Nobel Endeavours

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Great. Now can we please, as a society, move on? There are five other Nobels given out each year to people who have actually done good work in the service of mankind.

Perhaps most importantly for IU-Bloomington was the economics Nobel, awarded to Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to snag the Prize in economics in its 40-year history. The committee pointed out that her work has moved analysis of nonmarket institutions “from the fringe of economic analysis to the very center.” Ostrom’s recognition is great news for her, as well as for the United States and the IU community.

Was Obama’s award important? Absolutely. But there are other things going on in the world. Here’s a breakdown of the other Nobel Prizes given out this year:

Chemistry:
Awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath for their studies elucidating the structure and function of ribosomes using advanced crystallography techniques. This work has practical applications in genetics, medical science and several other fields.

Physics:
Awarded to Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith. Kao received his award for the development of low-loss optical fibers that are currently used in a wide array of communications and other devices. Boyle and Smith were awarded for the development of charge-coupled devices that are currently used in optical instrumentation of various kinds.

Physiology or Medicine:
Awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Jack W. Szostak and Carol W. Greider for their research on how chromosomes are protected from degradation during repeated cellular division. They also discovered the existence of the long-predicted enzyme telomerase that carries out this function.

Literature:
 Awarded to Herta Muller for her works criticizing the oppressive dictatorial regimes that ruled Romania for much of the later half of the 20th century. Her commitment to free speech and refusal to assist the secret police made her a social and political pariah for much of her young life, but informed the rest of the world of the situation in Romania.


Economics:
Awarded to Oliver E. Williamson “for his analysis of economic governance, especially the boundaries of the firm” and Elinor Ostrom, an IU-Bloomington professor in the political science department, “for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons.”