Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
Nobel the Man behind the Ultimate Science Prizes
995 Nobel the Man behind the Ultimate Science Prizes
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. David Niesel
And I’m Dr Norbert Herzog.
This month, we honor the Nobel Prizes, science’s highest award, named for Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor and industrialist.
Nobel, born in Sweden in eighteen thirty-three grew up in Russia and excelled in chemistry and literature. He later studied in the US and then returned to Sweden, where he did his best-known work on explosives..
He was able to stabilize nitroglycerin, a highly unstable powerful explosive, and turn it into the stabile dynamite. His invention revolutionized construction and mining, and made him rich. But soon countries began using it in war which launched modern warfare.
Nobel never married, filed hundreds of patents, and owned more than ninety arms factories. As he aged, he became distressed by the destructive uses of his work.
A turning point came in eighteen eighty-eight, when a newspaper mistakenly published his obituary. The headline read, “The Merchant of Death is dead,” accusing him of profiting from human suffering.
This revelation shook him, so he made a monumental decision. When he died, his estate was instructed to establish five annual prizes honoring scientists who provided “the greatest benefit to mankind.”
One was the Peace Prize - likely inspired by his friendship with Bertha von Suttner, a writer and pacifist who once worked as his secretary. The family challenged the will, but after years of negotiation, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.
Today, they remain among the world’s most prestigious honors - for science, literature, and peace.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or listen to our podcast on your favorite podcast service.
