Three scientists awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry for groundbreaking protein research
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The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their pioneering contributions to understanding protein structures.
The prestigious award, presented by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, carries a prize of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).
The academy praised the laureates for two major achievements: Baker’s work on "computational protein design" and the shared efforts of Hassabis and Jumper on "protein structure prediction," which fulfilled a 50-year-old scientific goal of predicting protein formations from their amino acid sequences.
This discovery is hailed for its transformative potential in biology and medicine.
The Chemistry Nobel follows the earlier announcements of this year’s winners in medicine and physics. Established by Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, the Nobel prizes have been awarded since 1901 for outstanding contributions in fields including medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace.
Though chemistry may not always capture global headlines, it has produced some of science’s most renowned figures, including Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie. Last year, the Chemistry Nobel was awarded for the discovery of quantum dots, a technology widely used in modern displays and medical imaging.
The 2024 winners will receive their medals from the Swedish king on December 10 during a ceremony in Stockholm, followed by a grand banquet.