Three Researchers in America Win Nobel Physics Prize
October 14, 1998 - 0:0
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Three scientists working at universities in the United States on Tuesday won the Nobel Physics Prize for discovering that electrons on under certain circumstances can form new kinds of particles. The prize went to Robert C. Laughlin of the United States, Horst L. Stoermer of Germany and China-born Daniel C. Tsui. The citation from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said they discovered that electrons acting together in strong magnetic fields can form new types of particles that carry charges that are fractions of electron charges.
Laughlin is at Stanford University, Stoermer currently is at Columbia University in New York City and Tsui teaches at Princeton University. The citation said their work led to yet another breakthrough in our understanding of quantum physics and to the development of new theoretical concepts of significance in many branches of modern physics. The 7.6-million-kronor ($978,000) prize will be divided equally among the three.
Last year's physics laureates, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of France and William Phillips and Steven Chu of the United States, were honored for developing ways of trapping atoms of gas and cooling them to within a millionth of a degree of absolute zero. The work led to developing extraordinarily accurate atomic clocks. Previous atomic clocks weren't exactly sloppy, being accurate to about one second in 32 million years - but the improvements made possible a clock that loses just one second every 3 billion years.
It also led to the creation of an entirely new form of matter, achieving what Albert Einstein had postulated was possible some 70 years earlier. The 1997 chemistry winners, American Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker of Britain and Jens C. Skou of Denmark, discovered aspects of how the body's cells store and use energy, a fundamental process that affects everything from the building of bones to the transmission of nerve impulses.
On Monday, the Medicine Prize was given to three Americans - Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad - for their work on discovering properties of nitric oxide, a common air pollutant but also a life-saver because of its capacity to dilate blood vessels. Furchgott, 82, is a pharmacologist at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Ignarro, 57, is at the University of California at Los Angeles and Murad, 62, is at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. The Literature Prize was awarded last Thursday to Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago. The Economics Prize winner is to be named today and the Peace Prize on Friday. All the prizes are announced in Stockholm, except for the Peace Prize which is given in Oslo, Norway. The prizes are presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prizes in his will.
(AP)
Laughlin is at Stanford University, Stoermer currently is at Columbia University in New York City and Tsui teaches at Princeton University. The citation said their work led to yet another breakthrough in our understanding of quantum physics and to the development of new theoretical concepts of significance in many branches of modern physics. The 7.6-million-kronor ($978,000) prize will be divided equally among the three.
Last year's physics laureates, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji of France and William Phillips and Steven Chu of the United States, were honored for developing ways of trapping atoms of gas and cooling them to within a millionth of a degree of absolute zero. The work led to developing extraordinarily accurate atomic clocks. Previous atomic clocks weren't exactly sloppy, being accurate to about one second in 32 million years - but the improvements made possible a clock that loses just one second every 3 billion years.
It also led to the creation of an entirely new form of matter, achieving what Albert Einstein had postulated was possible some 70 years earlier. The 1997 chemistry winners, American Paul D. Boyer, John E. Walker of Britain and Jens C. Skou of Denmark, discovered aspects of how the body's cells store and use energy, a fundamental process that affects everything from the building of bones to the transmission of nerve impulses.
On Monday, the Medicine Prize was given to three Americans - Robert Furchgott, Louis Ignarro and Ferid Murad - for their work on discovering properties of nitric oxide, a common air pollutant but also a life-saver because of its capacity to dilate blood vessels. Furchgott, 82, is a pharmacologist at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, Ignarro, 57, is at the University of California at Los Angeles and Murad, 62, is at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston. The Literature Prize was awarded last Thursday to Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago. The Economics Prize winner is to be named today and the Peace Prize on Friday. All the prizes are announced in Stockholm, except for the Peace Prize which is given in Oslo, Norway. The prizes are presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite who established the prizes in his will.
(AP)