sexual violence, as well as the World Food Program, the UN refugee agency.

The 2018 Nobel season ends on October 8 with the announcement of the economic price.

This year, each Nobel receives a sum of nine million crowns (1.01 million dollars, 871,000 euros) to share if several laureates are honored in the same discipline.