The 2005 Nobel Prizes

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Almost 110 years ago Alfred Nobel left a will outlining how to award what would become the most recognized academic prize in the world. This December 10, once again, the Royal Swedish Academy will impart the diplomas and medals that accompany the prizes, intended for scientists whose work has contributed to the benefit of humanity. For more details, visit www.sciam.com/ontheweb and nobelprize.org
—Sarah Todd Davidson

PHYSICS: Roy J. Glauber, for his 1963 research on how coherent light (light waves traveling at the same frequency and phase) behaves at the quantum scale; and John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch, for their description in 2000 of ways to measure precisely the frequency of that laser light.
CHEMISTRY: Yves Chauvin, Robert H. Grubbs and Richard R. Schrock, for their development from the 1970s to the 1990s of socalled metathesis reactions, which allow new molecules to be built by replacing the ends of carbon compounds with different atoms.
PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE: Barry J. Marshall and J. Robin Warren, for their discovery in the 1980s that the bacterium Helicobacter pylori plays a significant role in stomach ulcers and inflammation.
ECONOMICS: Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling, for their nearly half a century of work employing game theory to better understand human conflict and cooperation.

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American