Next week the Nobel Prizes for 2010 will be announced. Who are your picks for this year?
A lot of people seem to be putting their money on Craig Venter for the prize in Medicine/Physiology this year. Probably because of all the media attention he's received in the last little while. And though he has done some important things for the field, I'm a bit unsure. Perhaps it's a bit soon for a Nobel for him? Though I think he might be a good choice, I'm kinda hoping it goes to Maire-Claire King for her work on detecting the variants of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are associated with breast cancer. This fits all the criteria for the prize - revolutionary work which has had a practical and important real-world application. Also, it would be the second year in a row that the prize in Medicine has gone to a female (women laureates are few and far between, unfortunately).
I dont really know much about Physics and Chemistry to make a guess at who the prizes in those categories will go to. Im unlikely to even understand the work of whoever wins the Physics prize but Im looking forward to seeing who wins in Chemistry.
We molecular biologist types are lucky: our work often qualifies us for both the Medicine/Physiology and the Chemistry prizes!
