The Nobel Prize for Medicine went to US researchers David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian on Monday. For some it was a surprise, since the Biontech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci had previously been traded as possible candidates. The press reviews.
The Nobel Prize Dance began this Monday with the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Much had been speculated about the possible winners in advance. The Biontech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci were considered possible contenders, as they had developed an effective vaccine against Covid-19 and thus did a great service to humanity in the past year.
Ultimately, however, they came away empty-handed, which does not necessarily surprise observers: the award mostly goes to researchers in basic research. If the jury had found the mRNA technology worthy of a prize, the award would have gone to the biochemist Katalin Karikó and the American immunologist Drew Weissman. Both Biontech and US manufacturer Moderna used a method developed by Karikó and Weissman to develop the vaccine. It prevents the mRNA in the vaccine from being broken down by the body before it can work. Nonetheless, Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci made further important steps in the development of the mRNA vaccines.
Last week, Karikó and Weissman were awarded the Albert Lasker Prize for basic medical research. Shortly before, she and the Biontech founders Özlem Türeci and Ugur Sahin had been awarded the renowned Paul Ehrlich Prize.
The Nobel Prize in Medicine, however, went to US researchers David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian this year. They were honored for their basic research on the perception of heat and pressure in the human body, as the Nobel Assembly at Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute announced on Monday. With their “groundbreaking discoveries” on receptors for temperature and touch, the two scientists have deciphered a “secret of nature”. These are the press comments on the decision:
Märkischer Oderzeitung
David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian deserve the Nobel Prize. They deciphered how humans absorb heat, cold and mechanical forces with their nerves. But this year one would have wished the award winners had the courage to make an even better decision. The Nobel Prize for Medicine should have gone to the Biontech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, who developed an effective and safe vaccine against the coronavirus within a few months. Now one can confidently assume that Sahin and Türeci do not need the 980,000 euros, their invention made them rich. They definitely deserved the award.
Stuttgart news
Quite a few observers had expected that the mRNA technology could win the race, which will bring highly effective corona vaccines to mankind in record time. The Biontech founders Ugur Sahin and Özlem Türeci, who were significantly involved in the development of this technology, were therefore considered hot Nobel Prize candidates. In fact, Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that the prizes should go to people “who have provided the greatest benefit to mankind in the past year”. That definitely applies to the Mainz researcher couple. But the Nobel Foundation has always been less driven by current developments than politics or the media, for example. In this respect, the jurors remain true to their line this year as well.
taz
Wasn’t it the case that the award should go to those scientists who have brought mankind the greatest benefit in the past year? Stockholm has managed to ignore this criterion for a long time, but this year there was an almost unavoidable candidate that would have met Nobel’s specifications, at least in terms of content: the mRNA vaccination. (…) Sure, the search for a maximum of three winners would have been difficult for the committee. As always in modern research, many minds were involved in the success, not just mRNA researchers, by the way. But being so discouraged to fall out of time with this year’s award shows once again that the Nobel Prize is a relic of the past. It’s a shame because it still attracts attention. She might have helped the vaccination quota.
Wiesbaden courier
The Nobel Prize award is not an Oscar award. It must not be an MTV award for audience favorites and follow media hype. Because it often takes many years to see how important research actually was. And if the discoveries of Julius and Patapoutian contribute to helping the many patients around the world suffering from chronic pain, then they have indeed done humanity a great service.
