Archive – Science

A Nobel history

This content was published on Oct 10, 2002 Previously they were announced on the same day, but this was changed due to fears that it could lead to one of the prizes being overlooked. Prize founder Alfred Nobel stated that the chemistry prize should go to those who “shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind” and “shall have made the most important…

Swiss scientist brings home chemistry prize

This content was published on Oct 9, 2002 The Nobel committee said there would be “no modern pharmaceuticals” without the work of Wüthrich and two other joint recipients of the award. Wüthrich takes one half of the prestigious $1 million award, with the other half being divided equally between the United States scientist, John Fenn, and Japan’s Koichi Tanaka. The three scientists share…

More to sand than meets the eye

This content was published on Oct 9, 2002 A special exhibition presents a fascinating and comprehensive look at what turns out to be an infinitely varied and interesting topic. From the desert to the seabed, its geology, zoology and physical properties, its role in some religious beliefs – in Tibet and among the Navajos of North America – and even as a plaything…

Wüthrich is seventh Swiss to win chemistry prize

This content was published on Oct 9, 2002 swissinfo takes a look back at previous Swiss recipients of the award. The first Swiss to receive the prize was Alfred Werner (1866-1919), who collected the award in 1913 “in recognition of his work on the linkage of atoms in molecules, by which he has thrown new light on earlier investigations and opened up new…

A distinguished career

This content was published on Oct 9, 2002 His specialty is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for which he was co-awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Born in 1938 in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich studied in Bern, and went on to do his PhD in inorganic chemistry 1964 at the University of Basel. Following postdoctoral studies at the renowned University of California at Berkeley,…

Swiss shares Nobel Prize for chemistry

This content was published on Oct 9, 2002 Wüthrich took one half of the prestigious award, with the other half being jointly shared by John Fenn of the US and Koichi Tanaka of Japan. The three were chosen for their research into biological macromolecules, such as proteins, which has led to a better understanding of the processes of life. The 64-year-old Wüthrich takes…

Orbiting bacteria test origins of life

This content was published on Oct 3, 2002 Biologists in Lausanne will test the theory later this month when they send bacteria-filled rocks into orbit aboard a Russian satellite. If the harmless spores of Bacillus subtilis survive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, the biologists say it will prove that life could have extraterrestrial origins. Tests on Earth have already revealed that bacteria can…

Researchers unravel genetic code of malaria

This content was published on Oct 2, 2002 An international research team announced on Wednesday that it had successfully unravelled the genomes. Dr Christian Lengeler of the Swiss Tropical Institute in Basel told swissinfo that he expected “malaria vaccines [to] eventually come out of the whole parasite sequencing project”. “And we will need resistant mosquitoes which will certainly come out of the mosquito…

Robots make a clean sweep

This content was published on Oct 1, 2002 The event is one of the highlights of a week-long international conference on intelligent robots. The machines will be performing household chores as quickly and efficiently as they can in a mock-up living room at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. Window cleaning is also on the agenda. When they’re not participating in the…

Final frontier opens doors for research

This content was published on Sep 29, 2002 Supporters say the ISS has the potential to revolutionise many areas of research. But critics question whether it is really worth the money. The Columbus science laboratory is Europe’s principal contribution to the ISS. The 4.5-metre cylindrical module is scheduled to launch late in 2004. The European Space Agency says the almost complete absence of…

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