Submitted by Chip Nataro / Lafayette College on Tue, 10/02/2018 - 07:42

Once again it is Nobel season and in about 1 day from writting this post we will know who has taken home the chemistry prize. From the variety of predictions this year it seems like the field is wide open. The RSC has put together a nice summary from various sources here. There are some strong, perennial candidates that appear on multiple lists like John Goodenough for Li ion battery technology (my guess heading into the announcement) and Omar Yaghi for MOFs. I promise, there is no inorganic bias in listing those two. There are some very biochemistry topics including Jennifer Doudna for CRISPR (I thought that was the drawer in a refridgerator) and JoAnne Stubbe for ribonuclease reductase work. There are even some dark horse candidates listed that I would love to see win including Bob Bergman for C-H activation and George Sheldrick for work in crytallography. That last one is based primarily on citation totals, so while it would be neat since my work is very directly impacted by Sheldrick's work, I just don't see it happening. How will it turn out? I guess we will have to wait and see. But the anticipation is certainly building.

Adam Johnson / Harvey Mudd College

I am notoriously bad at predicting the Nobel so I will just sit back and wait for the announcement. Ihope that the Chemistry prize actually goes to "chemistry" this year. Nothing against biochemistry or materials, but I like the award when it goes to someone who makes and measure molecules.

Tue, 10/02/2018 - 09:39 Permalink