2007 Nobel Prizes

The 2007 Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden. Six categories were awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.^[1]

Nobel Week took place from December 6 to 12, including programming such as lectures, dialogues, and discussions. The award ceremony and banquet for the Peace Prize were scheduled in Oslo on December 10, while the award ceremony and banquet for all other categories were scheduled for the same day in Stockholm.^[2][3]

Prizes

Physics

Awardee(s)
	Albert Fert (b. 1938)	French	"for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance"	[4]
	Peter Grünberg (1939–2018)	German

Chemistry

Awardee(s)
	Gerhard Ertl (b. 1936)	German	"for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"	[5]

Physiology or Medicine

Awardee(s)
	Mario R. Capecchi (b. 1937)	Italy  United States	"for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."	[6]
	Sir Martin Evans (b. 1941)	United Kingdom
	Oliver Smithies (1925–2017)	United Kingdom  United States

Literature

Main article: 2007 Nobel Peace Prize

Awardee(s)
	Doris Lessing (1919–2013)	United Kingdom (born in Iran)	"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"	[7]

Peace

Main article: 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature

Awardee(s)
	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (founded 1988)	United Nations	"for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."	[8]
	Al Gore (born 1948)	United States

Economic Sciences

Awardee(s)
	Leonid Hurwicz (1917–2008)	Poland  United States	"for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory"	[9]
	Eric S. Maskin (b. 1950)	United States
	Roger Myerson (b. 1951)

Controversies

Chemistry

Ertl, who solely won the Chemistry Prize, showed both surprise and disappointment that Gábor Somorjai, a foundational pioneer in modern surface science and catalysis, wasn't named for the prize alongside him.^[10][11] Somorjai and Ertl had previously shared the Wolf Prize for Chemistry in 1998. The Nobel Foundation's decision to exclude Somorjai was criticized in the scientific community.^[12]

References

1. "FACTBOX: Who won the 2007 Nobel Prizes?". Reuters. October 15, 2007.
2. "Photo gallery - The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony 2007". NobelPrize.org. 2014-03-27. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
3. "Video Clip - The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony 2007". NobelPrize.org. 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2024-12-10.
4. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2007.
5. "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 October 2008. Retrieved 6 October 2008.
6. "The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2007.
7. "Nobel Prize in Literature 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2008-10-17.
8. "The Nobel Peace Prize 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
9. "The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2007". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-10-16. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
10. Jacoby, Mitch. "Surface Science's Sage – April 7, 2008 Issue – Vol. 86 Issue 14 – Chemical & Engineering News". cen.acs.org.
11. "Birthday Boy Gets a Nobel". 10 October 2007.
12. Noorden2007-10-10T16:00:00+01:00, Richard Van. "Surface chemistry wins Nobel Prize". Chemistry World.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)