- Title: Nobel chemistry prize winner 'honoured' by award for 'world's tiniest machines'
- Date: 5th October 2016
- Summary: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 5, 2016) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SECRETARY GENERAL, GORAN K. HANSSON SITTING DOWN FOR ANNOUNCEMENT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES SECRETARY GENERAL, 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." STILL PHOTOGRAPHS OF NOBEL CHEMISTRY PRIZE WINNERS ON SCREEN (LEFT TO RIGHT): JEAN-PIERRE SAUVAGE, SIR JAMES FRASER STODDART AND BERNARD FERINGA (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR SARA SNOGERUP LINSE EXPLAINING SCIENCE BEHIND PRIZE "To make this one is a piece of cake (HOLDS UP BAGEL). You can buy it at the local supermarket. This one requires some very clever chemistry (HOLDS UP TWO LINKED BAGELS) and this year's laureates have developed new synthetic strategies to make molecules like this." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) OLOF RAMSTROM, MEMBER OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY EXPLAINING SCIENCE BEHIND PRIZE "So as you heard, this award is all about the world's smallest machines, the world's tiniest machines." ANIMATION ON SCREEN SHOWING MOLECULAR MACHINES RAMSTROM SPEAKING GRAPHIC ON SCREEN SHOWING MOLECULAR SHUTTLE HANSSON SPEAKING TO FERINGA ON THE PHONE STILL OF FERINGA/ (SOUNDBITE) (English) NOBEL CHEMISTRY PRIZE WINNER BERNARD FERINGA, SAYING: "What I said when I got this message, I said, I don't know what to say and I'm a bit shocked, you know because it was such a great surprise, and my second remark is that I'm honoured and I'm also emotional about it." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS SNOGERUP LINSE BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR SARA SNOGERUP LINSE, SAYING: "At heart of this is the ability to construct molecular machines, to construct molecules that are connected physically but not chemically in one way or the other. They can also be connected with bonds that have some rotational freedom, and (have) the ability to convert energy input to a directional motion, not a random motion, and actually that we can control how these molecular machines operate." SNOGERUP LINSE TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE NOBEL COMMITTEE FOR CHEMISTRY, PROFESSOR SARA SNOGERUP LINSE, SAYING: "We are at the moment exactly at the stepping stone between basic development and applications. We are opening a new molecular era here with this prize, so exactly what will come in the future we can only guess. But one thing that will come for sure are smart materials, materials that you can change the properties, the size or their interaction with other things, when you shine a light on them for example." PEOPLE MILLING ABOUT
- Embargoed: 20th October 2016 12:51
- Keywords: Nobel prize chemistry announcement Alfred Nobel world's smallest machines
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA00152QAMVB
- 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.
"This award is all about the world's smallest machines, the world's tiniest machines," said Olof Ranstrom, a member of the committee which decided on the award, conferred by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
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 U.S. dollar) 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.
"What I said when I got this message, I said, I don't know what to say and I'm a bit shocked, you know because it was such a great surprise, and my second remark is that I'm honoured and I'm also emotional about it," Feringa told the Nobel news conference by telephone when asked his reaction to learning he had won.
Chemistry is the third of this year's Nobel prizes after the medicine and physics laureates were announced on Monday (October 3) and Tuesday (October 4).
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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