The Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded Wednesday to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their groundbreaking work with proteins.
Baker is based at the University of Washington in Seattle, while Hassabis and Jumper are part of the team at Google Deepmind in London.
Hans Ellegren, the secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, revealed the winners of the prestigious award.
Baker’s research group has been responsible for creating innovative proteins since he designed a new protein in 2003. These proteins have diverse applications, from pharmaceuticals to nanomaterials and sensors, according to the Nobel committee.
Hassabis and Jumper developed an artificial intelligence model that can predict the structure of nearly all known proteins, which amounts to around 200 million proteins identified by researchers, as noted by the committee.
Last year’s chemistry award recognized three scientists for their work on quantum dots, highlighting their potential in electronics and medical imaging.
The Nobel announcements began with the medicine prize being awarded to Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. The physics prize was given to machine learning pioneers John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton.
The upcoming awards include the literature prize on Thursday, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, and the economics award on October 14.
The Nobel Prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) and the laureates will be honored at ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
By Daniel Niemann and Mike Corder
