Nobel Prizes 69
An AC sends: "The guys at Bottomquark.com are pledging to bring NBC-esque coverage of the Nobel Prize releases. The first prize, for Medicine, is already posted."
Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (3) Ha, ha, I can't believe they're actually going to adopt this sucker.
Re:Nobel Prize Research Refuted? (Score:2)
Lars
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Field's Medal==Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:2)
Besides, there is the Fields Medal in mathematics which is the equivalent of the Nobel except that there is an age limit associated with the Fields Medal. You have to be under 40 by the time you make your breakthrough else you don't get a medal! This is why Andrew Wiles, who cracked Fermat's Last Theorem did not get one. He was a little bit over 40 when his proof was published etc etc. So they gave him a special Field's Medal. Btw, Field's medal is not named after the idea of fields in mathematics but is actually the name of the guy who endowed the trust that funds the medals.
List of mirrors (Score:1)
The Nobel site (Score:3)
Lars
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nobel price for physics out, too (Score:1)
http://www.nobel.se/announcement/2000/physics.html
Half the prize were awarded to a russian and american (german origin) scientist, the other half to JACK S. KILBY, Texas Instruments for his invention of the IC.
Chemistry follows this afternoon mbanck
Re:women is bioresearch? (Score:1)
Server Problems No More (Score:2)
You Like Science?
Re:Other famous prizes. (Score:1)
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:2)
You bet.... :-) (The schoolbook story is that Denmark and Sweden were colonial powers....)
The reasons Nobel had for choosing a Norwegian Committee (or rather, let the Norwegian Parliament appoint a committee), is a long and difficult story, probably with no clear answer.
One possibility is that Norway was the only nation around that had never gone to war on anybody.
Another is that he did not trust the Swedish politicians, only the Swedish scientists.
Another is that he might have had personal reasons, and another is that it was such a gesture. I don't think we'll ever know for sure...
Brush With Greatness (Score:1)
Re:Field's Medal==Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:1)
yes, i have the link to the solution; unfortunately, it is too small to fit in the comment box.
sorry.
---
Re:Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:1)
I see your Minister for Reconcilliation has suddenly suffered from a case of "foot in mouth" disease then.
Not really. The media just likes making big deals out of very little. I'm surprised you heard about it. Although, with most ministers, it's best when something is in their mouth. Stops them saying anything else.
Of course, we must remember that Aborigines didn't have shoes to protect their feet and hence mouths, so are therefore inferior.
The fact that Australia has a "Reconcilliation Minister" at all is pretty embarrassing
Re:Einstein and the Nobel prize (Score:1)
I didn't really mean that they were simply looking for an excuse to give him the prize, but that it was a great relief when they could give him his well deserved award without giving any credit to the theory of relativity.
Re:Nobel Prize Research Refuted? (Score:1)
No, all Nobels could be invalidated because that is the "way of science". All science has the ability to be refuted. Most of science will eventually be replaced by "newer better theory".
The main crutch of science is its reliance on the belief in the existence of mathematics, outside of the mind of the creative subject. Ever since the Greek's popularized the idea of the existence of ideal mathematical objects, outside of and separate from our minds - popular mathematics and science have held onto that belief. Note that this belief is metaphysical.
It wasn't until a little over a hundred years ago, that a few mathematicians started to object to the metaphysical belief of ideal/transcendent mathematical objects (mathematical laws, constants, etc... which forever exist, independently from the creative subject's mind). One of these insightful mathematicians was Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer [st-and.ac.uk], who passionately argued against the use of these metaphysical beliefs in mathematics, and he went as far as to claim that the law of the excluded middle was in fact, not a mathematical law at all. It was a metaphysical belief.
Mathematics around the turn of the last century was in a crisis. Several branches of mathematics were showing inconsistencies/paradoxes - errors! Mathematics is without error, and therefore, many mathematicians were running wild, hoping that their mathematical edifices didn't crumble into dust, by the quake of another paradox. Brouwer argued that these paradoxes were the result of the use of non-constructive mathematics - he began to reconstruct all of mathematics, but the more popular David Hilbert [st-and.ac.uk] feared that Brouwer was trying to drive mathematicians from the paradise of classical mathematics. So there was a big fight [umt.edu], and Hilbert ended up getting Brouwer black-listed from the popular mathematics scene. To this, Albert Einstein made the famous comment, "What is this frog and mouse battle among the mathematicians"?
It turned out that Hilbert's program was impossible and still most likely contained paradoxes.
Today, most people still use non-constructive methods in their math, and many people still believe in the existence of ideal/transcendent mathematical objects. This is why we end up with "laws of nature", in science. Time and time again, we have forgot what Brouwer was throwing such a fuss about, and time and time again, we find our mathematics and science in error.
Re:nobel price for physics out, too (Score:1)
More info at NY Times (free registration required)on both the physics [nytimes.com] and the chemistry [nytimes.com] awards.
Its seems like kind of a down year for the Nobels. The physics award is for work that is closer to engineering than to pure research (not that there's anything wrong with that ;0) and similarly the
chemistry award seems more like material science.
OH YEAH!? (Score:1)
Bah! I flunked a pharmacology exam for Arvid Carlsson, the laureate for the Medicine & Physiology prize! (Score: 5, Interesting)
.-.
Re:NBC-esq? (Score:1)
Re:Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves. (Score:2)
2) I also admit that Kilby's prototype was not feasible for mass production (I did not know that it never worked.) However, he did plan on using a solid-state process for the interconnects, independent of his original idea for having multiple components on a single piece of silicon. (If I remember correctly he even considered contacting Fairchild eventually about licensing their process for interconnects.)
3) The patent fight only occured because of some vague wording and a bad diagram in the TI patent. IIRC, specifically, the meaning of the words "laid down", and the meaning of Kilby's famous "flying wire" diagram.
Intel could possibly claim credit for a computer on every desk, since they were the first to develop the general purpose processor, but the first "embedded" application for IC's was the TI pocket calculator, for which Kilby was one of the engineers. While this was only a significant (as opposed to revolutionary) device, it served as an effective demonstration of what IC's were capable of.
If Robert Noyce were still alive today, I have no doubt that he would have shared the Nobel Prize.
On the other hand, the reason I have great respect for Jack Kilby is because he never sought a great fortune or fame for his discovery. AFAIK, he remained on the engineering staff from TI. That is not to say that seeking riches is ignoble, just that neither is not seeking them.
Perhaps I should have changed the wording of my post somewhat recognize the fact that Robert Noyce developed it at about the same time, and later won the patent. I did not mean to take anything away from anyone else.
invention vs. science (Score:1)
Does anyone know if the guys who got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry actually explained why the polymers work or did they just discover it.
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:1)
He wanted to bring about world peace by inventing a bomb powerful enough that nobody would ever go to war.
Not too far off from what really happened....
now we have "conflicts" and "disturbances"
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:2)
Sweden and Norway was in a union from 1814-1905
That is: Norway was under Danish government but was "given" to Sweden (who sought some compensation for the recent (1809) loss of Finland to Russia in 1814.
Nobel was indeed swedish, born in Stockholm 1833 if my memory is correct, but all his life (he died 10 dec 1896, the prizes are given the day of his death) Sweden and Norway was in union.
Now the norwegians may view the "union" a bit differently...
Actually, the Nobel Peace prize is awarded by a norwegian comittee, possibly a gesture by Nobel to improve the relations between Sweden and Norway.
Hey, I've found a link so I can end this rambling: www.nobel.se [nobel.se]
Re: It's probably just an amusing legend. (Score:1)
Though he did have a mistress named Sophie Hess. It seems to be something of an urban legend that Nobel held a grudge against mathematicians because one supposedly screwed around with his wife on the side. Go here [almaz.com] to hear it from the horses' mouth(taken from the sci.math newsgroup).
Re:Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:1)
Re:Field's Medal==Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:1)
And I wasn't aware of the age limit on the Field's Medal... have to tell someone to hurry up... he's only got 12 years left...
Kierthos
Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves... (Score:3)
In other words, it couldn't have happed to a better guy.
Einstein and the Nobel prize (Score:2)
It was clear, however, that Einstein deserved the prize, so he got it as soon as there was another work (the photoelectric effect) to award it for.
(or so the story goes)
Iron Scientist! (Score:3)
Re:Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:1)
Re:Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:1)
The Nobel Prize was established shortly after Nobel, a pacifist, had an epiphany after he saw his invention being used in warfare and killing people. The Nobel Foundation was created in 1900 and the Swedish Academy of Sciences has been governing it since.
There is no reason a mathematics prize cant be added. In 1968 the Economics Prize was added.
Nobody Expects the Nobel Committee! (Score:1)
make sure the winner dosn't cause Armageddon (Score:1)
Jack S. Kilby
Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas, USA
"for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit"
I find it kind of funny that he got this award after Y2K has pasted.
Re:Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves. (Score:1)
Re:uhm... (Score:1)
as opposed to being only slightly dead...
to blaaaaiiittthhheeee
Re:Bah (Score:1)
Re:Prozac??? (Score:2)
They already did, in 1998, to Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad [nobel.se] "for their discoveries concerning nitric oxide as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system". From the press release [nobel.se]:
Re:uhm... (Score:1)
The whole Penzias and Wilson thing is also a bit sad. In my opinion, Dicke and Peebles should (at least!) have shared the prize for expanding on the theory (they were also in the midst of setting up a receiver to measure it). In fact, the CMBR temperature had been measured many years before Penzias and Wilson, but nobody recognized it for what it was!
slahdotted... (Score:1)
Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:4)
NBC-esq? (Score:2)
women is bioresearch? (Score:1)
What _REALLY_ needs attention is women in physics, ugh, I'm dying here.
Re:Bah (Score:1)
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:3)
Alfred Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden to a family of engineers. His family was descended from Olof Rudbeck, the best-known technical genius of Sweden's 17th century era as a great power in northern Europe. At age 9, he moved with his family to Russia where he and his brothers were given first class education in the humanities and natural sciences by private teachers.
Nobel invented dynamite in 1866 and later built up companies and laboratories in more than 20 countries all over the world. A holder of more than 350 patents, he also wrote poetry and drama and even seriously considered becoming a writer.
The idea of giving away his fortune was no passing fancy for Nobel. Efforts to promote peace were close to his heart and he derived intellectual pleasure from literature, while science built the foundation for his own activities as a technological researcher and inventor.
On November 27, 1895, Nobel signed his final will and testament at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris. He died of a heart attack in his home in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896.
Bah (Score:1)
Regards
Nobel Prize Research Refuted? (Score:2)
Re:Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:1)
Oh drat ... thats exactly what I was going to say!
Ha! And to top it off, I'm an Australian, and hence I didn't have to suffer with that 12 hour delay anyway.
That must mean I'm going to get the Nobel information in real time too
Link to Fermat's Proof... (Score:1)
There is a link to the complete transcript [pbs.org] of the show.
I highly recommend Singh's book (he helped produce the NOVA show). It gave enough of the history and the essential parts of the mathematics.
Also a key reason that the Field's medal is restricted to under 40 is that it was considered that a mathematician does his best work under 40. An interesting article about aging and science [feedmag.com] is on www.feedmag.com [feedmag.com].
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:1)
Well, isn't that what I said?
Re:It's not yet up to NBC quality... (Score:1)
BottomQuark is a nice quiet little slash site that posts a lot of interesting science articles (/., BQ, and Kuro5hin are my news sites). BQ went down recently (funding) but came back up when someone in the readership took over hosting (mention was made of a cable-modem, which certainly couldn't stand up to being
It's actually funny to watch, there's some folks that snag the articles from BQ each day and submit them here.
physics prize for integrated circuit? (Score:2)
but took forty years to recognize this achievement. I don't know I'd consider it physics.
This is almost like Stanford University finally
recognizing it is in Silicon Valley and promoting
a tech-geek to president after decades of lawyers and humanities types.
Re:Bah [What the....] (Score:1)
Re:Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:2)
Alfred Nobel probaby had a certain bias toward science with a practical application versus pure or theoretical science. There's been a lot of armchair psychologizing about this (Nobel made his fortune off of munitions; many members of the Nobel family were killed in industrial accidents), but the fact is that his attitude was pretty standard for his time.
It is sort of interesting that Planck's Quantum Theory counted as a "discovery" but not Einstein's Relativity Theory. Perhaps it was because the Quantum was seen as an actual physical entity, whereas Relativity was seen to be largely a work of Mathematics.
Incidentally, my orange roomate is very pleased that the inventor of the laser diode has finally been recognized. He also vows to capture and devour that glowing red thingee at all costs!
__________
Re:Finally Kilby gets the recognition he deserves. (Score:1)
Re:Einstein and the Nobel prize (Score:2)
What's even scarier is that by any reasonable measure he should have had at least 4
Any one of these would have put a physicist in the "legend" category. Einstein was one scary smart dude.
Eric
Prozac??? (Score:1)
The inventors of Viagra should have win this prize, it's a lot more efficient against depression.
-- Mon université chérie: www.polymtl.ca
Other famous prizes. (Score:5)
The No Bail Prize, given for major advances in waterproofing.
The No Ball(s) Prize, given in to the judge who caves in to corporate interests the fastest.
The No Belle Prize, given to a randomly selected geek as a consolation for the geek lifestyle.
The No Bill Prize, given to the programmer who comes up with the best innovation that does not get bought out by Microsoft within a year.
And my favorite, the No Bull Prize, which will go to the candidate that gets caught out in the fewest lies during the debates.
--
Give me a candidate who speaks out against the war on drugs.
Re:NBC-esq? (Score:1)
Trust me. You'll have a tear in your eye by the time the segment is over.
Re:Prozac??? (Score:1)
Let me just tell you that when you're depressed, you're not thinking about sex -- Viagra or not. The world disappears in a haze of almost physical pain of not feeling anything. Only the pain remains and you think (know) that there's nothing you can do to stop it; any more than if you were gagged and tied to a chair and a torturer was coming in from his coffee break for a second round of beating, slashing and bone cracking.
When you're at that state you cannot function at any level the least of all sexual.
Re:Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:1)
Yes. It also means that we'll get to watch 7 minute inspirational vignettes featuring the struggles and sacrifices of all the nominees, and in an hour of programming, we'll see 38 minutes of commercials.
The horror, the drama, the boredom (Score:1)
Cyclists striking manly poses as they describe the life story and the Cancer drama one more time before you find out the guy came in like 16th.
Then we get to see 14 year old children sitting back in contemplative sexy poutty poses as the NBC strains his voice trying to sound excited about a bunch of eurotrash children chunking their medals off when they only get silver. Gawd, it sucked!!
The times they could have honestly profited off some drama like all the nonsense with the horse thing being put too low they did not (yeah my wife likes gymnastics so sue me).
I can see the coverage in my head now. Rock video lighting on the lab coated scientist squaring off against the lab on the other side of the world. One is from a rich western country making an advance against the backdrop of high tech toys while in the other corner some dedicated schmuck in the third world come through with some success in his field with nothing but a test tube and McGuiver like sense of resourcefullness. Who will win? Will anyone outside of their own fields give a shit?
Re:uhm... (Score:3)
Re:The mandatory question for all stupid americans (Score:1)
The story goes that he would indeed fund a peace prize if she could give hime one good reason for the prize. And it seems she did. That prize was set up from the beginning to be a completely Norwegian affair.
Re:Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:1)
I hope... (Score:1)
Re:Like their Olympics coverage ? (Score:1)
Re:Einstein and the Nobel prize (Score:3)
Remember that his explanation of the photoelectric effect required particle-like photons of light, which at the time were considered silly in the face of all the evidence that light was a wave. His explanation of the photoelectric effect was very important indeed, and can rival relativity as his most important work (though not his most well-known).
Re:Nobel Prize Research Refuted? (Score:1)
It's not yet up to NBC quality... (Score:2)
BTW, any mirrors up yet?
So what was it for, anyway? I gather from the comments it was prozac, but that could be completely wrong. Anyone have something more specific?
Hot damn! Where do I tune in? (Score:1)
Nobel Prizes for Mathematics (Score:3)