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| Microscope work wins Nobel Prize | Microscope work wins Nobel Prize |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to a trio of researchers for improving the resolution of microscopes. | The 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to a trio of researchers for improving the resolution of microscopes. |
| Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William Moerner used fluorescence to extend the limits of the light microscope. | Eric Betzig, Stefan Hell and William Moerner used fluorescence to extend the limits of the light microscope. |
| The winners will share prize money of eight million kronor (£0.7m). | The winners will share prize money of eight million kronor (£0.7m). |
| They were named at a press conference in Sweden, and join a prestigious list of 105 other Chemistry laureates recognised since 1901. | They were named at a press conference in Sweden, and join a prestigious list of 105 other Chemistry laureates recognised since 1901. |
| The Nobel Committee said the researchers had won the award for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy". | The Nobel Committee said the researchers had won the award for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy". |
| Profs Betzig and Moerner are US citizens, while Prof Hell is German. | |
| Committee chair Prof Sven Lidin, a materials chemist from Lunds University, said "the work of the laureates has made it possible to study molecular processes in real time". | Committee chair Prof Sven Lidin, a materials chemist from Lunds University, said "the work of the laureates has made it possible to study molecular processes in real time". |
| Optical microscopes had previously been held back by a presumed limitation: that they would never obtain a better resolution than half the wavelength of light. | |
| The researchers used fluorescent molecules to circumvent this limitation, allowing scientists to see things at much higher levels of resolution. | |
| This has even allowed scientists to visualise the activity of individual molecules inside living cells. | |
| "I got bored with the topic; I felt this was 19th century physics. I was wondering if there was still something profound that could be made with light microscopy, so I saw that the diffraction barrier was the only important problem that had been left over," said Prof Hell, from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany. | |
| "Eventually I realised there must be a way by playing with the molecules, trying to turn the molecules on and off allows you to see adjacent things you couldn't see before." |