The Nobel Prize 2020
The Economic Sciences Prize was not listed in Alfred Nobel’s will. In the late 1960s, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) established the Economic Sciences Prize in memory of Alfred Nobel.
Black holes are incredibly heavy and compact objects. If the planet Earth was as compact as a black hole, it would be just 9 millimetres in diameter.
Just like people, bacteria can be infected by viruses, so they need a way to defend themselves. The 2020 Chemistry Laureates realised that the bacteria's clever genetic scissors could be used to make changes to the genetic code - that is, the genome - of other living organisms besides bacteria.
For many years now there have been laws and regulations that determine how gene technology may be used, such as forbidding changes to the human genome that can be inherited by following generations.
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded for the discovery of a completely new virus that causes the disease hepatitis C. More than a million people die of hepatitis every year, which is about as many as die of tuberculosis and HIV infection.
The 2020 Medicine Laureates discovered the hepatitis C virus which causes inflammation of the liver. This inflammation could lead to chronic liver damage and cancer in people all over the world.
Louise Glück is considered by many to be one of the most important poets in American Literature today.