WIREDGOV

Imagine that the auditions for the X Factor took place behind closed doors, and that the judging took place in private. And that the contestants didn’t know they were taking part. One of the most prestigious awards a scientist can receive, the Nobel Prize, is awarded this way, with no hints given before the prize announcements.

This year the excitement starts on October 7th, when the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is announced. The Nobel Prize for Physics is next, on October 8th, and the Nobel Prize for Chemistry on October 9th. Each prize is worth 8 million Swedish Krone (about £785,000) and can be won by an individual or split between up to three researchers, depending on the nature of the scientific discovery being honoured.

The Nobel Prizes began in 1901, and are funded by the fortune of Alfred Nobel (the inventor of dynamite), which he left in a trust for this purpose when he died in 1895. As well as rewarding important scientific work, Nobel prizes are awarded in medicine and literature, and for significant contributions towards world peace. Winners are known as Nobel Laureates.

The UK has an impressive tally of Nobel prizes – 119 in total, of which 22 are for physics. It’s not surprising when you realise that we also have some of the world’s best research facilities, including supercomputers and neutron and light sources. We’re also a partner in global scientific projects such as the Large Hadron Collider (where the Higgs Boson was discovered) and ALMA, the largest radio telescope ever constructed.

In 2012, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to Brian Kobilka and Robert Leftkowitz for their work on G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). Brian Kobilka and his colleagues used the STFC-supported European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) to make one of the discoveries that was mentioned in the Nobel announcement.

Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics for their work on the 2D material graphene. EPSRC’s SuperSTEM facility for electron microscopy, based at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory, played a role in their prize-winning work, and research into the properties of this exciting new material is ongoing.

We are looking forward to finding out who will be the 2013 Nobel Laureates. Prizes are only awarded for important discoveries or inventions, so we know that whoever does win, they will certainly have the X factor!