Michael Rosenthal

(11/2019) Before we address the monthly topic above, let me urge you to attend the Mother Seton School Science Fair on November 20 at 6 PM. We regularly cover the Science Fair in this column after it occurs and report on the winners and the winning topics, but seeing the science presentations of the Mother Seton students in person is a wonderful and unique experience.

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) was the Swedish chemist and engineer who invented dynamite and bequeathed his fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes. The 2019 Nobel prizes have been awarded, and this year’s recipients in the four academic fields recognized by the award - Physics, Economic Sciences, Chemistry, and Physiology/Medicine - once again reflect the prominence of U.S. universities.

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel, a Swiss polymath and inventor of dynamite, bequeathed the majority of his estate to create five prizes (the four cited above plus one in literature), recognizing "those, who during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." The first awards were conferred in 1901. A sixth award, not technically a Nobel, was established in 1968; it’s officially designated as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

Between 1901 and 2019, 596 awards have been given to more than 900 individuals. The awards are international, so there has been interest in the academic affiliations of the Nobelists because those associations shed light on which academic institutions have helped cultivate these groundbreaking discoveries.

A Wikipedia entry on the topic of which universities had the most individual laureate affiliations through 2018 showed that eight of the top 10 were U.S. institutions (in order: Harvard, Cambridge, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, California Institute of Technology, Oxford, and Princeton).

A slightly different list emerges from a ranking of universities "producing" the most Nobel winners. This methodology weighted the number of prizewinners for each category and the number of institutions affiliated with each award winner. Nine of the ten institutions were located in the U.S.: Princeton, Stanford, U. Chicago, Columbia, MIT, U. California (Berkeley), Howard Hughes Institute, Harvard, University California, Santa Barbara, and Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

The 2019 awards continue to confirm the leadership of U.S. universities in the educational background and employment settings of Nobel Prize winners.

Physics

Between 2015 and 2019, the prize in physics was awarded to 14 individuals. Nine recipients were affiliated with an American university or research lab at the time of the award. Princeton and the California Institute of Technology had two winners each. Eight of the 14 winners earned their Ph.D. from an American university, with Princeton and Cornell each with two graduates.

Of the three 2019 winners, James Peebles was the only one currently affiliated or earning a degree from an American university - Princeton in both cases.

Chemistry

Between 2015 and 2019, 15 individuals have been awarded the prize in chemistry. Eight winners were affiliated with an American university at the time of the award, and five earned their Ph.D. at a university in the U.S.

Two of the three 2019 recipients are at American universities - John Goodenough at the University of Texas and M. Stanley Whittingham at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Goodenough, at 97 the oldest Nobel recipient in history, earned his PhD from the University of Chicago. Whittinham took his degree at Oxford. The other chemistry winner, Akira Yoshino, earned his doctorate at Osaka University; he has always worked in the private sector.

Physiology/Medicine

Twelve individuals were awarded the Nobel in physiology or medicine between 2015 and 2019. Seven of the twelve were affiliated with American universities when they won the award, and seven had earned their postgraduate degrees at American institutions.

Among the three 2019 winners in this category, two are U.S, products. William Kaelin is at Harvard, after earning his Ph.D. from Duke, and Gregg Semenza is with Johns Hopkins following his doctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

Economic Sciences

Nine individuals have won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize since 2015. All nine were affiliated with American universities, and eight completed their graduate work at American institutions.

The 2019 winners were Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, who are married to each other. Banerjee received his Ph.D. from Harvard and teaches at MIT. Duflo also teaches at MIT and received her doctorate there as well. The third winner, Michael Kremer, is at Harvard, from which he also earned his Ph.D.

Since 2015, across the four Nobel science categories, 50 recipients have been recognized. Of this total, 33 (66%) were affiliated with an American institution at the time of the award, and 28 (56%) earned their graduate degree at an American university.

As one would expect, nationally esteemed universities head the list of host institutions, but in addition to the likes of Harvard, MIT, Princeton, the University of Chicago, Yale, and the California Institute of Technology, one also finds less prestigious schools - the University of Missouri, the University of Maine, and Drew University.

Other than national pride, will average Americans care about the preeminence of our universities in the history of the Nobel prizes? They should. The basic research contains many recent life-changing innovations - ion batteries, lasers, renewable fuels, new drugs, and cancer therapies. The scholarly excellence of American universities still prevails!

The Ignoble Prizes "honor achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think." The Ignoble Ceremony took place on September 12, 2019.

The prize in Biology was for discovering that dead magnetized cockroaches behave differently than living magnetized cockroaches.

The prize in Chemistry was awarded for estimating the total saliva volume produced per day by a typical five-year-old child, about 500 ml of spit per day.

The prize in Medicine was awarded for collecting evidence that pizza might protect against illness and death, if the pizza is made and eaten in Italy.

The prize in Medical Education for awarded for using a simple animal-training technique, known as "clicker training," to train surgeons to perform orthopedic surgery.

The prize in Anatomy was awarded for measuring scrotal temperature asymmetry in naked and clothed postmen in France.

The prize in Engineering was awarded for inventing a diaper-changing machine for use on human infants which has been patented.

The prize in Psychology was awarded for discovering that holding a pen in one’s mouth makes one smile, which makes one happier - and then for discovering that it does not.

The prize in Physics was award for studying how and why wombats make cube-shaped feces. For the winners it was their second win. In 2015 the prize was won for determining the time it takes for most mammals to empty their bladders.

The prize in Economics was awarded for testing which country’s paper money is best at transmitting dangerous bacteria. If you plan a trip to Romania, wear gloves when handling your Romanian money!!

Though not quite science, we should mention the Peace Prize: It was awarded for trying to measure the pleasurability of scratching an itch, won by a team of five dermatologists, a psychologist, and a biostatistician.

A recording of the Ig Nobel ceremony will be available at youtube.com/improbableresearch, and Public Radio’s Science Friday will air an edited edition on November 29.

Read other articles by Michael Rosenthal