On October 9, 2024, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three remarkable researchers: David Baker, a biochemist from the University of Washington, and John Jumper and Demis Hassabis from Google DeepMind in the UK. They were honored for their pioneering contributions to protein design and the study of protein structures.

David Baker received half of the prize in acknowledgment of his innovative work in computational protein design, while Jumper and Hassabis shared the other half for their significant achievements in protein structure prediction.

As noted on the official Nobel Prize website, from 1901 to 2023, the Chemistry Prize has been awarded 115 times to 194 individuals. It’s interesting to highlight that British scientist Frederick Sanger and American researcher K. Barry Sharpless are the only individuals to have received the award twice, bringing the total to 192 distinct recipients.

The oldest recipient is John B. Goodenough, who was awarded the prize in 2019 at the age of 97. His groundbreaking research on lithium-ion batteries has paved the way for a fossil fuel-free society, especially in the context of electric vehicle charging. Meanwhile, the youngest laureate is Frédéric Joliot, who won the award in 1935 at just 35 years old for his work on synthesizing new radioactive elements.