The 2019 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been jointly awarded to William Kaelin Jr., Sir Peter Ratcliffe and Gregg Semenza for their pioneering research into how human cells respond to changing oxygen levels.

               The Nobel committee said that the trio’s discoveries have paved the way for “promising new strategies to fight anaemia, cancer and many other diseases.The importance of oxygen has long been established, the committee explained, but how cells adapt to changes in its levels remained unknown;identified molecular machinery that regulates the activity of genes in response to varying oxygen levels.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896), the inventor of dynamite and holder of 355 patents, established the Nobel Prizes “for the Greatest Benefit to Mankind”. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death.
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and for work in peace. In 1969, another prize was added “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel”. The Prize includes a Nobel diploma, a medal, and 10 million Swedish crowns per prize. All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. Norway and Sweden are situated in Scandinavia, northern Europe. Oslo is the capital of Norway and Stockholm is the capital of Sweden.

• To date, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is Malala Yousafzai, who was 17 years old when awarded the 2014 Peace Prize
  • The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been honoured the most – three times – by a Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, the founder of the ICRC, Henry Dunant, was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
  • The Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, is the only person who has declined the Nobel Peace Prize.
  • The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”
  • The Nobel Peace Prize 1979 was awarded to Mother Teresa.