The Nobel Prize in Economics 2024 has been awarded to&nbsp;Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for demonstrating the importance of&nbsp;societal institutions for a country’s prosperity, the&nbsp;&nbsp;Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday (Oct 14).&nbsp;

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.

The three laureates will be equally sharing a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million), which&nbsp;will be awarded on December 10.

Notably, Acemoglu and Johnson are professors at the&nbsp;Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, while Robinson is currently teaching at the University of Chicago.&nbsp;

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING NEWS 
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”… <a href="https://t.co/tuwIIgk393">pic.twitter.com/tuwIIgk393</a>
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/1845763241147785723?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<h2>What was their research?</h2>

The winners pioneered a new approach to provide credible, quantitative answers to economic disparity among the rich and the poor across the globe.&nbsp;

Notably, the richest 20 per cent of countries are around 30 times&nbsp;wealthier than the poorest 20 per cent of countries. The income gaps across countries have been highly persistent over the past 75 years, with data showing that between-country disparities in income have grown over the past 200 years.

The research by the trio empirically examines the impact and persistence of colonial strategies on subsequent economic development.&nbsp;Their research centres on the idea that political institutions fundamentally shape the wealth of nations.&nbsp;

Watch |&nbsp;AI Pioneers Geoffrey Hinton And John Hopfield Win Nobel Prize For Physics

<iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/ai-pioneers-geoffrey-hinton-and-john-hopfield-win-nobel-prize-for-physics-765781/embed" width="560"></iframe>

Acemoglu and Robinson developed a dynamic model by integrating&nbsp;existing political science theories on democratic reform into a game-theoretic framework. Under this dynamic model, the&nbsp;ruling elite make strategic decisions about political institutions – particularly whether to extend the electoral franchise – in response to periodic threats.

This framework is now standard for analysing political institutional reform and has significantly impacted the research literature. And evidence is mounting in support of one of the model's core implications: more inclusive governments promote economic development.&nbsp;

The Academy stated that the trio have "not&nbsp;only shaped our understanding of the root causes behind why countries fail, but they have also pioneered new methodologies for studying these issues".

Although their contributions do not provide a concerted answer on why some countries remain trapped in poverty, it still represents a major leap forward in the pursuit of understanding the issue.&nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)

The Nobel Prize in Economics 2024 has been awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for demonstrating the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday (Oct 14).

The Nobel Prize in Economics 2024 has been awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson for demonstrating the importance of societal institutions for a country’s prosperity, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday (Oct 14). “Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences. The three laureates will be equally sharing a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.1 million), which will be awarded on December 10. Notably, Acemoglu and Johnson are professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, while Robinson is currently teaching at the University of Chicago. BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson “for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity.”… pic.twitter.com/tuwIIgk393 — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 14, 2024 × What was their research? The winners pioneered a new approach to provide credible, quantitative answers to economic disparity among the rich and the poor across the globe. Notably, the richest 20 per cent of countries are around 30 times wealthier than the poorest 20 per cent of countries. The income gaps across countries have been highly persistent over the past 75 years, with data showing that between-country disparities in income have grown over the past 200 years. The research by the trio empirically examines the impact and persistence of colonial strategies on subsequent economic development. Their research centres on the idea that political institutions fundamentally shape the wealth of nations. Watch | AI Pioneers Geoffrey Hinton And John Hopfield Win Nobel Prize For Physics Acemoglu and Robinson developed a dynamic model by integrating existing political science theories on democratic reform into a game-theoretic framework. Under this dynamic model, the ruling elite make strategic decisions about political institutions – particularly whether to extend the electoral franchise – in response to periodic threats. This framework is now standard for analysing political institutional reform and has significantly impacted the research literature. And evidence is mounting in support of one of the model's core implications: more inclusive governments promote economic development. The Academy stated that the trio have "not only shaped our understanding of the root causes behind why countries fail, but they have also pioneered new methodologies for studying these issues". Although their contributions do not provide a concerted answer on why some countries remain trapped in poverty, it still represents a major leap forward in the pursuit of understanding the issue. (With inputs from agencies)

Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson

November 27 in History: From Alfred Nobel's will to first liver transplant

The Nobel Committee on Monday announced this year's Nobel prize for medicine jointly to&nbsp;American Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Briton&nbsp;Michael Houghton&nbsp;“for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.”

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
BREAKING NEWS: 
The 2020 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NobelPrize?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NobelPrize</a> in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.” <a href="https://t.co/MDHPmbiFmS">pic.twitter.com/MDHPmbiFmS</a>
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/1313049505802194945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

The Committee said the "three scientists have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis" while adding that it is a "major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world."

"Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus. Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained," the Nobel Committee informed.

"The Nobel Laureates’ discovery of Hepatitis C virus is a landmark achievement in the ongoing battle against viral diseases," it said, adding," Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health.

The Committee said that due to their discovery it allowed rapid development of anti-viral drugs directed at hepatitis C.

"For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world population," it asserted while informing that to achieve the goal international efforts facilitating blood testing and making anti-viral drugs available across the globe will be required.

The Nobel Committee on Monday announced this year's Nobel prize for medicine jointly to American Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Briton Michael Houghton “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.

The Nobel Committee on Monday announced this year's Nobel prize for medicine jointly to American Harvey J. Alter, Charles M. Rice and Briton Michael Houghton “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.” BREAKING NEWS: The 2020 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice “for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus.” pic.twitter.com/MDHPmbiFmS — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2020 × The Committee said the "three scientists have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis" while adding that it is a "major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world." "Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C virus. Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained," the Nobel Committee informed. "The Nobel Laureates’ discovery of Hepatitis C virus is a landmark achievement in the ongoing battle against viral diseases," it said, adding," Thanks to their discovery, highly sensitive blood tests for the virus are now available and these have essentially eliminated post-transfusion hepatitis in many parts of the world, greatly improving global health. The Committee said that due to their discovery it allowed rapid development of anti-viral drugs directed at hepatitis C. "For the first time in history, the disease can now be cured, raising hopes of eradicating Hepatitis C virus from the world population," it asserted while informing that to achieve the goal international efforts facilitating blood testing and making anti-viral drugs available across the globe will be required.

US-British scientists win Nobel Prize in medicine for Hepatitis C virus discovery

The Nobel committee today officially handed over the coveted peace prize to <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ethiopian-prime-minister-abiy-ahmed-ali-awarded-nobel-peace-prize-255217">Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed</a> at a glittering ceremony in Oslo.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 43, received the Nobel Peace prize&nbsp;for ending years of Ethiopian-Eriteria conflict.

Abiy Ahmed Ali received the Nobel Peace Prize from Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

"I accept this award on behalf of Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace," Abiy said after the ceremony.

"Likewise, I accept this award on behalf of my partner, and comrade-in-peace, President Isaias Afwerki, whose goodwill, trust and commitment were vital in ending the two-decade deadlock between our countries," he added.

On July 9, 2018, after meeting in Eritrea's capital Asmara, Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had announced the formal ending of the 20-year-old stalemate between their countries involved in a border conflict.

Every year the Nobel Prizes are presented on December 10, in memory of Alfred Nobel who passed away on this day in 1896.&nbsp;The Nobel Peace Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque of $945,000.

PM Abiy Ahmed is the youngest leader at 43 to recieve the Nobel Prize. However, Abiy Ahmed Ali refused to speak to the media cancelling this years Nobel Peace Prize press conference.

Ethiopia and Eritrea have disagreed over their lengthy border since 1993, the year Eritrea became an independent state, but the dispute turned violent on May 6, 1998 with each side accusing the other of invading.

The Nobel committee today officially handed over the coveted peace prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at a glittering ceremony in Oslo. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 43, received the Nobel Peace prize for ending years of Ethiopian-Eriteria conflict.

The Nobel committee today officially handed over the coveted peace prize to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at a glittering ceremony in Oslo. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 43, received the Nobel Peace prize for ending years of Ethiopian-Eriteria conflict. Abiy Ahmed Ali received the Nobel Peace Prize from Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "I accept this award on behalf of Ethiopians and Eritreans, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of peace," Abiy said after the ceremony. "Likewise, I accept this award on behalf of my partner, and comrade-in-peace, President Isaias Afwerki, whose goodwill, trust and commitment were vital in ending the two-decade deadlock between our countries," he added. On July 9, 2018, after meeting in Eritrea's capital Asmara, Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had announced the formal ending of the 20-year-old stalemate between their countries involved in a border conflict. Every year the Nobel Prizes are presented on December 10, in memory of Alfred Nobel who passed away on this day in 1896. The Nobel Peace Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque of $945,000. PM Abiy Ahmed is the youngest leader at 43 to recieve the Nobel Prize. However, Abiy Ahmed Ali refused to speak to the media cancelling this years Nobel Peace Prize press conference. Ethiopia and Eritrea have disagreed over their lengthy border since 1993, the year Eritrea became an independent state, but the dispute turned violent on May 6, 1998 with each side accusing the other of invading.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed receives Nobel Prize in Oslo

Five things to know about the Nobel prizes

A campaign group seeking a global ban on nuclear arms won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, given the award by a Nobel Committee that cited the spread of weapons to North Korea and said the risk was growing of nuclear war.

The award to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was unexpected, particularly in a year when the architects of the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran had been seen as favourites for achieving the sort of diplomatic breakthrough that has won the prize in the past.

Supporters described the award as a potential breakthrough for a global movement that has fought to ban nuclear arms from the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
BREAKING NEWS The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) <a href="https://twitter.com/nuclearban?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nuclearban</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NobelPrize?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NobelPrize</a> <a href="https://t.co/I5PUiQfFzs">pic.twitter.com/I5PUiQfFzs</a>
&mdash; The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/916226623061491712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Watch the very moment the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is announced! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NobelPrize?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NobelPrize</a> <a href="https://t.co/H0AtcRU7tn">pic.twitter.com/H0AtcRU7tn</a>
&mdash; The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) <a href="https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/916227885295394816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

ICAN&#39;s Executive Director Beatrice Fihn told Reuters the group was elated. &quot;This. Is. Surreal.&quot; she later tweeted.

Asked if she had a message for North Korea&#39;s Kim Jong-Un, who has tested nuclear arms in defiance of global pressure, and President Donald Trump, who has threatened to &quot;totally destroy&quot; North Korea to protect the United States and its allies, Fihn said both leaders need to know that the weapons are illegal.

&quot;Nuclear weapons are illegal. Threatening to use nuclear weapons is illegal. Having nuclear weapons, possessing nuclear weapons, developing nuclear weapons, is illegal, and they need to stop,&quot; she told Reuters.

Two days before her group won the prize, Fihn had tweeted that Trump was &quot;a moron&quot;. She told Reuters she had written this in jest, in the context of news reports that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had used the same word to describe his boss. But she said Trump&#39;s impulsive character illustrated the importance of banning nuclear arms for all countries.

&quot;A man you can bait with a tweet seems to be taking irrational decisions very quickly and not listening to expertise, it just puts a spotlight on what do nuclear weapons really mean. There are no right hands for the wrong weapons,&quot; she said.

ICAN describes itself as a coalition of grassroots non-government groups in more than 100 nations. It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007.

In her speech announcing the prize, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the risk that nuclear weapons might be used was now &quot;greater than it has been for a long time&quot;.

&quot;Some states are modernising their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea.&quot;

The award was hailed by anti-nuclear campaigners around the world. &quot;Now more than ever we need a world without nuclear weapons,&quot; United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted.

Mikiso Iwasa, an 88-year-old Hiroshima survivor, told Reuters the prize would help push the movement forward.

&quot;It is wonderful we have this Nobel Peace-Prize winning movement. All of us need to join forces, think hard and walk forward together to turn this momentum into something even bigger,&quot; he said.

Nuclear tensions

The prize seeks to bolster the case for disarmament amid nuclear tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, as well as uncertainty over the fate of the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers to limit Tehran&#39;s nuclear programme.

The prize-giving committee made no mention of Iran in its award citation. It raised eyebrows with its decision to award the prize to an international campaign group with a relatively low profile, rather than recognise the Iran deal, a complex agreement hammered out over years of high-stakes diplomacy.

&quot;Norwegian Nobel Committee has its own ways, but the nuclear agreement with Iran achieved something real and would have deserved a prize,&quot; tweeted Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister who has held top posts as an international diplomat.

The Iran accord, which Trump has repeatedly called &quot;the worst deal ever negotiated&quot;, is seen as under particular threat this week. A senior administration official said on Thursday Trump is expected to &quot;decertify&quot; the pact, a step which could allow Congress to restore sanctions on Iran.

The committee may have been reluctant to reward the Iranian government for its role in the nuclear deal because the only Iranian winner so far, 2003 laureate Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights campaigner, is forced to live in exile.

&quot;I think the committee has thought about the human rights situation in Iran. It would have been difficult to explain the prize even though it has a favourable view of the Iran deal,&quot; Asle Sveen, a historian of the Nobel Peace Prize, told Reuters.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee denied that giving the prize to an anti-nuclear group was intended either as a rebuke to Trump, or as a snub to the architects of the Iran nuclear deal.

&quot;The Iran treaty is a positive development, a disarmament development that is positive, but the reason we mentioned North Korea (in our statement) is a reference to the threat that people actually feel,&quot; Reiss-Andersen told Reuters. &quot;Iran has not voiced recent threats to use nuclear weapons.&quot;

ICAN has campaigned for a U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by 122 nations in July this year.

That agreement is not signed by -- and would not apply to -- any of the states that already have nuclear arms, which include the five U.N. Security Council permanent members, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, as well as India, Pakistan and North Korea. Israel is also widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies it.

Major allies of the declared nuclear powers also oppose the new treaty. Nevertheless, campaigners see it as a framework that would make it easier for countries that have nuclear arms to work towards eliminating them.

NATO member Norway congratulated ICAN but said it would not sign the treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament.

&quot;Norway will not support proposals in the UN that would weaken NATO&#39;s role as a defence alliance,&quot; Prime Minister Erna Solberg said.

Nuclear-armed nations, including the United States and Russia, back the U.N.&#39;s 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty which sets limits on the spread of atomic weapons and has a long-term goal of nuclear disarmament.

&quot;There is a strong logic in this peace prize,&quot; said Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute &quot;It&#39;s all about encouraging governments to do what they have promised to do in the non-proliferation treaty.&quot;

The Nobel committee said the prize was awarded to ICAN for its 'work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons'?

A campaign group seeking a global ban on nuclear arms won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, given the award by a Nobel Committee that cited the spread of weapons to North Korea and said the risk was growing of nuclear war. The award to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was unexpected, particularly in a year when the architects of the 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and Iran had been seen as favourites for achieving the sort of diplomatic breakthrough that has won the prize in the past. Supporters described the award as a potential breakthrough for a global movement that has fought to ban nuclear arms from the day the first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945. BREAKING NEWS The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) @nuclearban #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/I5PUiQfFzs — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017 × Watch the very moment the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize is announced! #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/H0AtcRU7tn — The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 6, 2017 × ICAN's Executive Director Beatrice Fihn told Reuters the group was elated. "This. Is. Surreal." she later tweeted. Asked if she had a message for North Korea's Kim Jong-Un, who has tested nuclear arms in defiance of global pressure, and President Donald Trump, who has threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea to protect the United States and its allies, Fihn said both leaders need to know that the weapons are illegal. "Nuclear weapons are illegal. Threatening to use nuclear weapons is illegal. Having nuclear weapons, possessing nuclear weapons, developing nuclear weapons, is illegal, and they need to stop," she told Reuters. Two days before her group won the prize, Fihn had tweeted that Trump was "a moron". She told Reuters she had written this in jest, in the context of news reports that U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had used the same word to describe his boss. But she said Trump's impulsive character illustrated the importance of banning nuclear arms for all countries. "A man you can bait with a tweet seems to be taking irrational decisions very quickly and not listening to expertise, it just puts a spotlight on what do nuclear weapons really mean. There are no right hands for the wrong weapons," she said. ICAN describes itself as a coalition of grassroots non-government groups in more than 100 nations. It began in Australia and was officially launched in Vienna in 2007. In her speech announcing the prize, Berit Reiss-Andersen, the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the risk that nuclear weapons might be used was now "greater than it has been for a long time". "Some states are modernising their nuclear arsenals, and there is a real danger that more countries will try to procure nuclear weapons, as exemplified by North Korea." The award was hailed by anti-nuclear campaigners around the world. "Now more than ever we need a world without nuclear weapons," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted. Mikiso Iwasa, an 88-year-old Hiroshima survivor, told Reuters the prize would help push the movement forward. "It is wonderful we have this Nobel Peace-Prize winning movement. All of us need to join forces, think hard and walk forward together to turn this momentum into something even bigger," he said. Nuclear tensions The prize seeks to bolster the case for disarmament amid nuclear tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, as well as uncertainty over the fate of the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers to limit Tehran's nuclear programme. The prize-giving committee made no mention of Iran in its award citation. It raised eyebrows with its decision to award the prize to an international campaign group with a relatively low profile, rather than recognise the Iran deal, a complex agreement hammered out over years of high-stakes diplomacy. "Norwegian Nobel Committee has its own ways, but the nuclear agreement with Iran achieved something real and would have deserved a prize," tweeted Carl Bildt, a former Swedish prime minister who has held top posts as an international diplomat. The Iran accord, which Trump has repeatedly called "the worst deal ever negotiated", is seen as under particular threat this week. A senior administration official said on Thursday Trump is expected to "decertify" the pact, a step which could allow Congress to restore sanctions on Iran. The committee may have been reluctant to reward the Iranian government for its role in the nuclear deal because the only Iranian winner so far, 2003 laureate Shirin Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights campaigner, is forced to live in exile. "I think the committee has thought about the human rights situation in Iran. It would have been difficult to explain the prize even though it has a favourable view of the Iran deal," Asle Sveen, a historian of the Nobel Peace Prize, told Reuters. The Norwegian Nobel Committee denied that giving the prize to an anti-nuclear group was intended either as a rebuke to Trump, or as a snub to the architects of the Iran nuclear deal. "The Iran treaty is a positive development, a disarmament development that is positive, but the reason we mentioned North Korea (in our statement) is a reference to the threat that people actually feel," Reiss-Andersen told Reuters. "Iran has not voiced recent threats to use nuclear weapons." ICAN has campaigned for a U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which was adopted by 122 nations in July this year. That agreement is not signed by -- and would not apply to -- any of the states that already have nuclear arms, which include the five U.N. Security Council permanent members, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, as well as India, Pakistan and North Korea. Israel is also widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it neither confirms nor denies it. Major allies of the declared nuclear powers also oppose the new treaty. Nevertheless, campaigners see it as a framework that would make it easier for countries that have nuclear arms to work towards eliminating them. NATO member Norway congratulated ICAN but said it would not sign the treaty to ban nuclear weapons. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. "Norway will not support proposals in the UN that would weaken NATO's role as a defence alliance," Prime Minister Erna Solberg said. Nuclear-armed nations, including the United States and Russia, back the U.N.'s 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty which sets limits on the spread of atomic weapons and has a long-term goal of nuclear disarmament. "There is a strong logic in this peace prize," said Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute "It's all about encouraging governments to do what they have promised to do in the non-proliferation treaty."

Nobel Peace Prize awarded to International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

A revolutionary technique dubbed cryo-electron microscopy, which has shed light on the Zika virus and an Alzheimer&#39;s enzyme earned scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday.

Thanks to the international team&#39;s &quot;cool method&quot;, which uses electron beams to examine the tiniest structures of cells, &quot;researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen,&quot; the Nobel chemistry committee said.

This has been &quot;decisive for both the basic understanding of life&#39;s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals,&quot; it added.&nbsp;

The ultra-sensitive imaging method allows molecules to be flash-frozen and studied in their natural form, without the need for dyes.

It has laid bare never-before-seen details of the tiny protein machines that run all cells.

&quot;When researchers began to suspect that the Zika virus was causing the epidemic of brain-damaged newborns in Brazil, they turned to cryo-EM (electron microscopy) to visualise the virus,&quot; the committee said.&nbsp;

Frank, a 77-year-old, German-born biochemistry professor at Columbia University in New York, was woken from his sleep when the committee announced the prize in Stockholm, six hours ahead.

&quot;There are so many other discoveries every day, I was in a way speechless,&quot; he said. &quot;It&#39;s wonderful news.&quot;&nbsp;

In the first half of the 20th century, biomolecule, proteins, DNA and RNA, were terra incognita on the map of biochemistry.&nbsp;

Because the powerful electron beam destroys biological material, electron microscopes were long thought to be useful only to study the dead matter.&nbsp;

Tea party to celebrate

But 72-year-old Henderson, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, used an electron microscope in 1990 to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at atomic resolution, a groundbreaking discovery which proved the technology&#39;s potential.

Frank made it widely usable between 1975 and 1986, developing a method to transform the electron microscope&#39;s fuzzy two-dimensional images into sharp, 3-D composites.

Dubochet, today an honorary professor of biophysics at the University of Lausanne, added water.

Now 75, he discovered in the 1980s how to cool water so quickly that it solidifies in liquid form around a biological sample, allowing the molecules to retain their natural shape even in a vacuum.

The electron microscope&#39;s every nut and bolt have been optimised since these discoveries.&nbsp;

The required atomic resolution was reached in 2013, and researchers &quot;can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules,&quot; according to the Nobel committee.&nbsp;

The trio will share the prize money of nine million Swedish kronor (around $1.1 million or 943,100 euros).

&quot;Normally what I&#39;d do if I was in Cambridge, we will have a party around tea-time in the lab but I expect we&#39;ll have it tomorrow instead,&quot; said Henderson.

&#39;Beautiful pictures&#39;&nbsp;

The prize announcement was praised by the scientific community and observers around the world.

&quot;By solving more and more structures at the atomic level we can answer biological questions, such as how drugs get into cells, that were simply unanswerable a few years ago,&quot; Jim Smith, science director at the London-based biomedical research charity Wellcome, said in a statement.&nbsp;

Daniel Davis, immunology professor at the University of Manchester, said details of crucial molecules and proteins that make the human immune system function, can now be seen like never before.

&quot;It has been used in visualising the way in which antibodies can work to stop viruses being dangerous, leading to new ideas for medicines &ndash;- as just one example,&quot; he said.&nbsp;

John Hardy, neuroscience professor at University College London, said Dubochet, Frank and Henderson&#39;s technique has transformed the field of structural biology.

It has been used, for example, to compile a detailed identikit of an enzyme implicated in Alzheimer&#39;s.

&quot;Knowing this structure opens up the possibility of rational drug design in this area,&quot; Hardy said.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&quot;And as a biologist, I can say that the pictures are beautiful.&quot;

The trio won for the development of cryo-electron microscopy, a method of simplifying and improving the imaging of biomolecules

A revolutionary technique dubbed cryo-electron microscopy, which has shed light on the Zika virus and an Alzheimer's enzyme earned scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday. Thanks to the international team's "cool method", which uses electron beams to examine the tiniest structures of cells, "researchers can now freeze biomolecules mid-movement and visualise processes they have never previously seen," the Nobel chemistry committee said. This has been "decisive for both the basic understanding of life's chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals," it added. The ultra-sensitive imaging method allows molecules to be flash-frozen and studied in their natural form, without the need for dyes. It has laid bare never-before-seen details of the tiny protein machines that run all cells. "When researchers began to suspect that the Zika virus was causing the epidemic of brain-damaged newborns in Brazil, they turned to cryo-EM (electron microscopy) to visualise the virus," the committee said. Frank, a 77-year-old, German-born biochemistry professor at Columbia University in New York, was woken from his sleep when the committee announced the prize in Stockholm, six hours ahead. "There are so many other discoveries every day, I was in a way speechless," he said. "It's wonderful news." In the first half of the 20th century, biomolecule, proteins, DNA and RNA, were terra incognita on the map of biochemistry. Because the powerful electron beam destroys biological material, electron microscopes were long thought to be useful only to study the dead matter. Tea party to celebrate But 72-year-old Henderson, from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, used an electron microscope in 1990 to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at atomic resolution, a groundbreaking discovery which proved the technology's potential. Frank made it widely usable between 1975 and 1986, developing a method to transform the electron microscope's fuzzy two-dimensional images into sharp, 3-D composites. Dubochet, today an honorary professor of biophysics at the University of Lausanne, added water. Now 75, he discovered in the 1980s how to cool water so quickly that it solidifies in liquid form around a biological sample, allowing the molecules to retain their natural shape even in a vacuum. The electron microscope's every nut and bolt have been optimised since these discoveries. The required atomic resolution was reached in 2013, and researchers "can now routinely produce three-dimensional structures of biomolecules," according to the Nobel committee. The trio will share the prize money of nine million Swedish kronor (around $1.1 million or 943,100 euros). "Normally what I'd do if I was in Cambridge, we will have a party around tea-time in the lab but I expect we'll have it tomorrow instead," said Henderson. 'Beautiful pictures' The prize announcement was praised by the scientific community and observers around the world. "By solving more and more structures at the atomic level we can answer biological questions, such as how drugs get into cells, that were simply unanswerable a few years ago," Jim Smith, science director at the London-based biomedical research charity Wellcome, said in a statement. Daniel Davis, immunology professor at the University of Manchester, said details of crucial molecules and proteins that make the human immune system function, can now be seen like never before. "It has been used in visualising the way in which antibodies can work to stop viruses being dangerous, leading to new ideas for medicines –- as just one example," he said. John Hardy, neuroscience professor at University College London, said Dubochet, Frank and Henderson's technique has transformed the field of structural biology. It has been used, for example, to compile a detailed identikit of an enzyme implicated in Alzheimer's. "Knowing this structure opens up the possibility of rational drug design in this area," Hardy said. "And as a biologist, I can say that the pictures are beautiful."

Chemistry Nobel awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson

alfred-nobel

Alfred Nobel, News on Alfred Nobel, stories on Alfred Nobel, articles on Alfred Nobel, Alfred Nobel stories at Wion, Alfred Nobel news, Alfred Nobel latest news

alfred nobel