Nobels awarded in Sweden for science, literature and economics

Fri, 10 Dec 2010

Stockholm - The winners of the 2010 Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and economics received their awards Friday in a wintry Stockholm.

Due to ill health, medicine prize laureate Robert Edwards of Britain - cited for the development of in vitro fertilization - did not travel to Stockholm.

"The result of your work has touched us all, giving millions of infertile couples a precious gift, a child," said professor Christer Hoog of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute.

Edwards' wife and co-researcher, Ruth Fowler Edwards, accepted the award, worth 10 million kronor (1.5 million dollars), on his behalf from King Carl Gustaf at the ceremony in Stockholm Concert Hall.

Russian-born duo Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov shared the physics prize for pioneering work on a so-called super material called graphene.

Richard F Heck of the United States and Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, both of Japan, shared the chemistry prize for research on a method used to create advanced materials, for instance in pharmaceuticals.

Literature prize winner, Peruvian-born "Mario Vargas Llosa's writing has shaped our image of South America" and he "believes in the force of literature," Swedish Academy member Per Wastberg said.

US researchers Peter A Diamond and Dale T Mortensen, and British- Cypriot citizen Christopher A Pissarides won the economics prize for a theory that helps explain the difficulties in matching the needs of buyers and sellers - especially on the labor market.

The ceremony was a first for Crown Princess Victoria's husband, Prince Daniel. The couple married in June.

Earlier Friday, a ceremony was held in Oslo, Norway, for the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, jailed Chinese political activist Liu Xiaobo.

Since Liu and his family were not allowed to travel to Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it would keep his diploma, medal and prize money in his name.

Angered by the choice of Liu, China stayed away from the ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm.

The Nobel awards were endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite.

The Stockholm Concert Hall was decorated with thousands of flowers from San Remo, Italy, where Nobel died on December 10, 1896.

Some 1,300 guests, including royal family members, diplomats, academics, politicians and leaders from the worlds of business and the arts then attended a banquet at Stockholm's City Hall.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357592,sweden-science-literature-economics.html.