Nobel Peace Prize  2021
Context: Journalists Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Muratov of Russia won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, for their fight for freedom of expression in countries where reporters have faced persistent attacks, harassment and even murder.

• The prize is the first for journalists since German Carl von Ossietzky won it in 1935 for revealing his country’s secret post-war rearmament programme.

Key Points
According to Norwegian Nobel Committee 

• Freedom of expression and freedom of information are crucial prerequisites for democracy and protection against war and conflict.
• The two were given the prestigious award “for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.
• At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions.

Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda.

Nobel Literature Prize 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah
Context: 2021  Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to the novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, for his “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”.

About the Author

• Zanzibari novelist becomes first black African writer in 35 years to win prestigious award.
• Abdulrazak Gurnah, 72, who was born in Zanzibar and now lives in the UK, became the fifth African writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, after Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka (1986), Egyptian Naguib Mahfouz (1988), and South African writers Nadine Gordimer (1991) and John M Coetzee (2003).
• In its citation, the Nobel committee lauded Gurnah’s “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
• Most of Abdulrazak Gurnah's books feature African Arab protagonists trying to come to terms with dislocation and estrangement, looking in on societies and cultures on which their holds are tenuous.

Key Importance

• At a time when the global refugee crisis is exponentially on the rise, Gurnah’s work draws attention to how racism and prejudice against targeted communities and religions perpetuate cultures of oppression.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2021
Context: The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Benjamin List and David MacMillan “for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis”.
Background

• Researchers long believed that there were just two types of catalysts available: metals and enzymes. 
• Independently of each other Nobel Prize laureates Benjamin List and David MacMillan developed a third type – asymmetric organocatalysis – which builds upon small organic molecules.

Key Points

• Two scientists have developed a new and ingenious tool for molecule building: organocatalysis. 
• Its uses include research into new pharmaceuticals and it has also helped make chemistry greener.
• David MacMillan worked with metal catalysts that were easily destroyed by moisture. He wondered whether he could develop a more durable type of catalyst using simple organic molecules. One of these proved to be excellent at asymmetric catalysis.
• Benjamin List wondered whether an entire enzyme was really required to obtain a catalyst. He tested whether an amino acid called proline could catalyse a chemical reaction. It worked brilliantly.

Impact

• The discovery – asymmetric organocatalysis – has taken molecular construction to an entirely new level. 
• It has not only made chemistry greener, but also made it much easier to produce asymmetric molecules.
• “Organocatalysis has developed at an astounding speed. Using these reactions, researchers can now more efficiently construct anything from new pharmaceuticals to molecules that can capture light in solar cells

Nobel Prize in Physics 2021
Context: Three scientists have won the 2021 Nobel prize in physics for their groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems – including how humanity influences the Earth’s climate.
Key Points

• The Nobel Prize for physics has been awarded to scientists from Japan, Germany and Italy.
• Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann were cited for their work in “the physical modeling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”.
• The second half of the prize was awarded to Giorgio Parisi for “the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales.”

Significance

• This is the first-time climate scientists have been awarded the Physics Nobel.
• The IPCC had won the Peace Nobel in 2007, an acknowledgement of its efforts in creating awareness for the fight against climate change.
• A Chemistry Nobel was also awarded to Paul Crutzen in 1995, for his work on the ozone layer, is considered the only other time someone from atmospheric sciences has won this honour.
• The recognition of Manabe and Hasselmann, therefore, is being seen as an acknowledgement of the importance that climate science holds in today’s world.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2021

Context: Recently, Nobel Prize in the field of physiology or medicine has been awarded to US. scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian for their discovery of receptors for temperature and touch.

Key Discovery
They discovered the molecular sensors in the human body that are sensitive to heat, and to mechanical pressure, and make us “feel” hot or cold, or the touch of a sharp object on our skin.

• Their work, carried out independently, has helped show how humans convert the physical impact from heat or touch into nerve impulses that allow us to "perceive and adapt to the world around us.

Importance

• "This knowledge is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of disease conditions, including chronic pain.
• Discoveries could pave the way for new pain-killers.

About Recipient
Patapoutian, who was born in 1967 to Armenian parents in Lebanon and moved to Los Angeles in his youth, is a professor at Scripps Research, La Jolla, California, having previously done research at the University of California, San Francisco, and California Institute of Technology.

• He is credited for finding the celular mechanism and the underlying gene that translates a mechanical force on our skin into an electric nerve signal.

New York-born Julius, 65, is a professor at University of California, San Francisco, after earlier work at Columbia University, in New York.

• His findings on the skin’s sense of temperature was based on how certain cells react to capsaicin, the molecule that makes chili peppers spicy by simulating a false sensation of heat.

Additional Facts

• Last year's prize went to three scientists who discovered the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough that led to cures for the deadly disease and tests to keep the scourge from spreading though blood banks.
• 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

About Noble Prizes

• Nobel Prizes regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual achievement in the world are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel.
• It is announced every year for excellence in Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Economics, and a distinguished achievement towards humanity – commonly known as the Nobel Peace Prize.
• The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor (over $1.14 million). The prize money comes from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.

By: Shubham Tiwari