- Title: Trio wins Nobel chemistry prize for 'world's smallest machines'
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, GORAN K. HANSSON, CHAIRMAN OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR SARA SNOGERUP LINSE, AND MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE AND EXPERT IN FIELD OF THE PRIZE, PROFESSOR OLOF RAMSTROM, WALKING INTO NEWS CONFERENCE AND TAKING THEIR SEATS (SOUNDBITE) (English) SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, GORAN K. HANSSON, SAYING: "The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa for the design and synthesis of molecular machines." PROJECTION ON WALL SHOWING PHOTOGRAPHS OF NOBEL PRIZE FOR CHEMISTRY WINNERS JEAN-PIERRE SAUVAGE, SIR JAMES FRASER STODDART AND BERNARD L. FERINGA (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR SARA SNOGERUP LINSE, SAYING: "Maybe this morning you ground your coffee, maybe you used a motorised vehicle to get here - you used man-made machines operating on a centimetre to metre length scale. It's been a dream of scientists for over half a century to take this development all the way down to the molecular scale - that's nanometres. A nanometre is one million times smaller than a millimetre. In here we have some molecular machines, a molecular motor, a molecular muscle, a molecular memory, an elevator and there is a molecular car. This amazing development is due to several ingenious chemical innovations." RAMSTROM TALKING ABOUT THE WORLDS SMALLEST MACHINES PROJECTION SHOWING THE WORLD'S SMALLEST MACHINES
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 11:24
- Keywords: Nobel Prize Chemistry
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Science
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QAKHZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa won the Nobel chemistry prize on Wednesday (October 5) for work on molecular machines that may lead to developments like new materials, sensors and energy storage systems.
Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry Sara Snogerup Linse, as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences conferred the award, said this year's prize was about the world's smallest machines.
"Maybe this morning you ground your coffee, maybe you used a motorised vehicle to get here - you used man-made machines operating on a centimetre to metre length scale. It's been a dream of scientists for over half a century to take this development all the way down to the molecular scale - that's nanometres. A nanometre is one million times smaller than a millimetre," she said.
The French, Scottish and Dutch scientists had developed molecules with controllable movements that can perform tasks when energy is added, the Academy said in a statement awarding the 8 million Swedish crown ($931,000) prize.
Sauvage is professor emeritus at the University of Strasbourg and director of research emeritus at France's National Centre for Scientific Research.
Stoddart, born in Edinburgh, is professor of chemistry at Northwestern University in the United States, while Feringa is professor in organic chemistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobel prizes after the medicine and physics laureates were announced on Monday and Tuesday.
The prize is named after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel and has been awarded since 1901 for achievements in science, literature and peace in accordance with his will. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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