Three scientists have been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine for their groundbreaking research on how the brain turns the activity of individual nerve cells on and off. The laureates are Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann, and Georg Nagel.
The Nobel Committee announced the award on Monday (October 5). They received this honor for their research on light-gated ion channels and optogenetics. The three scientists work at various universities in the United States and Germany.
In a message posted on the social media platform X, the Nobel Committee praised their research, stating that this method is now being used in research laboratories around the world to unravel the mysteries of the brain.
The Nobel Assembly stated that 54-year-old Karl Deisseroth works at Stanford University in California, USA. Seventy-one-year-old Peter Hegemann works at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, and 73-year-old Georg Nagel works at the University of Würzburg in Germany. Thomas Perlmann, secretary of the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, stated that he was able to contact all three winners by telephone on Monday. The Nobel Prize week for this year began with the announcement of the prize at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
This year's Nobel Prize carries a monetary reward of 12 million Swedish kronor, which is equivalent to about 1.2 million US dollars. Regardless of whether the prize is awarded to an individual, a small group, or an institution, the prize amount remains the same. Last year, three scientists who researched the immune system received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Following medicine, the Nobel Prize in Physics will be announced on Tuesday, Chemistry on Wednesday, and Literature on Thursday. After the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded on Friday, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on October 12.
