by Mark Johnson

Created on: November 30, 2009   Last Updated: December 01, 2009

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) left nine million dollars in his will to establish the Nobel prizes. These are given to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The first awards were distributed in 1901, in the categories of peace, literature, physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine. In 1938, the category of economics was established by Riksbank, a Swedish bank celebrating its 300th anniversary.

In 2008, the prize winners, known as Nobel Laureates, were:

Physics: Yoichiro Nambu of the United States, Makoto Kobayashi of Japan, and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan received the award in physics for their work in the study of asymmetry in subatomic physics. Nambu's discovery and Kobayashi/Maskawa's discovery both furthered the understanding of the lack of symmetry in the field of particle physics.

This concept is important from the beginning, since perfect symmetry in subatomic particles would mean that the universe would not have expanded after the Big Bang; the particles would have balanced each other and collapsed.

Chemistry: Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, and Roger Tsien, all of the United States, received the award in chemistry for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein (GFP).

This outgrowth of research into bioluminescence has led to the ability to label complex biological networks in a wide spectrum of colors, allowing scientists to visualize many processes for the first time.

Physiology or Medicine: This award went to Harald zur Hausen of Germany for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer, and to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier of France for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus.

These viral discoveries were great leaps forward in the development of treatments or cures for these conditions or diseases.

Literature: Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio of France was awarded the prize for his literary career. His work is described as showing that we are all emigrants, facing futures both liberating and terrifying.

Peace: The 2008 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martti Ahtisaari of Finland for his work to resolve international conflicts. President of Finland from 1994-2000, Ahtisaari has worked with the United Nations, the government of Finland, and the nonprofit Crisis Management Initiative (founded by Ahtisaari) in a variety of international crisis management roles

Economics: Paul Krugman of the United States received the prize in economics for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity. His work changed the way economists understand the international exchange of goods. His model provides a method for economists to explore the factors involved in global production and urbanization.

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