Nobels 2012, etc.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

River, I was surprised too, even with my limited knowledge.

[Primula Baggins]

Higgs is 84 years old. They may have wanted to honor him while they could.

[Nin]

When we were at the CERN last week, there were a few hints that they expected it a little bit... I wonder if it is because of the age of Higgs or to ensure the continuation of the experiment. (and my inner geek is of course immensly proud and happy.... I have been in the LHC...).

I wonder who will get the Nobel prize of peace this year.

[River]

Higgs is 84 years old. They may have wanted to honor him while they could.

Well, if they hadn't I'm sure he wouldn't be the first to die unrecognized by the Nobel committee. However, I won't quibble. He is deserving.

I'm waiting on the chemistry prize. Every year I root for Marv Caruthers. Hasn't happened yet and he's definitely getting on in years. aside from the fact that Marv is a really nice guy, his chemistry is the backbone of modern molecular biology and biochemistry. It would be utterly shameful if he dies without ever receiving the prize.

[Primula Baggins]

No, there have been a lot great achievements unrecognized because the potential prizewinners died—some, like Rosalind Franklin, possibly killed by their own experiments.

[River]

Crystallographers remember her every time they close the shielding around the x-ray machines and hit the "Begin collection" button on the computer. But according to her biographer, she did have the option of using a lead apron. She just found it annoying.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Thanks, Voronwë. I meant to do that yesterday but got massively distracted.

The physics prize surprised me. They usually let big discoveries sit for a while to make sure that they hold up. I was certain it would be at least five years before there was a Nobel for the Higgs.

I think its because the existence of the Higgs boson has such a solid theoretical backing, that these initial discoveries have been accepted much more quickly than they might have otherwise been. I am about 99.99% sure that the Higgs boson exists, and that the CERN collider has given us a glimpse of it.

[River]

True. Though the Bose-Einstein condensate also has solid theory behind it and it took the Nobel committee six years to get around to giving Cornell, Wieman, and Ketterle their prize.

[Primula Baggins]

Six years is lightning fast, for Nobels in science. At least throughout most of the history of the awards.

[River]

The existence of the Higgs was tentatively confirmed roughly seven months ago. This isn't lightening fast. This is bloody instantaneous.

[Primula Baggins]

Yes, but the theoretical work was done years ago. This was the cherry dropping onto the top of the sundae. It wasn't discovered, then explained; it was explained, then discovered.

Or that's my theory, as yet unexplained.

[River]

Chemistry prize goes to Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel "for the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems."

I think I just heard my friend screaming in rage from a couple towns over. He hates computational chemistry. I think some of it is just resentment. The students who did it would set up their simulations, then go to the gym for a few hours and come back and look at their results. Rinse and repeat for three or four years and they're walking out the door with PhDs and perfect abs. Meanwhile, the bench monkeys are in the lab 10 hours a day at the very minimum and the only exercise they get is whatever's involved in going to and leaving the lab. There's also the physical danger involved in benchwork - even in the day and age of effective hoods and good safety gear people still occasionally get killed or maimed doing this stuff and just about every bench monkey you'll ever meet has a scar or two from shards of broken glass. Rinse and repeat for six or seven years and they're walking out the door with their PhDs, disgusting abs, and no social life.

Me, I figure the computational guys were the smart ones.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I wonder who will get the Nobel prize of peace this year.

I think Malala Yousafzai should get it. She probably won't (although she has been nominated), but I can't think of anyone more deserving.

[Primula Baggins]

I suppose she can't become much more of a target for the Taliban.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

No.

I've heard her speak a few times, and I have never failed to come away astounded, humbled, uplifted and a host of other adjectives, some of which haven't even been invented yet. She makes more sense to me than probably anyone else that I have ever heard. Never mind that she is only 16, and was brought up in a culture as different than my own as I could imagine. Or that she survived being shot in the head.

[Primula Baggins]

She was very lucky, if that's the word. The bullet that entered her left eye went out through her shoulder, missing her brain and spinal cord entirely. Because she was such a small girl, and the shooter was a grown man, he had to aim down. His other two shots went wild and injured other girls.

That there are men in the world so terrified of female freedom and education that they believe they have the right to murder its advocates . . . it makes me sick with anger.

[Lalaith]

She would be an amazing recipient.

Who else has been nominated (besides Putin )?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

She was very lucky, if that's the word.

We all were lucky. She is a special person, and the world is a better place having her still in it.

Lali, Putin is the only other one that I know of, as well. I don't know if there is a list available or not. Those are the only two that I personally have heard reported.

[Frelga]

Putin?


Putin?


Wait, Putin?

[Lalaith]

To quote my girls:

IKR?!

<shrug>