Who is in the running for the Nobels?

For the outside world, exactly who wins Nobel Prizes in the science is fairly academic (geddit?) - and even for those with a professional interest it may sometimes seem that the reason for the awards can be sliced pretty thin these days. The early prizes do seem often to have been for more 'big' work than the more subtle modern ones. But having said that, we also always get some goodies.

I didn't realize it until they sent me a press release, but Thomson Reuters do an annual prediction of the likely runners and riders - useful in case you fancy a flutter. So here are this years' favourites according to TR. On the physics side, I rather fancy the Quantum Spin Hall effect, but that's just me...

P.S. I don't know why Economics is treated as a science either.

PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE

James E. Darnell, Jr.Vincent Astor Professor Emeritus, Laboratory of Molecular Cell Biology, Rockefeller University New York, NY USA -and- Robert G. RoederArnold and Mabel Beckman Professor, Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University New York, NY USA -and- Robert TjianProfessor of Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California Berkeley, and President, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Berkeley, CA, and Chevy Chase, MD USA For fundamental discoveries concerning eukaryotic transcription and gene regulation

David Julius Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine, Professor and Chair of Physiology, University of California San Francisco San Francisco, CA USA For elucidating molecular mechanisms of pain sensation

Charles LeeProfessor and Scientific Director of the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine Farmington, CT USA -and- Stephen W. Scherer Senior Scientist and Director, The Centre for Applied Genomics, The Hospital for Sick Children, Professor and Director, McLaughlin Centre, University of Toronto Toronto ON CANADA -and- Michael H. WiglerProfessor and Head, Mammalian Cell Genetics Section, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Cold Spring Harbor, NY USA For their discovery of large-scale copy number variation and its association with specific diseases

PHYSICS

Charles L. Kane Class of 1965 Endowed Term Chair Professor of Physics, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA USA -and- Laurens W. Molenkamp Professor of Physics and Chair of Experimental Physics, University of Würzburg Würzburg, GERMANY -and- Shoucheng ZhangJ.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics, Stanford University Stanford, CA USA For theoretical and experimental research on the quantum spin Hall effect and topological insulators

James F. ScottDirector of Research, Department of Physics, University of Cambridge Cambridge, UK -and- Ramamoorthy Ramesh Professor, Physics and MSE, and Associate Lab Director for Energy Technologies, University of California Berkeley Berkeley, CA USA -and- Yoshinori Tokura* Director, RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science, and Professor, Department of Applied Physics, The University of Tokyo Saitama and Tokyo, JAPAN For their pioneering research on ferroelectric memory devices (Scott) and new multiferroic materials (Ramesh and Tokura). *Tokura was previously named a Citation Laureate in 2002.

Peidong Yang S. K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Chair in Energy, Department of Chemistry,  Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Kavli Energy Nanoscience Institute, and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley, CA USA For his contributions to nanowire photonics including the creation of first nanowire nanolaser

CHEMISTRY

Charles T. Kresge Chief Technology Officer, Saudi Aramco, Dhahran SAUDI ARABIA -and- Ryong Ryoo Director, Center for Nanomaterials and Chemical Reactions, Institute for Basic Science and Distinguished Professor, Department of Chemistry, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon, SOUTH KOREA -and- Galen D. Stucky E. Khashoggi Industries, LLC Professor in Letters and Science, University of California Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA USA For design of functional mesoporous materials

Graeme MoadChief Research Scientist, CSIRO Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA -and- Ezio RizzardoCSIRO Fellow, CSIRO Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA -and- San H. ThangChief Research Scientist, CSIRO Clayton, Victoria, AUSTRALIA For development of the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization process

Ching W. Tang Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bank of East Asia Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, University of Rochester, and Chair Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Chemistry, and Physics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Rochester, NY USA and Hong Kong, CHINA -and- Steven Van SlykeChief Technology Officer, Kateeva Menlo Park, CA USA For their invention of the organic light emitting diode

ECONOMIC SCIENCES

Philippe M. Aghion Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics, Harvard University Cambridge, MA USA -and- Peter W. HowittLyn Crost Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Brown University Providence, RI USA For contributions to Schumpeterian growth theory

William J. BaumolProfessor of Economics and Harold Price Professor of Entrepreneurship, New York University New York, NY USA -and- Israel M. KirznerEmeritus Professor of Economics, New York University New York, NY USA For their advancement of the study of entrepreneurism

Mark S. GranovetterJoan Butler Ford Professor and Chair of Sociology, and Joan Butler Ford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University Stanford, CA USA For his pioneering research in economic sociology

 "Nobel Prize". Via Wikipedia