While the general opinion for higher education around the world has been falling over the past several years, several university professors smashed this perspective at this years’ Nobel Prize award ceremony.
The Nobel Prize is the highest possible award any academic can receive. This year university professors from around the globe managed to snatch the prizes in several science disciplines.
University professors win Nobel Prizes
James Peebles from Princeton University won the Nobel Prize in physics. He came up with an innovative theory of particles, which relates to dark matter.
His discoveries have completely shifted scientists’ perspective when it comes to the structure of the universe and the Cosmos.
Mr. Peebles split the physics award with two other university professors – Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Mr. Mayor is a professor emeritus from the University of Geneva, and Mr. Queloz is a physics professor from Cambridge University. Back in 1995, these two professors discovered that exoplanets exist, and coined the term for the first time.
This years’ Nobel Prize for medicine went to two academics who analyzed cell response to decreasing levels of oxygen in the environment. Professor William G. Kaelin Jr, Professor Gregg L. Semenza, and Peter J. Ratcliffe shared the prize for their extensive research into genes and cell responses.
Lastly, the Nobel Prize for chemistry went to three professors coming from an enterprise environment. John B. Goodenough, M. Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino split the prize for their work on lightweight rechargeable batteries. Their discoveries are now charging thousands and millions of small tools, cameras, and smartphones.
Importance of higher education recognition
This years’ Nobel Prize awardees are proof that higher education has a central place in the development of our everyday life.
As another Nobel Prize winner, Jean Marie Lehn, once said, that chemistry and natural sciences, in general, are the foundation of industrialization. Without them, many of the products we are used to today wouldn’t have existed.
Hopefully, the general opinion on the virtues of higher education will gradually become more positive, as education is the foundation of any stride for development and innovation.
