2011 Nobel Prize in Economic Science

The 2011 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded jointly to Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"

Thomas J. Sargent

Born: 1943, Pasadena, CA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award:New York University, New York, NY, USA

Prize motivation: "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"

Christopher A. Sims

Born: 1942, Washington, DC, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award:Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA

Prize motivation: "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"

Thomas J. Sargent, teaching a graduate course on macroeconomic theory on 10 October 2011, the same day as the announcement of the 2011 Prize in Economic Sciences.

Thomas J. Sargent meets students, colleagues, media representatives and other attendees at a reception after the announcement of the 2011 Prize in Economic Sciences.

Thomas J. Sargent addresses the audience at a reception at Princeton University after the announcement of the 2011 Prize in Economic Sciences.

Portrait of Thomas J. Sargent, 2011 Laureate in Economic Sciences.

Like many Laureates before him, Thomas J. Sargent autographs a chair at Bistro Nobel at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Following the afternoon news conference and a celebratory reception honoring their 2011 Laureates in Economic Sciences, Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims headed to co-teach a graduate course on advanced macroeconomic theory. Here, Christopher A. Sims sits behind the students and joins them in taking notes on the topic of Thomas J. Sargent's lesson; the two professors share duties of leading class lectures and discussions.

Princeton University economist Christopher A. Sims (left) enjoys a laugh during a news conference with his co-Laureate Thomas J. Sargent, a New York University economist who is a visiting professor at Princeton this fall.

From left, Mark Watson, acting chair of Princeton University's economics department, salutes Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims at a reception honoring their 2011 Prize in Economic Sciences.

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2011 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".

Leymah Gbowee

Residence at the time of the award: Liberia

Prize motivation: "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work"

The Nobel Peace Prize Lectures will be held on Saturday 10 December as part of the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. The Ceremony starts at 1.00 p.m. (CET).

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Born: 29 October 1938

Residence at the time of the award: Liberia

Prize motivation: "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work"

Role: President of Liberia

The Nobel Peace Prize Lectures will be held on Saturday 10 December as part of the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. The Ceremony starts at 1.00 p.m. (CET).

Tawakkol Karman

Residence at the time of the award: Yemen

Prize motivation: "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work"

The Nobel Peace Prize Lectures will be held on Saturday 10 December as part of the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony at the Oslo City Hall, Norway. The Ceremony starts at 1.00 p.m. (CET).

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2011 Nobel Prize in Literature

Tomas Tranströmer

Born: 15 April 1931, Stockholm, Sweden

Residence at the time of the award: Sweden

Prize motivation: "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality"

Life

Tranströmer was born in Stockholm in 1931 and raised by his mother, a schoolteacher, following her divorce from his father. He received his secondary education at the Södra Latin School in Stockholm, where he began writing poetry. In addition to selected journal publications, his first collection of poems, 17 dikter (Seventeen Poems) was published in 1954. He continued his education at Stockholm University, graduating as a psychologist in 1956 with additional studies history, religion, and literature. Between 1960 and 1966, Tranströmer split his time between working as a psychologist at the Roxtuna center for juvenile offenders and writing poetry.

During the 1950s, Tranströmer became close friends with poet Robert Bly. The two corresponded frequently, and Bly would translate Tranströmer's poems into English. Bonniers, Tranströmer's publisher, released Air Mail, a work consisting of Tranströmer and Bly's mail, in 2001. The Syrian poetAdunis helped spread Tranströmer's fame in the Arab world, accompanying him on readings.

Tranströmer went to Bhopal immediately after the gas tragedy in 1984, and alongside Indian poets such as K. Satchidanandan, took part in a poetry reading session outside.

Tranströmer suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed and unable to speak; however, he would continue to write and publish poetry through the early 2000s. His last original work, The Great Enigma, was published in 2004.

In addition to his writing, Tranströmer is also a piano player, something he has been able to continue after his stroke, albeit with one hand.

Career

Tranströmer is considered to be one of the "most influential Scandinavian poet[s] of recent decades".Tranströmer has published 15 collected works over his career, which has been translated into over 60 languages. An English translation by Robin Fulton of his entire body of work, New Collected Poems, was published in the UK in 1987 and expanded in 1997. Following the publication of Den stora gåtan (The Great Enigma), Fulton's edition was further expanded into The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems, published in the US in 2006 and as an updated edition of New Collected Poems in the UK in 2011. He published a short autobiography, Minnena ser mig (The Memories see me), in 1993.

In the 1970's, other poets accused Tranströmer of being detached from his own age, since he did not deal overtly with social and political issues in his poems and novels. His work, though, lies within and further develops the Modernist and Expressionist/Surrealist language of 20th century poetry; his clear, seemingly simple pictures from everyday life and nature in particular reveals a mystic insight to the universal aspects of the human mind. A poem of his was read at Anna Lindh's memorial service in 2003.

Tranströmer's awards include the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, the Övralid Prize, the Petrarca-Preis in Germany, the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings and the Swedish Award from International Poetry Forum. In 2007, Tranströmer received a special Lifetime Recognition Award given by the trustees of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry, which also awards the annualGriffin Poetry Prize.

Nobel Prize in Literature, 2011

Tranströmer has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2011. He is the 108th winner of the award and the first Swede to win since 1974. Tranströmer had been considered a perennial frontrunner for the award in years past, with reporters waiting near his residence on the day of the announcement in years prior. It was also revealed that he had been nominated every single year since 1993. His wife Monica said he had been notified by phone four minutes before the announcement was made. The Nobel Committee stated that Tranströmer's work received the prize “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."

Permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy Peter Englund said, "He's been writing poetry since 1951 when he made his debut. And has quite a small production, really. He's writing about big questions. He's writing about death, he's writing about history and memory, and nature." Prime Minister of Sweden Fredrik Reinfeldt said he was ”happy and proud” at the news of Tranströmer's achievement. The prize announcement led to the immediate reissuing of at least two volumes of Tranströmer's poetry.

Selected awards and honours

• 1966: Bellmanpriset (Bellmanpriset) (Sweden)
• 1981: Petrarca-Preis (Germany)
• 1990: Neustadt International Prize for Literature (US)
• 1991: Nordic Prize of the Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademiens nordiska pris) (Sweden)
• 1992: Horst Bienek Prize for Poetry (Horst-Bienek-Preis für Lyrik) (Germany)
• 1996: Augustpriset, for Sorgegondolen (Sweden)
• 2003: Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath (Macedonia)
• 2007: The Griffin Trust, Lifetime Recognition Award (Griffin Poetry Prize) (Canada)
• 2011: Title of Professor (Swedish: Professors namn), granted by the Cabinet of Sweden (Sweden)
• 2011: Nobel Prize for Literature (Sweden)

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2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was divided, one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity" and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity".

Bruce A. Beutler

Born: 1957, Chicago, IL, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award:The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"

Jules A. Hoffmann

Born: 1941, Echternach, Luxembourg

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity"

Ralph M. Steinman

Born: 1943, Montreal, Canada

Died: 30 September 2011

Affiliation at the time of the award:Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA

Prize motivation: "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity"

Photo Gallery

Bruce Beutler (left) with colleague Yu Xia (right) in the laboratory.

Like many Nobel Laureates before him, Bruce A. Beutler autographs a chair at Bistro Nobel at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Like many Nobel Laureates before him, Jules A. Hoffmann autographs a chair at Bistro Nobel at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Portrait of Professor Jules A. Hoffmann.

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2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Born	January 24, 1941 (age 70) Tel Aviv, British Mandate of Palestine
Residence	Israel
Citizenship	Israel
Fields	Materials Science
Institutions	Wright Patterson Air Force Base Johns Hopkins University NIST Iowa State University Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Alma mater	Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Known for	Quasicrystals
Notable awards	Wolf Prize in Physics (1998) Israel Prize (1999) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2011)

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2011 Nobel Prize in Physics

Saul Perlmutter, Brian P. Schmidt, Adam G. Riess

Nobel Lecture

Saul Perlmutter, The Supernova Cosmology Project, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

and University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

Brian P. Schmidt, The High-Z Supernova Search Team, Australian National University, Weston Creek, Australia

Adam G. Riess, The High-Z Supernova Search Team, Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science 

Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA

Photo Gallery

Saul Perlmutter lecturing at the 2002 Berkeley Lab (LBNL) Open House.

Saul Perlmutter in his office, surrounded by journalists, after the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Saul Perlmutter and his Supernova Cosmology Project (SCP) team.

Like many Nobel Laureates before him, Saul Perlmutter autographs a chair at Bistro Nobel at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Saul Perlmutter pictured with a view of the supernova 1987a in the background.

Saul Perlmutter with a telescope. Photo taken in 1992.

Like many Nobel Laureates before him, Brian P. Schmidt autographs a chair at Bistro Nobel at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Adam G. Riess together with his wife Nancy Joy Riess and their two children Noah and Gabrielle at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, 6 December 2011.

Adam Riess arriving at the parking lot at Johns Hopkins University after the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Adam Riess celebrating with a glass champagne with colleague Dan Reich.

Colleagues at Johns Hopkins University proposing a toast for Adam Riess, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics

A happy Adam Riess, left, with his wife Nancy and colleague Dan Reich.

Adam Riess, 2011 Nobel Laureate in Physics, surrounded by reporters and news media outside Johns Hopkins University.

Adam Riess, center, is congratulated by colleagues Julian Krolik and Charles Bennett after the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Adam Riess, right, is congratulated by colleagues after the announcement of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Amid a backdrop of far-off galaxies, spiral galaxy NGC 3370 looms in the foreground. It lies about 100 million light-years away toward the constellation Leo, and is also home to a supernova seen in 1994 in the NASA Hubble Space Telescope.

Portrait of Adam G. Riess.

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