Nobel Prize 2023- Current Affairs for UPSC

Important for

Prelims: Science & Technology

Mains: General Studies

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier for their groundbreaking experiments that have allowed scientists to generate attosecond pulses of light.
The Nobel was awarded by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. Electrons rapid movement made them challenging to study directly.
Also, to understand why electrons were hard to capture, think of taking a picture of a race car. Longer exposure times result in blurry images, while shorter exposure times yield sharper pictures.
Electrons move so quickly that capturing them requires extremely short pulses of light such as attosecond.

Electron dynamics occur on the attosecond timescale, which is a billionth of a billionth of a second (1×10⁻¹⁸ of a second), much faster than femtoseconds (a millionth of a billionth of a second) associated with atomic movements.
Until the 1980s, scientists could produce femtosecond pulses, but technology limitations prevented shorter pulses.
However, studying electrons required even shorter pulses.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, tiny particles with unique optical properties due to their small size.
The award was provided by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Quantum dots are tiny particles, just a few nanometers in size, with unique optical properties due to their small size.
While their atomic structure is the same as bulk materials, quantum dots’ properties can be altered by adjusting their size.
At the nanoscale, these particles exhibit size-dependent characteristics influenced by quantum forces, which differ from macroscopic physics governed by gravity.

LED Display : Enhance display quality in QLED screens.
Lighting : Adjust the colour temperature in LED lamps.
Medical Diagnostics : Map cells and organs for research and diagnostics, like Quantum Dots are used for cancer imaging.
Targeted Drug Delivery.
Photovoltaics : Improve solar cell efficiency.
Quantum Computing.
Security Applications : Anti-counterfeit markers on currency and documents.
Quantum Dot Sensors.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their research enabling the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
Awarded by the the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
These discoveries, first published in 2005 and further developed in 2008 and 2010, laid the foundation for mRNA vaccine technology.
Their work not only revolutionized vaccine technology but also has the potential for broader applications in treating diseases and delivering therapeutic proteins.

mRNA stands for “messenger RNA.” It is a molecule that carries genetic information from DNA to the ribosomes in cells, where it is used as a template for protein synthesis.
mRNA vaccines are a type of vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) to instruct cells in the body to produce a specific viral protein, such as the spike protein of a COVID-19 virus. This protein triggers an immune response, helping the body build immunity against the virus.
Notably, mRNA vaccines do not contain live or weakened viruses, making them safe and effective tools for preventing infectious diseases like COVID-19.

Uses RNA as a genetic material.
mRNA is fragile and generally uses lipid protection.
It requires ultra low temperatures for storage and transportation.
Both mRNA and DNA vaccines can be adapted quickly to address emerging variants and new diseases by changing the genetic code.
Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines are mRNA-based.

Nobel Prize 2023