U.S., UK Scientists Win Nobel Prize For Chemistry

Scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the award-giving body announced, for their work on protein structure, as reported by Johan Ahlander, Niklas Pollard, and Marie Mannes for Reuters.

David Baker is affiliated with the University of Washington, while Demis Hassabis and John Jumper are both with Google DeepMind in the UK. I Photo: Nikolas Elmehed

"One of the discoveries being recognized this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The other is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences," the academy said.

The prize, widely regarded as one of the most prestigious in the scientific world, is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).

David Baker is affiliated with the University of Washington, while Demis Hassabis and John Jumper are both with Google DeepMind in the UK.

Chemistry, a discipline close to Alfred Nobel's heart and highly applicable to his work as an inventor, may not always be the most headline-grabbing of the prizes, but past recipients include scientific greats such as radioactivity pioneers Ernest Rutherford and Marie Curie.

Last year's chemistry award went to Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Aleksey Ekimov for their discovery of tiny clusters of atoms known as quantum dots, which are widely used today to create colors in flat screens, light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, and devices that help surgeons visualize blood vessels in tumors.