The Nobel Prize is one of the biggest prizes in the world.
Dr. Strickland will share the prize with Dr. Gérard Mourou of France and Dr. Arthur Ashkin of the United States.
All three scientists won for their work creating tiny (miniature) tools using lasers.
The prize is $1.28 million. It will be divided among the three scientists. Half the money will go to Dr. Ashkin. Dr. Strickland and Dr. Mourou will share the other half.
Tag: Nobel Prize
Author Alice Munro Wins Nobel Prize In Literature
One of Canada’s best-loved authors has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious prizes an author can win. It comes with a $1-million cash award.
Alice Munro won the prize for her brilliant short stories.
Munro, 82, grew up in a small town in Ontario. Many of her stories are set in rural Ontario.
In making the announcement, Peter Englund, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, called Munro “master of the contemporary short story.”
Munro was surprised and delighted to find out she had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
She told CBC News that, “I never thought I would win.”
IBM Produces World’s Smallest Movie–Made Of Atoms
It’s about a boy and an atom.
And it may just be the world’s most impressive stop-motion film.
That’s because the film is made entirely of atoms.
Stop-motion animation is a way of making a movie using still pictures.
One company, a computer company called IBM, has made the world’s smallest—and arguably the most amazing—stop-motion video.
The video features a boy named Atom playing with a “ball” (really an atom) and bouncing on a trampoline. It’s a simple film, but its importance is enormous.
That’s because, rather than a doll, the filmmakers used atoms.
An atom is a microscopic piece of matter. Atoms can’t be seen with the naked eye, or even a normal microscope, because they are too small.
Malala Yousafzai Attends Her First Day Back At School
Yesterday, Malala went back to school.
For girls in many countries — for instance, Canada or the United States — that statement would not be very startling.
But Malala Yousafzai is a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was attacked for trying to get an education, and for speaking up for other girls who wanted an education.
She became known around the world as a hero for her courage in fighting for the rights of girls in Pakistan.
In Pakistan, a militant and terrorist group known as the Taliban believes that girls should not be educated. In 2009 they issued a ban that said girls are not allowed to go to school. Last October, when Malala was travelling to school, members of the Taliban attacked and seriously injured her. She was taken to a hospital in Britain, where doctors saved her life.
It has been a long road back to recovery for Malala, but yesterday she went back to school, this time in England.
Her father walked her to her first day at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.
She said it was the most important day of her life.
EU Donates Peace Prize Money To Children Affected By War
The European Union has decided to put all of the money it won for the Nobel Peace Prize towards projects that help children in war zones.
The EU includes 27 countries in Europe that are closely tied in business and politics.
The EU was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in keeping the peace in Europe for more than 65 years.
The Peace Prize is a very prestigious honour; the winner receives a medal and eight million Swedish kronor—about $1.18 million.
That money will be put towards projects that help children who live in areas of the world that are experiencing conflict or war.
“Children are the future of any society and at the same time the most vulnerable,” the European Commission said in a statement about the prize money.
What those projects will be, and how the money will be divided, will be decided in the next few weeks.
EU Wins Nobel Peace Prize
The European Union, a collection of countries in Europe, has been awarded an important prize — the Nobel Prize.
It was given the honour for keeping peace for more than 65 years.
That is a very big accomplishment, especially because the Second World War began just 21 years after the First World War ended in 1918.
But not everyone is happy to see the European Union receive the prestigious prize.
That’s because even though Europe is not at war, it is struggling with a different kind of problem.
Many countries in Europe, including Greece, Spain and Italy, are having trouble paying down their debts.
Their governments borrowed too much money and now they must cut back on the amount of money they spend to pay their workers and for things like roads, hospitals and schools.
Canadian Awards Predict Nobel Prize Winners
The Gairdner Foundation recently announced the winners of its 2012 awards.
The Canada Gairdner Awards are given to people who have made a new scientific discovery to combat disease or ease human suffering. It is one of the most important medical awards in the world.
As the Gairdner website puts it, “we’re dedicated to recognizing the world’s most creative and accomplished biomedical scientists.” Biomedical scientists work in medicine and biology (the study of living organisms).
The late James A. Gairdner established the Gairdner Foundation in 1957. Since then, 300 awards have been given. Seventy-three of those award winners have gone on to win a Nobel Prize in either medicine or chemistry.
The awards are selected by Canadians, but they are given to scientists throughout the world.
This year’s seven award winners include three people who broke through mysteries of the human circadian clock, the internal mechanism that controls our sleep and wakefulness, body temperature, and many other functions.
