Thursday, 6 October 2011

Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

2011 Nobel Prize Announcements

Literature

2011 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 is awarded to Tomas Tranströmer "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".
Press Release
Bio-bibliography
Congratulate the New Nobel Laureate

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

Tomas Tranströmer

Tomas Tranströmer

Tomas Tranströmer

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 was awarded to Tomas Tranströmer "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

Tomas Tranströmer

Logotype
English
English [pdf]
Swedish
Swedish [pdf]
French
French [pdf]
German
German [pdf]
Spanish
Spanish [pdf]

The Permanent Secretary
Press Release
6 October 2011

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011

Tomas Tranströmer


The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2011 is awarded to the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer
because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality”.

Tomas Tranströmer

Bio-bibliography

logotype
English
English [pdf]
Swedish
Swedish [pdf]
French
French [pdf]
German
German [pdf]
Spanish
Spanish [pdf]

 

Biobibliographical notes

Tomas Tranströmer was born in Stockholm on 15 April 1931. His mother Helmy was a schoolteacher and his father Gösta Tranströmer a journalist. After graduating in 1950 from Södra Latin grammar school he studied literature history and poetics, the history of religion, and psychology at Stockholm University – subjects he took for his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956. After completed academic studies, he was employed as an assistant at the Institution for Psychometrics at Stockholm University in 1957. In the following year, he married Monica Bladh. Between 1960 and 1966, he worked as a psychologist at Roxtuna, a youth correctional facility near Linköping. In 1980 he took a position at the Labour Market Institute (Arbetsmarknadsinstitutet) in Västerås. In 1990 Tranströmer suffered a stroke that left him largely unable to speak.
After publishing poems in a number of journals, Tranströmer published in 1954 17 dikter (17 poems) – one of the most acclaimed literary debuts of the decade. Already apparent was the interest in nature and music that has informed a major part of his production. With the following collections – Hemligheter på vägen (1958; Secrets along the way), Den halvfärdiga himlen (1962; The Half-Finished Heaven, 2001) and Klanger och spår (1966; see Windows & Stones : Selected Poems, 1972) – he consolidated his standing among critics and other readers as one of the leading poets of his generation.
A suite, Östersjöar (1974; Baltics, 1975), gathers fragments of a family chronicle from Runmarö Island in the Stockholm archipelago, where his maternal grandfather was a pilot and where Tranströmer has spent many summers since boyhood. His reminiscences from growing up in the 1930s and ‘40s are collected in a memoir, Minnena ser mig (1993; The memories see me).
Most of Tranströmer’s poetry collections are characterised by economy, concreteness and poignant metaphors. In his latest collections, Sorgegondolen (1996; The Sorrow Gondola, 1997) and Den stora gåtan (2004; The Great Enigma, 2006), Tranströmer has shifted towards an even smaller format and a higher degree of concentration.
Tranströmer was introduced in the United States by author Robert Bly as early as the 1960s. Since then, international interest in his poetry has grown and he has now been translated into more than sixty languages. Tranströmer has periodically published his own translations of poetry in other languages. A collection, entitled Tolkningar (Interpretations), was published in 1999.

Works in Swedish
Poetry collections
17 dikter
. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1954
Hemligheter på vägen. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1958
Den halvfärdiga himlen. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1962
Klanger och spår. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1966
Mörkerseende. – Göteborg : Författarförlaget, 1970
Stigar / Tomas Tranströmer, Robert Bly, János Pilinszky ; övers. av Tomas Tranströmer tillsammans med Géza Thinsz. – Göteborg : Författarförlaget, 1973
Östersjöar. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1974
Sanningsbarriären. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1978
Det vilda torget. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1983
The Blue House = Det blå huset / translated from the Swedish by Göran Malmqvist. – Houston, TX. : Thunder City Press, 1987
För levande och döda. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1989
Sorgegondolen. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1996
Fängelse : nio haikudikter från Hällby ungdomsfängelse (1959). – Uppsala : Ed. Edda, 2001
Den stora gåtan. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 2004
Tomas Tranströmers ungdomsdikter / utgivna och kommenterade av Jonas Ellerström. – Lund : Ellerström, 2006. – 2., utök. uppl. 2011
Collections
Kvartett
: 17 dikter ; Hemligheter på vägen ; Den halvfärdiga himlen ; Klanger och spår. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1967
Dikter 1954-1978. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1979
Dikter. – Stockholm : MånPocket, 1984
Samlade dikter : 1954-1996. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 2001. – Ny utg. 2002 och 2005
Dikter och prosa 1954-2004. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 2011
Miscellaneous
Minnena ser mig
. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1993
Tolkningar / redaktör: Niklas Schiöler. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1999
Air mail : brev 1964-1990 / Tomas Tranströmer, Robert Bly ; en bok sammanställd av Torbjörn
Schmidt ; översättning av Lars-Håkan Svensson. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 2001
Works in English
Twenty Poems / translated by Robert Bly. – Madison, MN. : Seventies Press, 1970
Night Vision / selected and translated from the Swedish by Robert Bly. – London : London Magazine Editions, 1972
Windows & Stones : Selected Poems / translated by May Swenson with Leif Sjöberg. – Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 1972
Elegy ; Some October notes / translated from the Swedish of Tomas Tranströmer. – Rushden : Sceptre, 1973
Citoyens / translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. – Knotting, Bedfordshire : Sceptre Press, 1974
Baltics / translated by Samuel Charters. – Berkeley : Oyez, 1975. – Translation of Östersjöar
Baltics / translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. – London : Oasis Books, 1980. – Translation of Östersjöar
How the Late Autumn Night Novel Begins / translated by Robin Fulton. – Knotting, Bedfordshire : Sceptre Press, 1980
Truth Barriers : Poems / translated and introduced by Robert Bly. – San Francisco : Sierra Club Books, 1980. – Translation of Sanningsbarriären
Selected Poems / translated by Robin Fulton. – Ann Arbor, MI. : Ardis Publishers, 1981
The Truth Barrier / translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. – London : Oasis, 1984
The Wild Marketplace / translated by John F. Deane. – Sandymount, Dublin : Dedalus, 1985. – Translation of Det vilda torget
Tomas Tranströmer : Selected Poems, 1954-1986 / edited by Robert Hass. – New York : Ecco Press, 1987
The Blue House = Det blå huset / translated from the Swedish by Göran Malmqvist. – Houston, TX. : Thunder City Press, 1987
Collected Poems / translated by Robin Fulton. – Newcastle upon Tyne : Bloodaxe Books, 1987
For the Living and the Dead / poems translated from Swedish by John F. Deane. – Dublin : Dedalus, 1994
For the Living and the Dead : New Poems and a Memoir / edited by Daniel Halpern. – Hopewell, NJ : Ecco Press, 1995
For the Living and the Dead : A Bilingual Edition / translation from the Swedish by Don Coles. – Ottawa, Ont. : BuschekBooks, 1996
New Collected Poems / translated by Robin Fulton. – Newcastle upon Tyne : Bloodaxe Books, 1997
Sorgegondolen = The Sorrow Gondola / translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. – Dublin : Dedalus Press, 1997
The Half-Finished Heaven : The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer / chosen and translated by Robert Bly. – Saint Paul, MN. : Graywolf Press, 2001
The Deleted World. – Bilingual ed. / new versions in English by Robin Robertson. – London : Enitharmon Press, 2006
The Great Enigma : New Collected Poems / translated from the Swedish by Robin Fulton. – New York, NY : New Directions, 2006
The Sorrow Gondola = Sorgegondolen / translated by Michael McGriff & Mikaela Grassl. – København : Green Integer, 2010
Works in French
Baltiques : et autres poèmes, anthologie (1966-1989) / traduit du suédois par Jacques Outin ... – Pantin : Le Castor astral, 1989. – Traduction de: Östersjöar
Œuvres complètes : poèmes, 1954-1996 / traduit du suédois et préface par Jacques Outin ; avertissement de Kjell Espmark ... ; postf. de Renaud Ego. – Bègles : Le Castor astral, 1996
Les souvenirs m'observent / traduit du suédois et postface par Jacques Outin. – Bègles : Le Castor astral, 2004. – Traduction de: Minnena ser mig
La grande énigme : 45 haïkus / adaptés du suédois par Jacques Outin ; préface de Petr Kral ; photogr. de
Lucien Clergue. – Talence : Le Castor astral, 2004. – Traduction de: Den stora gåtan
Baltiques : œuvres complètes 1954-2004 / traduit du suédois et préfacé par Jacques Outin ; avertissement de Kjell Espmark ; postface de Renaud Ego. – Paris : Gallimard, 2004
Works in Spanish
Postales negras / traducción: Roberto Mascaró & Christian Kupchik. – Stockholm : Ediciones Inferno, 1988
El bosque en otoño / traducción de Roberto Mascaró. – Montevideo : Uno/Siesta, 1989
Para vivos y muertos / versiones de Roberto Mascaró ; con la versión de Bálticos de Francisco Uriz. – Madrid : Hiperión, 1992
Góndola fúnebre / versión castellana de Roberto Mascaró. – Concepción : Ed. Literatura Americana Reunida (LAR), 2000
29 jaicus y otros poemas = 29 haiku och andra dikter / versión castellana y prólogo de Roberto Mascaró. – Montevideo : Ediciones Imaginarias, 2003
Poemas selectos y Visión de la Memoria / versión castellana: Roberto Mascaró. – Caracas : Bid & Co., 2009
El cielo a medio hacer / traducción y selección de Roberto Mascaró. – Madrid : Nórdica Libros, 2010
Works in German
Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1981
Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Heyne, 1983
Formeln der Reise / Aus dem Schwedischen nachgedichtet von Friedrich Ege, Hanns Grössel, Richard Pietrass, Pierre Zekeli. – Berlin : Verlag Volk und Welt, 1983.
Der wilde Marktplatz : Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1985. – Originaltitel: Det vilda torget
Der Mond und die Eiszeit : Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Piper, 1992
Schmetterlingsmuseum : fünf autobiographische Texte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – Leipzig : Reclam, 1992
Für Lebende und Tote : Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1993. – Originaltitel: För levande och döda
Sämtliche Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1997
Die Erinnerungen sehen mich / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1999. – Originaltitel: Minnena ser mig
Gedichte / Ausgewählt von Raoul Schrott ; aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. – München : Hanser, 1999
Einunddreißig Gedichte / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel ; ausgewählt von Heiner Boehncke. – Stade : Ed. Goldberg, 2002
Das große Rätsel : Gedichte. – Zweisprachige Ausgabe / Aus dem Schwedischen von Hanns Grössel. –
München : Hanser, 2005. – Originaltitel: Den stora gåtan
Ungdomsdikter / Jugendgedichte. – Münster : Kleinheinrich, 2011
Miscellaneous
Fulton, Robin, The Poetry of Tomas Tranströmer. – London : Academic Press, 1973
Espmark, Kjell, Resans formler : en studie i Tomas Tranströmers poesi. – Stockholm : Norstedt, 1983
Bergsten, Staffan, Den trösterika gåtan : tio essäer om Tomas Tranströmers lyrik. – Stockholm : FIB:s lyrikklubb, 1989
Karlström, Lennart, Tomas Tranströmer : en bibliografi. – Stockholm : Kungl. bibl., 1990-2001. – 2 vol.
Bankier, Joanna, The sense of time in the poetry of Tomas Tranströmer. – Ann Arbor, MI. : UMI, 1993
Ringgren, Magnus, Det är inte som det var att gå längs stranden : en guide till Tomas Tranströmers Östersjöar. – Stockholm : Bokbandet, 1997
Schiöler, Niklas, Koncentrationens konst : Tomas Tranströmers senare poesi. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 1999
Ringgren, Magnus, Stjärnhimlen genom avloppsgallret : fyra essäer om Tomas Tranströmer. – Uppsala : Ed. Edda, 2001
Sjöberg, Fredrik, Tranströmerska insektsamlingen från Runmarö. – Lund : Ellerström, 2001
Nielsen, Birgitte Steffen, Den grå stemme : stemmen i Tomas Tranströmers poesi. – Viborg : Arena, 2002
Rönnerstrand, Torsten, "Varje problem ropar på sitt eget språk" : om Tomas Tranströmer och språkdebatten. – Karlstad : Karlstad Univ. Press, 2003
Slyk, Magdalena, "Vem är jag?" : det lyriska subjektet och dess förklädnader i Tomas Tranströmers författarskap. – Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2010
Bergsten, Staffan, Tomas Tranströmer : ett diktarporträtt. – Stockholm : Bonnier, 2011

The Swedish Academy

TO CITE THIS PAGE:
MLA style: "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 - Bio-bibliography". Nobelprize.org. 6 Oct 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/2011/bio-bibl.html
 

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011

2011 Nobel Prize Announcements

Chemistry

2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Daniel Shechtman "for the discovery of quasicrystals".
Press Release
Popular Information
Scientific Background
Congratulate the New Nobel Laureate

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011

Daniel Shechtman

Daniel Shechtman

Daniel Shechtman

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 was awarded to Daniel Shechtman "for the discovery of quasicrystals".

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011

Daniel Shechtman

English
English (pdf)
Swedish
Swedish (pdf)
 

Press Release

5 October 2011
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2011 to
Daniel Shechtman
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel
"for the discovery of quasicrystals"

A remarkable mosaic of atoms

In quasicrystals, we find the fascinating mosaics of the Arabic world reproduced at the level of atoms: regular patterns that never repeat themselves. However, the configuration found in quasicrystals was considered impossible, and Daniel Shechtman had to fight a fierce battle against established science. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 has fundamentally altered how chemists conceive of solid matter.
On the morning of 8 April 1982, an image counter to the laws of nature appeared in Daniel Shechtman's electron microscope. In all solid matter, atoms were believed to be packed inside crystals in symmetrical patterns that were repeated periodically over and over again. For scientists, this repetition was required in order to obtain a crystal.
Shechtman's image, however, showed that the atoms in his crystal were packed in a pattern that could not be repeated. Such a pattern was considered just as impossible as creating a football using only six-cornered polygons, when a sphere needs both five- and six-cornered polygons. His discovery was extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings, he was asked to leave his research group. However, his battle eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter.
Aperiodic mosaics, such as those found in the medieval Islamic mosaics of the Alhambra Palace in Spain and the Darb-i Imam Shrine in Iran, have helped scientists understand what quasicrystals look like at the atomic level. In those mosaics, as in quasicrystals, the patterns are regular - they follow mathematical rules - but they never repeat themselves.
When scientists describe Shechtman's quasicrystals, they use a concept that comes from mathematics and art: the golden ratio. This number had already caught the interest of mathematicians in Ancient Greece, as it often appeared in geometry. In quasicrystals, for instance, the ratio of various distances between atoms is related to the golden mean.
Following Shechtman's discovery, scientists have produced other kinds of quasicrystals in the lab and discovered naturally occurring quasicrystals in mineral samples from a Russian river. A Swedish company has also found quasicrystals in a certain form of steel, where the crystals reinforce the material like armor. Scientists are currently experimenting with using quasicrystals in different products such as frying pans and diesel engines.
Read more about this year's prize
Information for the Public
Pdf 3 MB
Scientific Background
Pdf 1,3 MB
In order to read the text you need Acrobat Reader.
Links and Further Reading




Daniel Shechtman, Israeli citizen. Born 1941 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Ph.D. 1972 from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. Distinguished Professor, The Philip Tobias Chair, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
http://materials.technion.ac.il/shechtman.html

The Prize amount: SEK 10 million
Contacts: Erik Huss, Press Officer, phone +46 8 673 95 44, +46 70 673 96 50, erik.huss@kva.se
Ann Fernholm, Editor, Phone +46 70 750 22 16, ann.fernholm@kva.se

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplins.

TO CITE THIS PAGE:
MLA style: "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011 - Press Release". Nobelprize.org. 5 Oct 2011 http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/press.html

Tuesday, 4 October 2011

Nobel Prize in Physics 2011

2011 Nobel Prize Announcements

Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011

Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, Adam G. Riess

Saul Perlmutter
Brian P. Schmidt
Adam G. Riess

Saul Perlmutter

Brian P. Schmidt

Adam G. Riess

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 was awarded "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess.

2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess.
Press Release
Video from the Prize Announcement
Congratulate the Nobel Laureates
"We are talking about 5-billion light years" ... Telephone 

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011

Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, Adam G. Riess

    English
English (pdf)
  Swedish
Swedish (pdf)

 

Press Release

4 October 2011
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011
with one half to
Saul Perlmutter
The Supernova Cosmology Project
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California,
Berkeley, CA, USA
and the other half jointly to
Brian P. Schmidt
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Australian National University,
Weston Creek, Australia
and
Adam G. Riess
The High-z Supernova Search Team
Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute,
Baltimore, MD, USA
"for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae"

 

Written in the stars

"Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice..." *
What will be the final destiny of the Universe? Probably it will end in ice, if we are to believe this year's Nobel Laureates in Physics. They have studied several dozen exploding stars, called supernovae, and discovered that the Universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The discovery came as a complete surprise even to the Laureates themselves.
In 1998, cosmology was shaken at its foundations as two research teams presented their findings. Headed by Saul Perlmutter, one of the teams had set to work in 1988. Brian Schmidt headed another team, launched at the end of 1994, where Adam Riess was to play a crucial role.
The research teams raced to map the Universe by locating the most distant supernovae. More sophisticated telescopes on the ground and in space, as well as more powerful computers and new digital imaging sensors (CCD, Nobel Prize in Physics in 2009), opened the possibility in the 1990s to add more pieces to the cosmological puzzle.
The teams used a particular kind of supernova, called type Ia supernova. It is an explosion of an old compact star that is as heavy as the Sun but as small as the Earth. A single such supernova can emit as much light as a whole galaxy. All in all, the two research teams found over 50 distant supernovae whose light was weaker than expected - this was a sign that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating. The potential pitfalls had been numerous, and the scientists found reassurance in the fact that both groups had reached the same astonishing conclusion.
For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.
The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark energy is remains an enigma - perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe. Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything is possible again.
Read more about this year's prize
Information for the Public
Pdf 4,9 MB
Scientific Background
Pdf 1 MB
In order to read the text you need Acrobat Reader.
Links and Further Reading



Saul Perlmutter, U.S. citizen. Born 1959 in Champaign-Urbana, IL, USA. Ph.D. 1986 from University of California, Berkeley, USA. Head of the Supernova Cosmology Project, Professor of Astrophysics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
www.physics.berkeley.edu/research/faculty/perlmutter.html
Brian P. Schmidt, U.S. and Australian citizen. Born 1967 in Missoula, MT, USA. Ph.D. 1993 from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Head of the High-z Supernova Search Team, Distinguished Professor, Australian National University, Weston Creek, Australia.
msowww.anu.edu.au/~brian/
Adam G. Riess, U.S. citizen. Born 1969 in Washington, DC, USA. Ph.D. 1996 from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA.
www.stsci.edu/~ariess/
Prize amount: SEK 10 million, with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half to be shared equally between Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess.

Contact persons: Erik Huss, Press Officer, Phone +46 8 673 95 44, mobile +46 70 673 96 50, erik.huss@kva.se
Annika Moberg, Editor, Phone +46 8 673 95 22, Mobile +46 70 673 96 90, annika.moberg@kva.se

* Robert Frost, Fire and Ice, 1920
Nobel Prize® är is a registered trademark of the Nobel Foundation.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplines.

Hobbies and Jobs - Article in Udayavani Daily - Josh 04 Oct 2011


Hobbies and Jobs - Article in Udayavani Daily - Josh 04 Oct 2011

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011


Nobel Assembly logo

2011 Nobel Prize Announcements

Medicine

2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was divided, one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity" and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity".
Press Release
Video from the Prize Announcement
Congratulate the New Nobel Laureates
"I was absolutely delighted" ... Telephone Interview with Bruce A. Beutler
Press Release: Ralph Steinman Remains Nobel Laureate

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011

Bruce A. Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann, Ralph M. Steinman

Bruce A. Beutler
Jules A. Hoffmann
Ralph M. Steinman

Bruce A. Beutler

Jules A. Hoffmann

Ralph M. Steinman

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011 was divided, one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity" and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity".

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011

Bruce A. Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann, Ralph M. Steinman

Nobel Assembly logo
English
English (pdf)

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided that

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2011
shall be divided, with one half jointly to
Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann
for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity
and the other half to
Ralph M. Steinman
for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity

 

Summary

This year's Nobel Laureates have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation.
Scientists have long been searching for the gatekeepers of the immune response by which man and other animals defend themselves against attack by bacteria and other microorganisms. Bruce Beutler and Jules Hoffmann discovered receptor proteins that can recognize such microorganisms and activate innate immunity, the first step in the body's immune response. Ralph Steinman discovered the dendritic cells of the immune system and their unique capacity to activate and regulate adaptive immunity, the later stage of the immune response during which microorganisms are cleared from the body.
The discoveries of the three Nobel Laureates have revealed how the innate and adaptive phases of the immune response are activated and thereby provided novel insights into disease mechanisms. Their work has opened up new avenues for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.

Two lines of defense in the immune system

We live in a dangerous world. Pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, virus, fungi, and parasites) threaten us continuously but we are equipped with powerful defense mechanisms (please see image below). The first line of defense, innate immunity, can destroy invading microorganisms and trigger inflammation that contributes to blocking their assault. If microorganisms break through this defense line, adaptive immunity is called into action. With its T and B cells, it produces antibodies and killer cells that destroy infected cells. After successfully combating the infectious assault, our adaptive immune system maintains an immunologic memory that allows a more rapid and powerful mobilization of defense forces next time the same microorganism attacks. These two defense lines of the immune system provide good protection against infections but they also pose a risk. If the activation threshold is too low, or if endogenous molecules can activate the system, inflammatory disease may follow.
The components of the immune system have been identified step by step during the 20th century. Thanks to a series of discoveries awarded the Nobel Prize, we know, for instance, how antibodies are constructed and how T cells recognize foreign substances. However, until the work of Beutler, Hoffmann and Steinman, the mechanisms triggering the activation of innate immunity and mediating the communication between innate and adaptive immunity remained enigmatic.

Discovering the sensors of innate immunity

Jules Hoffmann made his pioneering discovery in 1996, when he and his co-workers investigated how fruit flies combat infections. They had access to flies with mutations in several different genes including Toll, a gene previously found to be involved in embryonal development by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (Nobel Prize 1995). When Hoffmann infected his fruit flies with bacteria or fungi, he discovered that Toll mutants died because they could not mount an effective defense. He was also able to conclude that the product of the Toll gene was involved in sensing pathogenic microorganisms and Toll activation was needed for successful defense against them.
Bruce Beutler was searching for a receptor that could bind the bacterial product, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which can cause septic shock, a life threatening condition that involves overstimulation of the immune system. In 1998, Beutler and his colleagues discovered that mice resistant to LPS had a mutation in a gene that was quite similar to the Toll gene of the fruit fly. This Toll-like receptor (TLR) turned out to be the elusive LPS receptor. When it binds LPS, signals are activated that cause inflammation and, when LPS doses are excessive, septic shock. These findings showed that mammals and fruit flies use similar molecules to activate innate immunity when encountering pathogenic microorganisms. The sensors of innate immunity had finally been discovered.
The discoveries of Hoffmann and Beutler triggered an explosion of research in innate immunity. Around a dozen different TLRs have now been identified in humans and mice. Each one of them recognizes certain types of molecules common in microorganisms. Individuals with certain mutations in these receptors carry an increased risk of infections while other genetic variants of TLR are associated with an increased risk for chronic inflammatory diseases.

A new cell type that controls adaptive immunity

Ralph Steinman discovered, in 1973, a new cell type that he called the dendritic cell. He speculated that it could be important in the immune system and went on to test whether dendritic cells could activate T cells, a cell type that has a key role in adaptive immunity and develops an immunologic memory against many different substances. In cell culture experiments, he showed that the presence of dendritic cells resulted in vivid responses of T cells to such substances. These findings were initially met with skepticism but subsequent work by Steinman demonstrated that dendritic cells have a unique capacity to activate T cells.
Further studies by Steinman and other scientists went on to address the question of how the adaptive immune system decides whether or not it should be activated when encountering various substances. Signals arising from the innate immune response and sensed by dendritic cells were shown to control T cell activation. This makes it possible for the immune system to react towards pathogenic microorganisms while avoiding an attack on the body's own endogenous molecules.

From fundamental research to medical use

The discoveries that are awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize have provided novel insights into the activation and regulation of our immune system. They have made possible the development of new methods for preventing and treating disease, for instance with improved vaccines against infections and in attempts to stimulate the immune system to attack tumors. These discoveries also help us understand why the immune system can attack our own tissues, thus providing clues for novel treatment of inflammatory diseases.

 

Bruce A. Beutler was born in 1957 in Chicago, USA. He received his MD from the University of Chicago in 1981 and worked as a scientist at Rockefeller University in New York and the University of Texas in Dallas, where he discovered the LPS receptor. Since 2000 he has been professor of genetics and immunology at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA.
Jules A. Hoffmann was born in Echternach, Luxembourg in 1941. He studied at the University of Strasbourg in France, where he obtained his PhD in 1969. After postdoctoral training at the University of Marburg, Germany, he returned to Strasbourg, where he headed a research laboratory from 1974 to 2009. He has also served as director of the Institute for Molecular Cell Biology in Strasbourg and during 2007-2008 as President of the French National Academy of Sciences.
Ralph M. Steinman was born in 1943 in Montreal, Canada, where he studied biology and chemistry at McGill University. After studying medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA, USA, he received his MD in 1968. He has been affiliated with Rockefeller University in New York since 1970, has been professor of immunology at this institution since 1988, and is also director of its Center for Immunology and Immune Diseases.


Key publications:

Poltorak A, He X, Smirnova I, Liu MY, Van Huffel C, Du X, Birdwell D, Alejos E, Silva M, Galanos C, Freudenberg M, Ricciardi-Castagnoli P, Layton B, Beutler B. Defective LPS signaling in C3H/HeJ and C57BL/10ScCr mice: Mutations in Tlr4 gene. Science 1998;282:2085-2088.
Lemaitre B, Nicolas E, Michaut L, Reichhart JM, Hoffmann JA. The dorsoventral regulatory gene cassette spätzle/Toll/cactus controls the potent antifungal response in drosophila adults. Cell 1996;86:973-983.
Steinman RM, Cohn ZA. Identification of a novel cell type in peripheral lymphoid organs of mice. J Exp Med 1973;137:1142-1162.
Steinman RM, Witmer MD. Lymphoid dendritic cells are potent stimulators of the primary mixed leukocyte reaction in mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1978;75:5132-5136.
Schuler G, Steinman RM. Murine epidermal Langerhans cells mature into potent immunostimulatory dendritic cells in vitro. J Exp Med 1985;161:526-546.

illustration High resolution image (pdf 3,6 Mb) 

The Nobel Assembly, consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet, awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Its Nobel Committee evaluates the nominations. Since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded to scientists who have made the most important discoveries for the benefit of mankind.
Nobel Prize® is the registered trademark of the Nobel Foundation

Sunday, 2 October 2011

NAPS Placement: JIPC Special Classes - 2011-12





Sri Manjunath Bedre explaining the students on various Q quotients. 
Sri Bedre has authored over 75 books and innumerable articles on various Competitive Exams.  



NAPS Placement: JIPC Special Classes - 2011-12:
Special Training Classes were arranged for the final year students on Sundays. 4th and 11th Sep, 2011 from 10am to 4.30 pm with a lunch bre...

Doodle - Google Uncle Jothe Maathu-Kathe - Informative Literature for Children - A Faction

New Year - New Book - New Look - Thank you Navakarnataka Publications , Late Sri R.S. Rajaram, Sri Ramesh Udupa, Sri Sathyanarayana Alevoora...