On October 7, 2020 Goran K. Hansson, secretary-general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, announced the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020 jointly to Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer A. Doudna of the United States for the development of a method for genome editing, namely ‘CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors’. The method is one of gene technology’s sharpest tools.
- This is the 1st time 2 women have jointly won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Points to be Noted
Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna became the 6th and 7th women to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Prize amount & Gold Medal
The award comprises a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish kronor (more than $1.1 million)
About CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors
i.Researchers, using these, can transform the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high accuracy.
ii.This technology has made a revolutionary impact on the life sciences. It is contributing to new cancer therapies and may also cure the inherited disease.
About the Awardees
Emmanuelle Charpentier– She is the Director of the Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany.
Jennifer A. Doudna– She is the Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA and Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
General Info
i.Linus Pauling is the only person who won two unshared Nobel Prizes, namely the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.
ii.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu is the only Indian to win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He won the prize in 2009, jointly with Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath.
Recent Related News:
i.On 17th September 2020, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India won the Medical Education Prize of Ig Nobel Prize 2020 at the 30th First Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony over virtual platform. He became the 2nd Prime Minister from India to win the Ig Nobel Prize after Atal Bihari Vajpayee who won the 1998 Peace award for “Aggressively peaceful explosion of atomic bombs”.
ii.On 17th July 2020, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, The President of United Nations General Assembly announced that Marianna Vardinoyannis, of Greece, and Doctor Morissana Kouyaté, of Guinea will receive the 2020 Nelson Mandela Prize. They will be recognised in the virtual ceremony on 20th July 2020.
