Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna Get Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier from France and Jennifer A. Doudna from USA have been chosen as the recipients of the 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on the development of a genome editing method known as CRISPR. The announcement was made in Stockholm by Goran Hansson, the Secretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Wednesday (7th October)

The prestigious Nobel Prize comes with a gold medal and prize money amounting to 10 million krona, which is approximately around $1.1 million, which is awarded through a bequest left by the creator of the award, the great inventor Alfred Nobel, more than a century ago. The amount of the prize went through a recent increase to adjust for inflation.

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About Their Research

The technology developed by the duo can be used to change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision, stated the Nobel jury. This revolutionary technology had been considered for the Nobel earlier as well, although wasn’t finally selected. This is the first time that a Nobel prize in science has been awarded to a team consisting of only women. Charpentier, in a statement to reporters, said that she hoped that this will provide a strong message to young girls.

Related Read: Nobel Laureates of India

The Nobel prize for physiology and medicine was awarded on Monday by the Nobel committee to scientists Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice from the US and British scientist Michael Houghton for their discovery of the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. On Tuesday, the Nobel prize for physics was awarded to Roger Penrose from Britain, Reinhard Genzel from Germany and Andrea Ghez from the US for their breakthrough research in understanding the mysteries surrounding cosmic black holes. The other Nobel prizes are awarded for exceptional work in the fields of literature, economics and peace.

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