Unlike in my youth, when I used to be a trivia fiend (sports, movies, current affairs), the annual Nobel prize awards, like the Oscars, are of only fleeting interest to me now. I read the news of the prestigious prize eagerly enough, try to make connections between the recipients and their works and then soon forget about them.
The 2006 Nobel Prizes in the sciences were announced recently - in physics, chemistry and medicine. It was a rare American sweep - all the recipients are US scientists, three of the five from California universities. Two noteworthy things about this year's winners are that one of the physics winners works for NASA (a first for the space agency) and the prize in chemistry went to a man whose father too is a Nobelist. Father and son are also affiliated with the same university.
This year's chemistry prize winner Roger Kornberg is the son of Arthur Kornberg (both of Stanford University) who won the 1959 Nobel prize for medicine. This is not the first time that a father-son duo has won the Nobel. The very first time it happened, was in 1915 when X-ray crystallographers William Bragg and his son Lawrence, won the physics prize together. Lawrence Bragg was twenty five at the time and to this day, holds the record for being the youngest Nobelist ever. I knew about the Braggs. But upon visiting the Nobel Foundation's website, I was surprised to find out that there were a few more Nobels that went to sons of famous scientists. I was aware of two of the fathers (Niels Bohr and J.J. Thomson) but not of their sons. The list of six pairs of father-son winners is as follows:
- J. J. and George Thomson (J. J: physics, 1906. George: physics, 1937)
- William and Lawrence Bragg (physics, 1915)
- Niels and Aage Bohr (Niels: physics, 1922. Aage: physics, 1975)
- Manne and Kai Siegbahn (Manne: physics, 1924. Kai: physics, 1981)
- Hans von Euler -Chelpin and Ulf von Euler (Hans: chemistry, 1929. Ulf: medicine, 1970)
- Arthur and Roger D. Kornberg (Arthur: medicine, 1959. Roger: chemistry, 2006)
But of course the most famous of all Nobel families were the Curies - with four members winning the coveted honor. They figure in the following permutations:
- Mother - Daughter : Marie Curie and Irene Joliot Curie ( mother Marie was a two time winner - 1903 for physics and 1911 in chemistry. Irene won for chemistry in 1935)
- Father - Daughter: Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot Curie (Pierre for physics in 1903)
- Husband-Wife: Pierre and Marie Curie (both for physics in 1903) and Irene and Frederic Joliot (chemistry in 1935)
Wonder what dinner time conversation was like at the Curie household. Only one pair of siblings have won so far.
- Brothers Jan and Nikolaas Tinbergen (Jan for economics, 1969. Nikolaas for medicine in 1973)
It is interesting that the Nobel gene seems to have passed from parents to progeny overwhelmingly in the fields of science. There is no example of family Nobels in the literary field.
For more Nobel related facts and factoids please visit the foundation's official website. For a recent interview with the Kornberg father and son, see here. (link provided by BongoP'o'ndit)
One word of caution. The American sweep of this year's science Nobel prizes is a cause for celebration in the US scientific community. But we must remain vigilant in preserving the integrity of American science education against the aggressive, pernicious and corrupting influences of political and religious propaganda.
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