2005 Nobel Prize Announcements

<Prev Next>
Prize Announcements

The 2005 Nobel Prizes in Literature, Economics, Peace, Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine and Ig-Nobel Prizes have been announced! While you're here, why not read about past winners.

N.B. The time of the announcement is given in Stockholm time (Central European Time); subtract 6 hours to get the US Eastern Daylight Time).


    Date: Thursday, October 13, 2005 (13:00 p.m CEST. at the earliest)
    Prize: LITERATURE
    Awarding institution: The Swedish Academy
    And the prize goes to...

    Harold Pinter

    who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression's closed rooms.


    Date: Monday, October 10, 2005 (13:00 CEST at the earliest)
    Prize: ECONOMICS
    Awarding institution: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
    And the prizes go to...

    Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling

    for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.


    Date: Friday, October 7, 2005 (11:00 a.m. CEST)
    Prize: PEACE
    Awarding institution: The Norwegian Nobel Institute
    And the prizes go to...

    International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei

    "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way"


    Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2005 (11:45 a.m. CEST at the earliest)
    Prize: CHEMISTRY
    Awarding institution: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
    And the prizes go to...

    Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock

    "for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis".


    Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2005 (11:45 a.m. CEST at the earliest)
    Prize: PHYSICS
    Awarding institution: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
    And the prizes go to...

    Roy J. Glauber

    "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence"

    and

    John L. Hall, and Theodor W. Hänsch

    "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique".


    Date: Monday, October 3, 2005 (11:30 a.m. CEST at the earliest)
    Prize: PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE
    Awarding institution: The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute
    And the prizes go to...

    Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren

    "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease".


    Date: Thursday, October 6, 2005 (7:30 pm EDT)
    Prize: IG NOBEL PRIZES
    Awarding institution: The Annals of Improbable Research
    And the winners are:

    AGRICULTURAL HISTORY
    James Watson of Massey University, New Zealand, for his scholarly study, "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley's Exploding Trousers."
    REFERENCE: "The Significance of Mr. Richard Buckley's Exploding Trousers: Reflections on an Aspect of Technological Change in New Zealand Dairy-Farming between the World Wars," James Watson, Agricultural History, vol. 78, no. 3, Summer 2004, pp. 346-60.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: James Watson

    PHYSICS
    John Mainstone and the late Thomas Parnell of the University of Queensland, Australia, for patiently conducting an experiment that began in the year 1927 -- in which a glob of congealed black tar has been slowly, slowly dripping through a funnel, at a rate of approximately one drop every nine years.
    REFERENCE: "The Pitch Drop Experiment," R. Edgeworth, B.J. Dalton and T. Parnell, European Journal of Physics, 1984, pp. 198-200.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: John Mainstone

    MEDICINE
    Gregg A. Miller of Oak Grove, Missouri, for inventing Neuticles -- artificial replacement testicles for dogs, which are available in three sizes, and three degrees of firmness.
    REFERENCES: US Patent #5868140, and the book Going Going NUTS!, by Gregg A. Miller, PublishAmerica, 2004, ISBN 1413753167.
    ACCEPTING: "The winner was unable to travel, and deliverd his acceptance speech via videotape."

    LITERATURE
    The Internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for creating and then using e-mail to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters -- General Sani Abacha, Mrs. Mariam Sanni Abacha, Barrister Jon A Mbeki Esq., and others -- each of whom requires just a small amount of expense money so as to obtain access to the great wealth to which they are entitled and which they would like to share with the kind person who assists them.

    PEACE
    Claire Rind and Peter Simmons of Newcastle University, in the U.K., for electrically monitoring the activity of a brain cell in a locust while that locust was watching selected highlights from the movie "Star Wars."
    REFERENCE: "Orthopteran DCMD Neuron: A Reevaluation of Responses to Moving Objects. I. Selective Responses to Approaching Objects," F.C. Rind and P.J. Simmons, Journal of Neurophysiology, vol. 68, no. 5, November 1992, pp. 1654-66.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Claire Rind

    ECONOMICS
    Gauri Nanda of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for inventing an alarm clock that runs away and hides, repeatedly, thus ensuring that people DO get out of bed, and thus theoretically adding many productive hours to the workday.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Gauri Nanda

    CHEMISTRY
    Edward Cussler of the University of Minnesota and Brian Gettelfinger of the University of Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin, for conducting a careful experiment to settle the longstanding scientific question: can people swim faster in syrup or in water?
    REFERENCE: "Will Humans Swim Faster or Slower in Syrup?" American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journal, Brian Gettelfinger and E. L. Cussler, vol. 50, no. 11, October 2004, pp. 2646-7.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Brian Gettelfinger and Edward Cussler

    BIOLOGY
    Benjamin Smith of the University of Adelaide, Australia and the University of Toronto, Canada and the Firmenich perfume company, Geneva, Switzerland, and ChemComm Enterprises, Archamps, France; Craig Williams of James Cook University and the University of South Australia; Michael Tyler of the University of Adelaide; Brian Williams of the University of Adelaide; and Yoji Hayasaka of the Australian Wine Research Institute; for painstakingly smelling and cataloging the peculiar odors produced by 131 different species of frogs when the frogs were feeling stressed.
    REFERENCE: "A Survey of Frog Odorous Secretions, Their Possible Functions and Phylogenetic Significance," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Craig R. Williams, Michael J. Tyler, and Brian D. Williams, Applied Herpetology, vol. 2, no. 1-2, February 1, 2004, pp. 47-82.
    REFERENCE: "Chemical and Olfactory Characterization of Odorous Compounds and Their Precursors in the Parotoid Gland Secretion of the Green Tree Frog, Litoria caerulea," Benjamin P.C. Smith, Michael J. Tyler, Brian D. Williams, and Yoji Hayasaka, Journal of Chemical Ecology, vol. 29, no. 9, September 2003.
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Ben Smith and Craig Williams

    NUTRITION
    Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats of Tokyo, Japan, for photographing and retrospectively analyzing every meal he has consumed during a period of 34 years (and counting).
    WHO ATTENDED THE IG NOBEL CEREMONY: Dr. Yoshiro Nakamats

    FLUID DYNAMICS
    Victor Benno Meyer-Rochow of International University Bremen, Germany and the University of Oulu , Finland; and Jozsef Gal of Lorand Eotvos University, Hungary, for using basic principles of physics to calculate the pressure that builds up inside a penguin, as detailed in their report "Pressures Produced When Penguins Pooh -- Calculations on Avian Defaecation."
    PUBLISHED IN: Polar Biology, vol. 27, 2003, pp. 56-8.
    ACCEPTING: The winners were unable to attend the ceremony because they could not obtain United States visas to visit the United States. Dr. Meyer-Rochow sent an acceptance speech via videotape.


[ Back to The Nobel Prize Internet Archive ]
[ Literature * Peace * Chemistry * Physics * Economics * Medicine ]

Become a Sponsor of the Nobel Prize Internet Archive!
We always welcome your feedback and comments.
Copyright © 1996-2003 Ona Wu. All rights reserved.