Three Scientists share Nobel Medicine Prize

I was listening to NPR the other day and they were talking about the three scientists who won this year's Nobel Peace prize in Medicine. On NPR's website, they have a brief article about their accomplishments. You can read about it here. Due to the shortness in length of that article, I sought after a longer, more detailed news report when I found this. Turns out, one of the scientists that shared the Nobel Prize in medicine passed away a couple days before he was awarded the prize.

According to the article in the New York Times, Dr. Ralph M. Steinman discovered a new class of cell back in 1973. His work did not receive much praise at first due to skeptic observers but Dr. Steinman prevailed in the end and received one half of this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine involving the immune system. It goes against the rules to award someone who has passed away, but because news of Dr. Steinman's death reached the committee too late, they decided to go ahead with honoring him with the award.

The other half of the award has been awarded to two science partners, Dr. Bruce Beutler and Dr. Jules A. Hoffman. Their accomplishments "concerning the activation of innate immunity" won them much praise. According to the article, all three individuals' discoveries "enabled the development of new methods for treating and preventing diseases, including improved vaccines and in attempts to help the immune system to attack tumors."

I'm not much of a "science fanatic" but it sounds like what these guys have done and discovered are going to be extremely important in years to come. Also, for those of you who are interested in learning more about all of the various Nobel Prizes, here's a link to the official website. The site talks about past and present winners, the different kinds of Nobel Prizes and even Alfred Nobel-the creator of the Nobel Prize.