Roger Penrose helped resurrect Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez showed there was a black hole in the middle of our galaxy.
Luciano Kay, University of California, Santa Barbara
Society has never faced more pressing challenges. Researchers are investigating how monetary prizes can help focus innovators’ attention, creativity and investment on finding solutions.
With 3% of science Nobels going to women and zero going to Black people, these awards are an extreme example of how certain demographics are underrepresented in STEM fields.
COVID-19 tests rely on a process developed at a biotech company co-founded by a Canadian. Canada’s current testing expertise needs to be channelled to prepare for the next wave, and the next pandemic.
M. Stanley Whittingham was one of three scientists who won the 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work developing lithium-ion batteries – used to power mobile phones, laptops and electric cars.
Abiy Ahmed was awarded the prize for efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.
Progress has been made toward gender parity in science fields. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino created a safe, light, rechargeable battery that has revolutionised society and is probably powering the device you’re reading this on right now.
The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics went to a cosmologist who helped unlock the secrets of the Big Bang’s aftermath, and two astronomers who found a “hot Jupiter” orbiting a nearby star.
Oxygen is vital for life, so much so that cells can sense when there isn’t enough and adapt almost instantly. So how do they do it? The winners of the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physiology figured it out.
Only one Canadian discovery has brought home a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. But, like winning another Stanley Cup, Canadians should not give up hope.