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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. | 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. | 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. |
This assumption was based on a rule known as Abbe's diffraction limit, named after an equation published in 1873 by the German microscopist Ernst Abbe. | |
This year's chemistry laureates used fluorescent molecules to circumvent this limitation, allowing scientists to see things at much higher levels of resolution. | |
Their advance has even enabled scientists to visualise the activity of individual molecules inside living cells. | |
Addressing the news conference in Stockholm, Prof Hell, from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Germany, explained: "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. | |
"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." | "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." |
Previous winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry | |
2013 - Michael Levitt, Martin Karplus and Arieh Warshel shared the prize, for devising computer simulations of chemical processes. | |
2012 - Work that revealed how protein receptors pass signals between living cells and the environment won the prize for Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka. | |
2011 - Dan Schechtman received the prize for discovering the "impossible" structure of quasicrystals. | |
2010 - Richard Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki were recognised for developing new ways of linking carbon atoms together. | |
2009 - Discovering the structure and function of our cells' "protein factories", earned the chemistry Nobel for Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath. | |
Commenting on the announcement, Prof Thomas Barton, president of the American Chemical Society, told BBC News: "On my level, the most impressive thing is to look at small molecules, to look at viruses in an atomic-resolved fashion. | |
"Also... to be able to look at living things and not to have to sacrifice them and look at them in a vacuum after sacrificing them as we do with transmission electron spectroscopy. | |
"It's incredible what you can do now. On my timescale, if you had suggested being able to look at something on a one nanometre scale - an atomic scale - 50 years ago, you'd have been laughed out of the room." | |
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