Chemistry

“Captured for life by chemistry and by crystals,” as she described it, Dorothy Hodgkin turned a childhood interest in crystals into the ground-breaking use of X-ray crystallography to “see” the molecules of penicillin, vitamin B12 and insulin. Her work not only allowed researchers to better understand and manufacture life-saving substances, it also made crystallography an indispensable scientific tool.

more

With one ingenious idea and years of subsequent work, Frances Arnold turned bioengineering upside down. Recognising that nature was “the best bioengineer in history,” she figured out how to let evolution be her partner in the lab. She pioneered the use of directed evolution to design new enzymes, with applications as broad as they are essential, from pharmaceuticals to renewable fuels.

more

Photo gallery

Rudolph A. Marcus receiving his Nobel Prize from H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 10 December 1992. Rudolph A. Marcus after receiving his Nobel Prize from H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 10 December 1992. Laureates on stage at the Nobel…

more