The Nobel Prize

Can you imagine reading works by all Nobel Prize laureates in literature? One book club in Canberra, Australia have spent over ten years exploring the literary worlds of 121 literature laureates. The book club members come from an array of backgrounds: poets, artists and those that work in the sciences. It began when Bernadetta Hence, who loves reading, became curious about the Nobel Prize laureates in literature. Her colleague Lenore Coltheart, a historian, joined her and encouraged the development of the club. At the end of August 2025, the book club members completed their goal of reading all laureates from 1901 to 2024. At their final meeting they discussed the works of Juan Ramón Jiménez (1956), Joseph Brodsky (1987) and Günter Grass (1999). When asked what books they enjoyed most during these eleven years, they mentioned many Scandinavian writers such as Thomas Tranströmer, Selma Lagerlöf and Jon Fosse. Gabriela Mistral, Wislawa Szymborska and John Steinbeck were also favourites. Now the 2025 Nobel Prize laureate, László Krasznahorkai, has been announced these avid readers have a new writer to add to their list. How many literature laureate's books have you read? Photo: Ulrika Eriksson

Teach your students the importance of peace and how we can fight for democracy. With this lesson on the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, your students get to learn about this year's peace laureate, Maria Corina Machado, who is a unifying force for the political opposition against the authoritarian rule in Venezuela. She has been prevented from running for election and lives in hiding due to the threats she is facing. Don't miss the informative short video for use with your class: https://bit.ly/47hnmJ7

Did you know that 5% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions are created by electricity for lighting? The work of three physics laureates is making a positive difference. Isamu Akasaki, Hiroshi Amano and Shuji Nakamura invented efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white LED bulbs, which illuminate everything from Christmas trees to football stadiums. LED light sources have the least environmental impact. They use at least 75% less energy and last around 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, but they are not used everywhere. A global shift to energy efficient bulbs such as LEDs is urgently needed, and could help to reduce worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Learn more about their work and five other innovations that have changed our everyday lives for the better: https://lnkd.in/ecC6u9iH

"There is fear... but in our hearts we know we must do this job." Ishrat Rahim is one of almost 400,000 women working across Pakistan to vaccinate the country's 40 million children against polio. In her work, she often encounters suspicion and mistrust, due to cultural and religious reasons. While she works, she and her female colleagues are constantly protected by armed guards. Despite sometimes threatening situations, she persistently continues her work to convince the city’s residents of the benefits of the vaccine and the potential for eradicating polio. This clip is from the documentary 'Shadows in Sunlight', one in a series of films that explore how researchers and health care professionals are building on the foundation laid by Nobel Prize laureates to prevent and treat diseases today. The film was made possible through a collaboration between Nobel Prize Outreach and Grain Media, with support from the Novo Nordisk Foundation #WorldPolioDay

In the 20th century polio was one of the most worrying childhood diseases with epidemics in a large number of cities. Today polio is almost eradicated thanks to a safe and effective vaccine. The virus causing polio was discovered in 1908 by Karl Landsteiner and Erwin Popper. Landsteiner was later awarded a Nobel Prize for another discovery - that of human blood groups. Later, in 1949, Enders, Weller and Robbins showed how to produce large quantities of the virus and was awarded the 1954 ‪‎Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Jonas Salk applied the Enders-Weller-Robbins technique and developed a polio vaccine in 1952. Visualising the 3D structure of a polio vaccine was enabled by yet another Nobel Prize awarded discovery. Cryo-EM, or cryo-electron microscopy, allows scientists to see intricate details in biological structures. Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson were awarded the 2017 chemistry prize for their work developing the technique.

Immerse your classroom in the literary world of 2025 Nobel Prize laureate and author László Krasznahorkai. Teach your pupils to write like a Nobel Prize author and unlock their writing potential with our newly released Nobel Prize lesson. Don't miss the short video with our Nobel Prize expert Gustav Källstrand. The lesson is available here: https://bit.ly/4nauQDO

"We fail much more than we ever succeed. We know that. We accept that. We're amazing at dealing with failure. That's what scientists do." 2021 chemistry laureate David MacMillan on what failure means to him as a scientist. On 3 November, MacMillan joins other laureates and expert panellists to discuss what future we want to build for ourselves and for the next generation of scientists. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gT4JHsTu

Who is your idol? Hear medicine laureate Katalin Karikó speak about her idols – teachers. Listen to the full conversation with Karikó that took place at our Nobel Prize Conversations event in Madrid: https://bit.ly/3WrjDTI

Did you know today is #MoleDay? This is an unofficial holiday celebrated among chemists, chemistry students and chemistry enthusiasts on October 23, between 6:02 AM and 6:02 PM, making the date 6:02 10/23 in the US date format. The time and date are derived from Avogadro's number, which is approximately 6.02×10 ^ 23, defining the number of particles (atoms or molecules) in one mole of substance, one of the seven base SI units. For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the molar mass of the molecule. For example, the water molecule has a molar mass of 18. Therefore one mole of water weighs 18 grams Happy Mole Day!

Calling all teachers! Teach your students about a new form of molecular architecture.  The lesson offers students the chance to learn about the 2025 chemistry prize on metal–organic frameworks. The chemistry laureates have created molecular constructions with large spaces through which gases and other chemicals can flow. All teacher material is available here: https://bit.ly/4ohOL4o #NobelPrize