South African writer Coetzee, nine scientists to receive Nobel
Posted on: Tuesday, 9 December 2003, 06:00 CST
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- An intensely private South African writer, scientists whose research has helped develop magnetic resonance imaging, and researchers who uncovered secrets of human cells were being honored at the Nobel Prize awards ceremony.
Ten laureates were set to accept the prestigious awards in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics on Wednesday from King Carl XVI Gustaf, the Swedish monarch.
The peace prize was being awarded in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, in line with the will of Alfred Nobel.
Each prize carries a cash award of 10 million kronor (nearly US$1.4 million).
According to tradition, the awards ceremony at Stockholm's concert hall was to be followed by a banquet a few blocks away at City Hall.
More than 1,300 guests, including the laureates' families, Sweden's royal family, government officials, ambassadors, scientists and business leaders, were invited to the exclusive dinner, which was to be broadcast live on Swedish television.
J.M. Coetzee, 63, was to receive the literature prize, the second South African to pick up the award after Nadine Gordimer, who won in 1991. Coetzee is a solitary figure, who rarely communicates with the media and prefers doing so by e-mail. He declined to show up to collect his two Booker prizes in Britain, but was in Stockholm to accept the Nobel, although he passed on the traditional news conference.
The Swedish Academy called Coetzee ``a scrupulous doubter, ruthless in his criticism of the cruel rationalism and cosmetic morality of Western civilization.'' It also cited his ``well-crafted composition, pregnant dialogue and analytical brilliance'' in more than a dozen novels, including ``Disgrace,'' ``Life and Times of Michael K.,'' ``Waiting for the Barbarians'' and ``Age of Iron.''
American Paul C. Lauterbur and Briton Sir Peter Mansfield were selected for the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology for discoveries leading to magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, the body-scanning technique that has revolutionized the detection of disease.
It was the most controversial among this year's science awards. An American researcher, Raymond Damadian, said he was unfairly left out and tried to sway the award committee with newspaper advertisements in both the United States and Sweden explaining why he should have won.
However, the secretive Nobel committee did not budge and said its reasoning might become clearer when the selection proceedings are made public -- in 2053.
The physics prize went to Alexei A. Abrikosov, of the United States and Russia, Anthony J. Leggett, of the United States and Britain, and Russia's Vitaly L. Ginzburg, for their work concerning two phenomena called superconductivity and superfluidity.
Superconductivity is the ability of some materials to conduct electricity without resistance when they are chilled to extremely low temperatures. Superconducting magnets are used to produce powerful magnetic fields for MRI scans.
Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon won the chemistry prize for their studies of tiny transportation tunnels in human cell walls, work that could lead to greater understanding of diseases of the heart, kidneys, muscles and nervous system.
American Robert F. Engle and Briton Clive W.J. Granger shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics for developing statistical tools that have improved the forecasting of economic growth, interest rates and stock prices.
The economics prize was introduced in 1968 and is funded by Sweden's central bank. The other awards are funded by the Nobel Foundation.
Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work fighting for democracy and the rights of women and children.
The Nobel Prizes are usually announced in October and are handed out every year on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Nobel, a Swedish industrialist and the inventor of dynamite. The first awards ceremony took place in 1901.
In his will, Nobel gave little guidance on selecting winners, stating only that the prizes should be given to those who ``shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.''
------
On the Net:
http://www.nobel.se
Related Articles
- German Awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- Nobel Prize May Be Awarded to Chinese
- Nobel prize winners get awards, Pinter stays home
- Nobel Prize to Name Winners Awards Presented Dec. 10
- Medical pioneer campaigns to be given Nobel prize awarded to Briton
- Nobel Prizes to Be Awarded in Twin Events
- Nobel Prize Winners to Receive Awards
- As Nobel Prize winners gather to receive their awards, candid talk
- 'Ig Nobel' prizes awarded for achievements that make people laugh,
- 'Ig Nobel' Prizes Awarded at Harvard
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds