Celebrating human potential and possibility

The world now knows about the existence of the first identifiable planet outside our solar system, about how human cells sense and respond to changing oxygen levels, and how to develop high-output lithium batteries that can be used over and over, all thanks to this year’s winners of the Nobel Prizes in science.

Many scientific achievements don’t get broad public notice throughout the year. But each fall, the announcement of the prestigious awards in science attracts public attention.

Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895, established the prizes, funding them with the fortune he made from the invention of dynamite and manufacturing artillery, and mandating that they honor work that benefits mankind.

Thanks to the Nobel Prizes, the work of scientists working to improve our lives and our world, gets to take center stage, where they receive the awe and appreciation they deserve.

For instance, the first exo-planet outside our solar system was identified by Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Their discovery deepens our understanding of the structure and history of the universe. They share half of this year’s Nobel Prize for physics.

The opportunities to treat diseases like cancer and anemia are now improved thanks to the work of William Kaelin Jr., Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza, who shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for their breakthrough in understanding the mechanism in human cells that adapts to the availability of oxygen.

And we can marvel at these achievements while reading on our laptops and smartphones, all of which will benefit from breakthroughs in development of a lithium-ion battery by Japanese scientist Akira Yoshino, for which he shared this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry.

The Nobel-winning work is inspiring every year. The prize winners’ work offers perennial hope for mankind, as Alfred Nobel hoped it would. It is a celebration of human potential and the possibility of the future.