Science Newsroom, Dec 10 (EFE) .- The Nobel Prize winners today asked that vaccines against covid-19, and the knowledge of its importance, reach “all people in all countries,” said the president of their Foundation, Carl-Henrik Heldin, at the award ceremony, which was held without the laureates present.
The pandemic, which “continues to profoundly affect” lives, has meant that, for the second consecutive year, the awarding of the medals took place in the countries of the winners, although this time the Stockholm ceremony was attended by the Swedish kings, Carlos Gustavo and Silvia, the crown princess Victoria and her husband, Prince Daniel.
At the beginning of the event, Heldin recalled the importance of science “to find solutions to complex problems”, as seen with covid-19 and the “record time” in which effective vaccines have been achieved.
However, as he noted: “Equitable sharing of science results has often been much more difficult. Now we have to make vaccines, and the knowledge of their importance, reach all people in all countries.
Another challenge “even bigger, perhaps,” is building trust in science and communicating it in such a way that people trust scientific facts rather than unverified information and “even conspiracy theories,” he noted.
This is an important task “if you want to be successful in tackling” common challenges, as global problems “can only be solved through global collaboration carried out in good faith.”
The Nobel Peace Prize had been awarded in Oslo hours earlier to Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and her Russian colleague Dmitri Muratov, for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression” and whose “courage and selfless work – Heldin said – are an inspiration. for all”.
While Ressa, the only woman who has received the Nobel this year, and Muratov were able to collect the award in person, videos of the awards ceremony held this week in the countries of the winners were seen at the Stockholm ceremony.
During the ceremony, the kings and princes occupied the first row of the approximately 300 guests, maintaining a safe distance, and in the Blue Hall of the City Hall there was no lack of the bust of Alfred Nobel, the sound of the fanfare, the flowers, nor the musical interludes, with Swedish actress Lena Olin as the emcee.
Queen Silvia chose a long velvet dress with a round neckline, adorned with colorful embroidery in shades of blue, while Princess Victoria wore a black ‘lady-style’ dress. Carlos Gustavo wore a suit instead of the traditional tailcoat when he presented the awards in person.
On the stage, decorated with circular floral compositions in green, yellow and orange tones, musical interludes were performed and the presidents of the different academies glossed over the achievements of the winners.
The Tanzanian writer Abdulrazk Gurnah was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for “his uncompromising and compassionate insight into the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.”
Novels by Gurnha, who at the age of 18 fled as a refugee to the United Kingdom, such as “Paraiso” or “Pilglirms Way” speak “of losing one’s place in the world and then looking for a new place, resisting slavery even when it appears disguised. and in a tempting way ”, stood out at the ceremony.
The award in Medicine went to the Americans David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian (of Lebanese origin) for discovering the receptors of temperature and touch, knowledge that is used in the development of treatments for ailments such as chronic pain.
His discoveries represent “a paradigm shift” in the understanding of how one can perceive and interact with the environment.
The Nobel Prize in Physics recognized the Italian Giorgio Parisi, the German Klaus Hasselmann and the Japanese-American Syukuro Manabe for their contributions to understanding complex physical systems, one of which is the Earth’s climate, which allows reliable prediction of global warming .
The invention of a new technique to build molecules, organocatalysis “very promising as a sustainable technology” to make chemistry greener, has earned the German Benjamin List and the British David MacMillan awards in this specialty.
The Nobel Prize Winners for Canadian Economics David Card; the American Joshua Angrist and the Dutch-American Guido Imbens, for their part, have “revolutionized the empirical work of economics” through their analyzes of the labor market and causal relationships. EFE
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Nobel laureates ask that covid vaccines reach all countries