|
Science
Friday > Archives
> 1998
> October
> October 16, 1998:
Hour Two: 1998 Nobel Prizes
If you could ask this year's Nobel laureates a question, what would it be? This may be your chance. Joining us on this hour of Science Friday are Horst Stormer, one of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics, John Pople, a winner in Chemistry, and Ferid Murad, a winner of the prize for Physiology or Medicine. 
A computer representation of the fractional quantum Hall state
(image:Tom Duff, © Lucent Technologies) | Horst Stormer, a professor at Columbia University, shares the physics prize with Robert Laughlin, a professor of physics and applied physics at Stanford University and Daniel Tsui at Princeton University. The three won the prize "for their discovery of a new form of quantum fluid with fractionally charged excitations." In a powerful magnetic field, the group found, electrons can condense to form a kind of quantum fluid related to ones seen in superconductivity and in liquid helium. By studying these fluids, researchers may be able to make new discoveries about how and why matter is what it is. | | John A. Pople, at Northwestern University, and Walter Kohn, at the University of California at Santa Barbara, are sharing the prize for chemistry for contributions they made to computational and theoretical chemistry. Kohn won for his development of the density-functional theory, which makes it possible to make predictions about the properties and interactions of molecules without knowing the location of each and every electron about them. The theory allows computations to be based on average measurements of the density of electrons around molecules, greatly simplifying the problem. Pople won for the development of computational methods in quantum chemistry that allow computer simulations to make predictions of the properties of molecules or the outcomes of reactions. | 
Areas of electron density around a cystine molecule.
Courtesy of the Nobel Foundation. | Robert F Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro and Ferid Murad were awarded the prize for Physiology or Medicine for their studies of the effects of nitric oxide gas as a signaling molecule in the body's cardiovascular system. The three each identified that nitric oxide gas is involved in making smooth vascular muscle cells relax, acting as a completely new type of signal molecule. Further research has discovered that the gas also acts as a signal molecule in the nervous system, as a weapon against infections, as a regulator of blood pressure and as a gate keeper of blood flow to different organs. The work has implications from the use of nitroglycerin tablets to treat heart conditions to the development of impotence medication Viagra, and is being investigated for treatment of cancer.
On this hour of Science Friday, we'll find out more - and let you speak directly to some of science's all-stars.
Guests:
Ferid Murad
1998 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine
Professor and Chairman, Department of Integrative Biology, Pharmacology, and Physiology
University of Texas Houston Medical School
Houston, TX
John Pople
1998 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
Board of Trustees Professor of Chemistry
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL
Horst Stormer
1998 Nobel Laureate in Physics
Professor, Physics and Applied Physics
Columbia University
Adjunct Physics Director
Lucent Technologies' Bell Labs
Murray Hill, NJ
Books/Articles Discussed:
Related Links:
The Nobel Prize Committee (more on physics) (more on chemistry) (more on medicine)
Bell Labs
GAUSSIAN computer program, based on work by John Pople
SciFri conversation with Bill Phillips and Steven Chu, winners of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Physics
SciFri program about Stanley Prusiner, winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Medicine
This segment produced by:
Karin Vergoth |
