The 2020 Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden. Six categories were awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, programming for Nobel Week was limited, with some ceremonies and events taking place virtually.
Prizes
Physics +Awardee(s)Roger Penrose (b. 1931) British"for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity"Reinhard Genzel (b. 1952) German"for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy"Andrea M. Ghez (b. 1965) American
Chemistry Awardee(s)Emmanuelle Charpentier (b. 1968) French"for the development of a method for genome editing"Jennifer Doudna (b. 1964) American
Physiology or Medicine
Awardee(s)Harvey J. Alter (b. 1935)"for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus"Michael Houghton (b. 1949)Charles M. Rice (b. 1952)
Literature
Awardee(s)Louise Glück (1943–2023)"for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal"
Peace
Awardee(s)World Food Programme (founded 1961)United Nations"for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict."
Economic Sciences
Awardee(s)Paul Milgrom (b. 1948)"for improvements to auction theory and inventions of new auction formats"Robert B. Wilson (b. 1937)
Controversies
Chemistry The Chemistry Prize's awarding to Charpentier and Doudna provoked debates about who "discovered" CRISPR, with some arguing that scientists like Feng Zhang or Virginijus Šikšnys should have been properly credited.
Changes Each prize's awarding amount increased from 9 million Swedish krona to 10 million.
References