Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for gravitational waves. The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for the observation of gravitational waves For which the prize was awarded last year
Prizes awarded to American scientists Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish
American scientist Rainer Weiss
Moscow. October 3rd. website - The Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017 was awarded to American scientists: Rainer Weiss, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, professors of physics at the California Institute of Technology, with the wording "for their decisive contribution to the LIGO detector and for the observation of gravitational waves ".
Weiss (85), Thorne (77) and Barish (81) have been considered the top contenders for the Nobel Prize in Physics since the discovery of gravitational waves in 2016 by the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations.
The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2017
LIGO consists of two gravitational observatories located 3 thousand km apart - one near Livingston (Louisiana), the other - near Hanford (Washington).
Laser interferometers are assembled according to the L-scheme and consist of two perpendicular optical arms. Their length is four kilometers. As N+1 explains, the laser beam is split into two components that pass through the pipes, bounce off their ends, and recombine. If the arm length has changed, the nature of the interference between the beams changes, which is fixed by the detectors. The large distance between the observatories makes it possible to see the difference in the arrival time of gravitational waves - from the assumption that the latter propagate at the speed of light, the arrival time difference reaches 10 milliseconds.
Physics Prize - 2016
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physics went to David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz "for their theoretical discoveries in the topological phases of matter." Topology is a branch of mathematics that studies the properties of geometric objects that are preserved under continuous transformations. The theoretical substantiation in topological transitions can help in the future to create a quantum computer and is related to quantum physical phenomena.
Medicine Award - 2017
Earlier on Monday, October 2, the winners of the Nobel Prize for. The winners were US scientists Geoffrey Hall, Michael Rozbash and Michael Young. They received an award for studying the molecular mechanisms that regulate the body's circadian rhythms. These are daily fluctuations of various parameters of the body, characteristic of almost all living beings.
Researchers independently discovered on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster the period gene and protein, the concentration of which fluctuates every 24 hours and determines the work of the "biological clock" of the animal.
Nobel Prize winners in 2017 9 million SEK (about $1.12 million). For the first time since 2001, the Nobel Foundation decided to increase the amount of prizes for laureates by 12.5%. Previously, the winners received 8 million Swedish kronor (about $931,000).
Adjusted for inflation, the amount of 9 million crowns slightly exceeds the first prize paid in 1901 (109%). The total invested capital of the Nobel Foundation at the end of December 2016 was 1.73 billion crowns.
The official presentation of prizes and medals will take place in December 2017.
Creator of fertilizers and chemical weapons
One of the most controversial Nobel Prize winners is Fritz Haber. The Prize in Chemistry was awarded to him in 1918 for the invention of a method for the synthesis of ammonia - a discovery of decisive importance for the production of fertilizers. However, he is also known as "the father chemical weapons"due to work on the use of the chlorine poison gas used during the First World War.
Deadly discovery
Another German scientist, Otto Han (pictured in the center) was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1945 for his discovery of the fission of the atomic nucleus. Although he never worked on the military application of this discovery, it led directly to the development of nuclear weapons. Gan received the award a few months after the nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
Breakthrough banned
Swiss chemist Paul Müller received the Medicine Prize in 1948 for his discovery that DDT could effectively kill insects that spread diseases such as malaria. The use of the pesticide has saved millions of lives in its time. However, later environmentalists began to argue that DDT poses a threat to human health and harms nature. Today, its use is banned worldwide.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
An inconvenient reward
Because of its overt and indirect political overtones, the Peace Prize is perhaps the most controversial of all the Nobel Prizes. In 1935, the German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky received it for exposing German secret rearmament. Ossietzky himself was in prison on charges of treason, and an outraged Hitler accused the committee of interfering in German internal affairs.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
(Possible) Peace Award
The decision of the Norwegian Committee to award the Peace Prize to US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho in 1973 faced harsh criticism. The Nobel Prize was supposed to be a symbol of recognition of merit in achieving a ceasefire during the Vietnam War, but Le Duc Tho refused to receive it. The Vietnam War continued for two more years.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
Libertarian and dictator
Free market advocate Milton Friedman is one of the most controversial recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in economics. The committee's decision in 1976 sparked international protests over Friedman's ties to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Friedman did visit Chile a year earlier, and critics say his ideas inspired a regime where thousands of people were tortured and killed.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
vain hopes
The Peace Prize, which was shared in 1994 by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, was supposed to provide additional impetus for a peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Middle East. Instead, further negotiations failed, and Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli nationalist a year later.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
Creepy memoir
Mayan human rights activist Rigoberta Menchu received the Peace Prize in 1992 "for her struggle for social justice". Subsequently, this decision caused a lot of controversy, as falsifications were allegedly discovered in her memoirs. The atrocities she described about the genocide of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala made her famous. However, many are convinced that she deserved the award anyway.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
Premature Reward
When the Peace Prize was awarded to Barack Obama in 2009, many were surprised, including himself. Less than a year in office by then, he received the award for "tremendous efforts to strengthen international diplomacy." Obama's critics and some supporters felt the award was premature, and he received it before he even had a chance to make a real move.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
Posthumous award
In 2011, the Nobel Prize in Medicine named Jules Hoffmann, Bruce Butler and Ralph Steinman for their discoveries in the study of immune system. The problem was that a few days earlier, Steinman had died of cancer. According to the rules, the award is not awarded posthumously. But the committee nevertheless awarded it to Steinman, arguing that his death was not yet known at that time.
From Friedman to Obama: the most controversial Nobel laureates
"Greatest Omission"
The Nobel Prize is controversial not only because of who it was awarded to, but also because someone never received it. In 2006, Nobel Committee member Geir Lundestad stated that "undoubtedly the greatest omission in our entire 106-year history was that Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize."
According to the established tradition, the 2017 Nobel Prizes in "scientific" categories went not to individual scientists, but to groups of researchers consisting of 2-3 people. But in the two "humanitarian" disciplines, the awards turned out to be personal.
2017 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves
It was received by American physicists Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, under whose leadership the LIGO project was implemented in the USA.
2017 Nobel Laureates: Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish (Physics)
Its main elements are two observatories in the states of Washington and Louisiana, 3002 km apart. Since the speed of propagation of gravitational waves is equal to the speed of light, this distance "gravity" overcomes in exactly 10 milliseconds, which facilitates the calculations. The observatories are Michelson interferometers combined with two powerful lasers. Their use allows you to set the direction to the source of gravitational fluctuations and determine their strength.
As early as September 14, 2015, a gravitational wave reached the Earth from the collision of two massive black holes, which were at a distance of 1.3 billion light years from solar system. It was then possible to register it with the help of the LIGO observatories, thereby confirming experimentally the very presence of gravitational waves. It should be noted that their existence was predicted by Albert Einstein back in 1915 within the framework of the General Theory of Relativity.
But theory is one thing, and practice is quite another, they decided in the Nobel Committee and, quite deservedly, awarded the prize to three American physicists.
The discovery of gravitational waves is indeed fundamental, since it can become the starting point for the development of communication systems based on gravitational interaction, and in the distant future, the creation of vehicles for traveling (including interstellar) through the “underside of space”, which are repeatedly described by science fiction writers.
2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of cryoelectron microscopy
It was awarded to Swiss Jacques Dubochet of the University of Lausanne, American Joachim Frank of Columbia University and Briton Richard Henderson of Cambridge.
2017 Nobel Laureates: Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson (Chemistry)
Despite the fact that they work in different organizations, the scientists cooperated with each other. As a result, they managed to achieve unprecedented high resolution images of biomolecules, for which they used special solutions. The essence of the cryomicroscopy method is the rapid freezing of the studied biomaterial in liquid nitrogen or ethane without its crystallization. This allows you to see the virus, mitochondria, ribosome or individual protein exactly as they really are. Using electron microscopes and a special imaging technique, the scientists created maps of a range of proteins at a resolution on the order of 2 Angstroms (2 microns).
On the obtained images, one can distinguish individual carbon or oxygen atoms that are part of proteins and enzyme complexes. This achievement cannot be overestimated, as it provides biochemists with an excellent tool for research.
As stated in a press release from the Nobel Committee, the discovery of the three 2017 prize winners “has moved biochemistry into new era».
Now the structure of DNA can be visualized not schematically, but to have a realistic “as is” picture, which will certainly help in achieving a variety of goals. For example, excellent prospects are opening up in evaluating the effect of drugs on the most delicate structures of the body, as well as in gene modification. It is expected that new methods of cryoelectron microscopy will make possible a decisive step in the development of a cure for cancer.
2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology for the study of biological rhythms
Went to American geneticists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young.
These scientists managed to carry out a breakthrough research in the field of so-called. "circadian" cycles responsible for the periods of sleep and wakefulness in all living beings on the planet. Unlike their predecessors (and the study of biorhythms has been going on since the 18th century), the Nobel laureates discovered a special gene that controls the biological clock. Common fruit flies were chosen as the objects of study, the generations of which are replaced in just a few days, which is very convenient.
Biochemical experiments have shown that the found gene encodes a special protein, and during the night this substance accumulates in the body, and during the day it is gradually destroyed.
Scientists carefully analyzed how this happens in fruit flies, and then extrapolated the data to more complex organisms, including humans. As it turned out, the biological clock works approximately the same in all living beings, regulating a number of body functions - temperature, pressure, hormonal levels and, ultimately, sleep cycles.
The findings promise a definitive solution to the problem of insomnia that plagues tens of millions of people. Moreover, the remedy for sleep disorders in the near future will not be harmful chemistry, but an absolutely natural protein for a person (if you need to be awake) or its destroyer (when you need to fall asleep). In addition, the discovery of Nobel laureates in the near future will certainly improve the quality of life of people who work night shifts or have a rotating schedule.
Nobel Prize in Economics 2017 for the study of "behavioral economics"
Went to the American economist Richard Thaler (Richard Thaler) for the development of a whole section of economic theory, which received an unofficial name - "economics with a human face."
Nobel Laureate 2017: Richard Thaler (Economics)
This discipline studies the irrational behavior of people and entire organizations choosing goods and services. It has long been known that the factors of such a choice are not only direct benefits, but also social, emotional, cognitive and even religious aspects. All this is not taken into account by most modern economic theories, which proceed from the fact that the basis of the economy is exclusively direct profit. The 2017 Nobel laureate convincingly substantiated the inferiority of this approach, and also proved that “usefulness” can lie not only in the material plane, but also in the realm of feelings.
Why do expensive "iPhones" successfully compete in the world market with objectively no less high-quality, but cheap "Samsungs"? Incl. and this question is answered by the behavioral economics of Richard Thaler
Within the framework of behavioral economics, Richard Thaler studied in detail such points as the availability heuristic, the influence of the crowd (introduced the concept of "information cascades"), the phenomenon of overconfidence, which causes people to make an objectively erroneous choice of a product or service. There is hope that the new economic theory“with a human face” will make it possible to more accurately predict the development of consumer markets and the economy as a whole.
2017 Nobel Prize in Literature for novels of "incredible emotional power"
Awarded to the British writer of Japanese origin Kazuo Ishiguro for deep insight into the inner world of people who are aware of the "illusory nature of their connections with the world."
2017 Nobel Laureate: Kazuo Ishiguro (Literature)
According to literary experts, in 2017 the Nobel Committee finally abandoned the politicization of the Literature Prize, as it was, for example, two years ago, when the little-known writer Svetlana Aleksievich received the Nobel Prize. It is possible that her main merit, which influenced the choice of the jury, is frankly Russophobic works and statements. Unlike Aleksievich, Kazuo Ishiguro is a truly recognized master of prose, who has already received the Booker Prize and published his works in millions of copies.
His book Don't Let Me Go was included in the top 100 English novels according to Τime magazine, and several of the master's works were filmed at once, in particular, the novel The White Countess. Kazuyu Ishiguro wrote his last book, The Buried Giant, in the now fashionable fantasy genre, but he received the Nobel Prize not for him, but, as it were, for the sum of the results of his work, which is quite fair and deserved. The novels of this Japanese-British writer have been translated into 40 languages, incl. into Russian.
Nobel Peace Prize 2017 for the fight against nuclear weapons
It was awarded to an organization called the "International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons" - in the English abbreviation ICAN.
This result came as a surprise to many, since it was expected that the 2017 Nobel laureate in the fight for peace would be Pope Francis or German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Nobel Committee managed to surprise observers by making a choice in favor of ICAN at the last moment. This organization brings together politicians, public figures, as well as ordinary people from the 101st country of the world and aims at a complete ban on nuclear weapons on Earth.
ICAN regularly holds mass actions against the nuclearization of the planet, conducts explanatory work and lobbies for anti-nuclear laws in various countries. The ultimate goal of the organization - a world without nuclear bombs, looks somewhat utopian, but perhaps this was the reason for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN.
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2017 was awarded to American scientists Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne for their "crucial contributions" to the creation of the LIGO observatory and the observation of gravitational waves.
The laser-interferometric gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO) project was proposed in 1992 by a group of scientists from the California and Massachusetts Institutes of Technology. His main task was the experimental detection of cosmic gravitational waves, the existence of which was predicted by Albert Einstein as part of his general theory of relativity in 1916. At the same time, the brilliant German physicist was sure that these waves could not be measured.
Gravitational waves (or the so-called ripples of space-time) appear as a result of the largest catastrophic events in the Universe, such as collisions of black holes or explosions of stars. Then these waves propagate freely at the speed of light and can be fixed when passing between freely falling bodies - the distance between them changes.
The discovery of this phenomenon was officially announced in February 2016, when a group of scientists from LIGO said:
On September 14, 2015 at 13:51 Moscow time, gravitational waves were first recorded after the collision of two black holes, which occurred 1.3 billion years ago.
Before the merger, black holes had a weight of 36 and 29 solar masses, but after their collision, the total weight of the new object was 62, not 65 solar masses. In a fraction of a second, about 5.96676 × 10³º kg of matter turned into the same “space-time ripple” that passed through the solar system 1.3 billion years later.
The maximum radiation power was about 50 times greater than from all the stars in the visible universe. However, when the signal reached Earth, it was exceptionally weak (the LIGO detectors detected relative fluctuations of 10 to the -19th power of a meter).
The very fact of fixing it was a real breakthrough for physics, literally opening a new era in science.
The waves came from a collision between two black holes. It took 1.3 billion years for the waves to arrive at the LIGO detector in the USA. pic.twitter.com/kg6vQbIm7t
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2017
The discovery was made on two LIGO detectors located in Livingston (Louisiana) and Hanford (Washington) - 3002 km apart. Leading researcher at the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences Boris Stern, in a conversation with RT, told what the observatory is and how it works.
“These are four-kilometer tubes in which there is a laser interferometer that senses a displacement that is one hundred thousand times smaller than the size of the nucleus of an atom. It's hard to believe, but the technique has been worked out to perfection, and such insignificant displacements are recorded. Displacements occur due to the deformation of space, which occurs due to gravitational waves. They, in turn, occur because two black holes met somewhere far away, ”said Stern.
The scientist added that LIGO made it possible to confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity, developed at the beginning of the 20th century, which became a "triumph of science." The observatory's detectors will continue to be used for scientific works and discoveries.
“Now we will use this to observe the merger of black holes. How they are formed, how superheavy stars are formed, and more. There are many interesting astrophysical questions here. A new branch of astrophysics has emerged,” Stern explained.
In February 2016, Caltech scientists also published a sonic interpretation of gravitational waves from black hole collisions.
Russian contribution
The team of the international scientific community LIGO includes more than a thousand people from 20 countries of the world, including Russia, which is represented by teams from the Physics Department of Lomonosov Moscow State University and a group from the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The Moscow group was created and until recently headed by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Braginsky, a world-famous scientist and one of the pioneers of gravitational-wave research in the world. The Moscow State University group has been participating in the project since 1992.
“From the very beginning, the main efforts were aimed at increasing the sensitivity of gravitational wave detectors, determining the fundamental quantum and thermodynamic limitations of sensitivity, and developing new measurement methods,” the press service of Moscow State University told RT.
“Theoretical and experimental studies of Russian scientists were embodied in the creation of detectors that made it possible to directly observe gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes,” the university added.
At present, the team of the scientific group of Moscow State University is actively involved in the development of next-generation gravitational-wave detectors, which are designed to provide a significant increase in their sensitivity. This will allow “virtually daily detection of gravitational wave signals,” said the head Russian group LIGO, Professor of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Valery Mitrofanov.
The Nobel Prize will be awarded at the Stockholm Philharmonic on December 10, the day Alfred Nobel died. The laureates will receive a gold medal and a diploma from the hands of King Carl XVI Gustaf. A bonus to worldwide recognition and honor will be a payment of 9 million crowns ($1.12 million).
The Nobel Committee for Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced the names of the 2017 winners. Americans, Rainer Weiss, Barry Barrish and Kip Thorne became Nobel laureates for the discovery of gravitational waves. And half of the prize money ($1 million 120 thousand) will go to Rainer Weiss, an American physicist of German origin (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). The rest of the money will be split between Barry Barish and Kip Thorne of the California Institute of Technology.
This is the case when a well-deserved reward had to look for heroes. The fact is that the discovery of gravitational waves was first announced on February 11, 2016, after the LIGO observatory recorded the passage of a wave born 1.3 billion years ago as a result of the merger of two black holes, the masses of which exceeded the dimensions of the Sun by 36 and 29 times respectively. And the scientific community expected the Nobel Prize to be awarded to the authors of the discovery last year. However, at that time the award went to three British scientists for "theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter."
What is the essence of the discovery?
The existence of gravitational waves was predicted by Albert Einstein back in 1916 as part of his Theory of Relativity. Today, scientists have received proof of the correctness of this fundamental theory, on which we build our ideas about the universe. What fruit can this knowledge give us? When Heinrich Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves, no one could have imagined that this discovery would form the basis of mobile communications, for example. Gravitational waves are a discovery of the same order. Already now we are talking about the creation of a new branch of space science: gravitational-wave astronomy. With its help, we will learn much more about the structure of the Universe than we can now. With any luck, scientists will discover gravitational waves generated by the Big Bang - this will give the key to understanding how our world was created. And hotheads claim that with the help of gravitational waves we will be able to travel to other worlds.
It is believed that Rainer Weiss made a more significant contribution to the creation of the Laser-Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) - an instrument with which the waves of space-time were detected (which is why Weiss will receive most of the award).
LIGO consists of two observatories, which are located at a distance of 3002 kilometers from each other. They were smashed in order to determine where the signal came from. The fact is that gravitational waves propagate at the speed of light and cover the distance from one observatory to another in 10 milliseconds. Knowing which station first recorded the signal and after what time interval the wave reached the second point, one can quite accurately determine the source of the impulse.
The Russians also took part
Despite the fact that American physicists received the Nobel Prize, Russian scientists have made a considerable merit in the discovery of gravitational waves. A team of physicists from Moscow State University joined the LIGO project in 1992, and researchers from the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Nizhny Novgorod) began their collaboration in 1997. The Russians have made a significant contribution to the creation of a new generation of gravitational wave detectors: it was they who were able to capture the faint ripples of space-time.
Interesting Facts
This year's Physics Prize is 9 million crowns ($1.12 million). In total, the prize in the field of physics was awarded 110 times to 204 laureates.
The average age of the winners is 55 years. The youngest laureate is Australian Lawrence Bragg from Australia (25 years old). Together with their father William Henry Bragg, they received a prize in 1915 for their achievements in the study of crystals using X-rays.
By the way, experimenters receive the award more often than theorists - the discovery must be significant and universally recognized by the world scientific community, as well as supported by real research. The award is given only to the authors of scientific articles that have been published in a peer-reviewed press.
What did immigrants from Russia receive in physics
In 2017, the Russian astrophysicist Rashid Sunyaev also appeared on the Nobel list of contenders for the Physics Prize. He is a co-author of the theory of disk accretion of matter onto black holes - this is the most cited work of Russian scientists abroad (more than 8 thousand references in the scientific literature).
Russian scientists are very successful in the physics category. The prize went to them 10 times, the last - in 2010: natives of Russia Andrei Geim and Konstantin Novoselov received the Nobel Prize for creating the world's thinnest material, graphene. Now these scientists work in Great Britain .
In 2003, Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg, together with Briton Anthony Legett, received an award "for their innovative contribution to the theory of superconductors."