Show Notes
This episode covers the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Enders, Weller, and Robbins the award “for their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue”. Topics include the work that culminated in the creation of the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines, the nearly completed mission to eradicate polio from the face of the earth, and the reason Franklin D. Roosevelt’s portrait is on the American dime.
More from Notable Nobels
This episode covers one half of the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Mechnikov the award “in recognition of [his] work on immunity”. Topics include a description of phagocytosis, Mechnikov’s experiments with phagocytic cells of the immune system, and the remarkable ways cells like macrophages and neutrophils attack harmful bacteria.
This special episode covers the facts and history of the Nobel Prizes. Topics include the founding of the Nobel Prizes by Alfred Nobel, how Nobel Prize winners are selected, what you win if you win the Nobel Prize, the details of the Nobel Prize ceremony, qualities and demographics of Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, and some predictions about the future of the Nobel Prizes.
This episode covers the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Stanley B. Prusiner. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Prusiner the award “for his discovery of Prions - a new biological principle of infection”. Topics include the work Prusiner did to define prion diseases, the amazing molecular nature of how prion diseases spread, and mad cow disease.
This episode covers one half of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to D. Carleton Gajdusek. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Gajdusek the award “for [his] discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases”. Topics include the Kuru neurodegenerative disease, the discovery of a new category of infectious diseases, and cannibalism.
This episode covers one half of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was awarded to Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute chose to give Elion and Hitchings the award, “for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”. Topics include the discovery of the antiviral drug acyclovir, how acyclovir works to treat herpes simplex virus infections, and the rational approach to drug discovery.