The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923- INSULIN

Before insulin was discovered, diabetes had no treatment except for the option of a diet with the minimum amount of sugar possible. This, however, was not a very effective solution. Previous research had proven that if the pancreas was removed, an animal would immediately develop diabetes. However, if the the tubes that transported pancreatic juices to the intestine were tied in order to prevent these from flowing, the animal would not get diabetes but instead develop minor digestive problems. This suggests that the functions of the pancreas are at least two: creating digestive liquids and creating a substance that regulates the amount of sugar in the body. Based on this information, on October of 1920,  Dr. Fredrick Banting from Toronto, Canada had the great idea of blocking the digestive juices providing from the pancreas in order to isolate the part of the pancreas that regulated the sugar in the body. (It was known that these digestive juices could affect a part of the pancreas and damage the regulator substance.)  Banting shared his idea with Professor John Macleod, specialized in the research of diabetes. Macleod rejected his ideas but provided some economic resources and a lab for Banting to carry out his experiment. Charles Best helped Banting in the lab. When insulin was finally isolated and discovered, the word spread and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine of 1923 was given to Banting and Macleod jointly. Banting was mad because he said he should have shared the award with his partner, Best, instead. As a result, Banting shared his cash prize with Best.
Insulin was a great discovery for the treatment of diabetes. Patients affected by such can now expect longer life spams and a better and more efficient treatment option.

This diagram depicts the results of low insulin production ( Diabetes) 

Bibliography: 

"The Discovery of Insulin". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 2 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/insulin/discovery-insulin.html>

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 2 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1923/>

Picture: 

Diabetes. N.d. Photograph. Diabetes Mellitus. Vision and Eye Health. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. <http://www.vision-and-eye-health.com/diabetesmellitus.html>.

Nobel Peace Prize for 1986 - A Survivor and his Testimony - Elie Wiesel

The vast majority can agree on the atrociousness of the so called Holocaust. The thought of it brings negative feelings like those of fear and sorrow to those who are well informed about its nature. Books, documental, museums, and memorials all help us remember the inhumanities committed in Nazi Germany during times of war. 

I personally believe that ,if done correctly,  writing is one of the the best ways of expression. Written words perdure through generations, they never change and they have the incredible ability to reach people´s minds and penetrate them with feelings.  I also believe that reading is experiencing, it is living other lives and entering other worlds. So, what a better way to understand cruelty than by the written testimony of Elie Wiesel, a living witness and victim of the anti semitic Germany? By narrating his torturous journey through concentration camps and the loss of his family in his book, "La Nuit" (Night in english), Elie Wiesel helps the world understand, helps everyone remember that this unforgivable mistake should never be repeated, helps promote future peace. This is why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 1986.

The book is very descriptive and it is a good pick.

 "Wiesel is a messenger to mankind; his message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity"(Press Release) 

(Elie Wiesel) 

(Night) 

Bibliography: 

"Press Release - Peace 1986". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 2 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/press.html>

"The Nobel Peace Prize 1986". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/>

Pictures: 

Elie Wiesel. N.d. Photograph. Nobelprize.org. The Nobel Prize Foundation. Web. 27 Nov.2013

<http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1986/>.

Night. N.d. Photograph. Oprah´s Book Club. Oprah. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. <http://www.oprah.com/book/Night-by-Elie-Wiesel>.

A Fearless Voice of the Truth- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Prize in Literature 1970

“A great writer is, so to speak, a second government in his country. And for that reason no regime has ever loved great writers, only minor ones.” - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was born in Kislovodsk , Russia on December 11, 1918. He had a passion for writing and aspired to get a literary education in order to become a writer. At the time, however, this education was not exactly available in Russia, and it would have been too dangerous anyways. This is why Aleksandr studied Mathematics at Rostov University. Totalitarian Russia was not a safe place to live in, needless to say worse for a revolutionary mind. As you may know, Joseph Stalin, the absolute leader of the Soviet Union at that time, sought to avoid any potential upheavals against his government. This meant the use of many methods to eliminate opposition in thought and the pursuit of blind worship towards the totalitarian ruler. 

In 1945 Solzhenitsyn was arrested because he was accused of making some negative remarks against Joseph Stalin. He was condemned to work at labour camps, where he spent 11 years and then he was exiled. He wrote his experiences and found help out of Russia to help him publish his work. This served to aware the world of what was happening in the Soviet Union under Stalin´s regime. Some of Aleksandr´s most famous works are: "Th Gulag Archipelago", "The Cancer Ward", and "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich". A man that against all odds stayed loyal to the literate truth of his nation and with great certitude criticized the oppression of his government, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Bibliography: 

"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/>

"Alexandr Solzhenitsyn - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-facts.html>

"Alexandr Solzhenitsyn - Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 1 Dec 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-bio.html>

Picture: 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. N.d. Photograph. Nobelprize.org. Nobelprize.org. Nobelprize.org. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1970/solzhenitsyn-bio.html>.

Gabriel García Márquez 1982 Nobel Prize in Literature

On March 6th, 1928, the winner for the Nobel Prize in Literature of 1982 was born in the town of Aracataca in the costal region of Colombia in South America. Gabriel García Marquez, best known for his novel, "One Hundred Years of Solitude" and his amazing use of magical realism in such, is a very loved and recognized colombian writer.(Gabriel Garcia Marquez- Biography)  Most of his novels portray the reality of Colombian life, government, and social environment. His novels are shaped around the violent years in Colombia starting from the murder of president Jorge Elieser Gaitan. During this tragic period in colombian history, conservatives and liberals had wide disputes over socio-economic and land granting issues. This caused rebellion among civilians and led to the creation of guerillas by the liberal civilians which then turned to violent confrontations and eventually led to the drug trafficking problem, kidnaping, and infamous civilian and political murders. In his novels, Garcia Márquez shows, by the means of a story, what the definition of a normal life was in those times for an average colombian. Other famous novels include: "Love in the Time of Cholera", "Chronicle of a Death Foretold", "No One Writes to the Colonel", and many others. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1982 was awarded to Gabriel García Márquez"for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts". (The Nobel Prize in Literature 1982)

Gabriel García Márquez

Bibliography: 

"The Nobel Prize in Literature 1982". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1982/>

"Gabriel García Márquez - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1982/marquez-facts.html>

"Gabriel García Márquez - Biography." Gabriel García Márquez. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.egs.edu/library/gabriel-garcia-marquez/>.

Picture: 

Gabriel García Márquez. N.d. Photograph. Nobelprize.org. The Nobel Prize Foundation. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1982/marquez-facts.html>.

1945 Nobel Prize Of Physiology or Medicine- An accidental Discovery

It is hard to believe that one of the most important antibiotics was actually discovered by accident. Born on August 6th 1881, Alexander Fleming was a Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist. On 1928 he was credited for the discovery of Penicillin, a natural antibiotic that comes from a type of fungus. At the time of the discovery, Fleming was working on an influenza research in London, UK. He went on vacation to his house in the country and came back to dirty petri dishes. When he was cleaning the dishes he saw that fungi had grown in petri dishes containing bacteria. The bacteria in those dishes had died, and this called Fleming´s attention. He studied the antibiotic effects of the mold and learned that it was not harmful to the human body. Twelve years later, after the discovery of Penicillin, during WWII, two Oxford students, the Australian Howard Florey and the German Boris Chain found a way to actually make Penicillin useful. Their work saved lots of potential deaths during the war. Still today, penicillin is the most important antibiotic. It cures infections such as: scarlet fever, gonorrhea, syphilis, pneumonia, meningitis, and other dangerous diseases.  In 1945, "for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases" (Nobelprize.org),  the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted jointly to  Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain and Sir Howard Walter Florey. 

In WWII penicillin saved many lives. 

Sir Alexander Fleming in his lab. 

Citations:

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1945". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/>

"Sir Alexander Fleming - Facts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 25 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-facts.html>

Kalvaitis, Katie. "Penicillin: An Accidental Discovery Changed the Course of Medicine."Healio. EndocrineToday, n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2013.<http://www.healio.com/endocrinology/news/print/endocrine-today/{15afd2a1-2084-4ca6-a4e6-7185f5c4cfb0}/penicillin-an-accidental-discovery-changed-the-course-of-medicine>.

Pictures: 

WWII Penicillin. N.d. Photograph. Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics. Online Textbook of Bacteriology. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://textbookofbacteriology.net/resantimicrobial.html>.

Alexander Fleming. N.d. Photograph. Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Alexander_Fleming.jpg>.

What exactly does a Nobel Prize winner get?

The achievement of winning a Nobel Prize, the nomination and election, is imaginably the most valuable and personally satisfying portion of the award. Besides from the recognition itself, the Nobel has other parts to the award. Nobel Laureates are granted with a large monetary prize, a diploma, and a golden medal. All three are handed to the winner personally by His Majesty the King of Sweden on the day of the ceremony, December 10th. Each diploma is a unique work of art and each award- granting institution decides on the design of the diploma for the year´s winner. The diplomas often include a drawing, the name of the winner and a caption that explains the merit being recognized.

All of the medals have a side that bears the face of Alfred Nobel along with his date of birth and death. The other side of the medal varies depending on the category of the prize. The design of the metals has not changed since 1902. 

In his will, Alfred Nobel stated that he was to leave the majority of his estate ( approximately SEK 1,702 million) for the investment of safe securities. The income of such was to be "distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."(Nobel) The amount for the 2013 award is set at Swedish Kronor and the amount is 8.0 million per prize. If the prize is awards to a group of people, the amount shall be distributed in equal parts. 

 This is the Golden Medal awarded to Nobel Laureates. 

Citations: 

 "The Nobel Diplomas". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/diplomas/>

"The Nobel Medals and the Medal for the Prize in Economic Sciences".Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 23 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/medals/>

"The Nobel Prize Amounts". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2013. Web. 24 Nov 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/amounts/>

Picture: 

Nobel Medal. N.d. Photograph. Nobelprize.org. Nobelprize.org. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/medals/>.