Charpentier awarded chemistry Nobel in Berlin

Twelve laureates were named in 2020. A Nobel prize comes with a 10-million krona ($1.1 million) cash award — to be shared in some cases — diplomas and gold medals. Traditionally, the lavish Nobel ceremonies are held Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of prize founder Alfred Nobel, at an ornate city hall in Stockholm for all but the Peace Prize that is held in Oslo in neighbouring Norway. Nobel wanted it that way, for reasons that he kept to himself.

Berlin: The pomp and ceremony of the Nobel prize ceremonies have been reined in this year amid measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

There will be no glitzy banquet honouring winners in Stockholm or Oslo as the global pandemic curtails the usual celebrations.

Instead, their achievements will be recognized and rewarded at low-key ceremonies where they live and work in Europe and the United States.

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Emmanuelle Charpentier of France, co-winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, received her medal and diploma from the Swedish ambassador in Berlin on Monday.

The 2020 Nobel prizes were announced in October. The prize for physiology and medicine was awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice "for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus".

The prize for physics honoured Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez for their breakthroughs in understanding black holes, while the chemistry prize went to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna for a powerful gene-editing tool.

The World Food Programme won the peace prize for efforts to combat hunger.

AP

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