WIT Life #130: Nobel Prize honors
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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Japanese professors 75-year old Eichi Negishi of Purdue University and 80-year old Akira Suzuki of Hokkaido University received news this week that they had won the $1.5 million 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on organic synthesis. This chemical method allows scientists to test cancer drugs and make thinner computer screens, and it is one of the most sophisticated tools available today. They share this honor with 79-year old American Richard Heck of the University of Delaware, but the three recipients worked entirely independently of each other, an unusual situation for joint winners.
Negishi shared that he started dreaming about winning the prize when he was in his 20s, and that he intended to use his share of the money to do further research. “I may have accomplished maybe half of my goals, and I definitely would like to work for at least a couple more years.” Suzuki told reporters, “I hope this encourages young people to take an interest in science and technology, and to enter the fields themselves.” He stressed that due to Japan’s lack of natural resources, it has to develop its human resources. They are the first Japanese to win since Toshihide Masukawa of Kyoto University was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008. The ceremony will be held on December 10.
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