Profiles of the
Science Laureates

The Nobel prizes for scientific achievements are among the most coveted awards in the world. This year, nine men will receive $1 million prizes in chemistry, physics, economics and medicine. The winners include six Americans, one Frenchman, one Briton and one Dane.

Medicine     Chemistry     Physics     Economics

Medicine
Laureate:	Stanley B. Prusiner, biologist and professor, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco
Selected by:	The Karolinska Institute
Honored for:	Discovery of "prions," biological agents believed to be responsible for brain-wasting conditions such as "mad cow disease"
Comment from the selection committee:	"Stanley Prusiner's discovery provides important insights that may furnish the basis to understand the biological mechanisms underlying other types of dementia-related diseases, for example Alzheimer's disease, and establishes a foundation for drug development and new types of medical treatment strategies.
Related stories and sites:	CNN - American Scientist Wins Nobel Prize for Medicine - October 6, 1997 Official Press Release on Medicine Prize The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1997
Video:	Profile of Stanley Prusiner from "Nobel '97," a CNN International special

Chemistry
Laureates:	Paul D. Boyer, professor, University of California, Los Angeles Dr. John E. Walker, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, Britain Jens C. Skou, professor, Aarhus University, Denmark
Selected by:	The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Honored for:	Discoveries related to adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the compound that stores and transfers energy in living cells. Boyer and Walker were recognized for promoting understanding of the synthesis of ATP. They received $500,000; the remainder of the $1 million prize goes to Skou for the discovery of the enzyme that regulates the concentration of sodium and potassium in cells.
Comment from the selection committee:	The three laureates have performed pioneering work on enzymes that participate in the conversion of the "high-energy" compound adenosine triphosphate.
Related site:	Official Press Release on Chemistry Prize
Video:	Profiles of Paul Boyer and John Walker from "Nobel '97," a CNN International special

Physics
Laureates:	Steven Chu, professor, Stanford University, Stanford, California Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, professor Collège de France and École Normale Supérieure, Paris William D. Phillips, doctor, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Selected by:	The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Honored for:	"Development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light"
Comment from the selection committee:	The new methods of investigation that the Nobel laureates have developed have contributed greatly to increasing knowledge of the interplay between radiation and matter. In particular, they have opened the way to a deeper understanding of the quantum-physical behavior of gases at low temperatures. The methods may lead to the design of more precise "atomic clocks" for use in space navigation and accurate determination of position.
Related story and site:	Official Press Release on Physics Prize CNN - Two Americans, Frenchman named Nobel Physics winners - October 15, 1997
Video:	Profile of winners of the physics prize from "Nobel '97," a CNN International special

Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel
Laureates:	Robert C. Merton, professor, Harvard University, Cambridge Myron S. Scholes, professor, Stanford University, Stanford
Selected by:	The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Honored for:	"A pioneering formula for the valuation of stock options"
Comment from the selection committee:	The laureates, "in collaboration with the late Fischer Black, developed a pioneering formula for the valuation of stock options. Their methodology has paved the way for economic valuations in many areas. It has also generated new types of financial instruments and facilitated more efficient risk management in society."
Related site:	Official Press Release on Economics Prize
Video:	Profile of winners of the economics prize from "Nobel '97," a CNN International special

Message board:

• Do Americans win more than their share of Nobel science prizes?

Related story:

• Americans again dominate in science

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