The 2010 Nobel laureates are being recognized for the development of in vitro fertilization, revolutionary processes in physics and chemistry, and an economics theory that helps us understand how the labor and housing markets are affected by economic policy. Top row: Robert Edwards (Medicine), Andrew Geim and Konstantin Novoselov (Physics). Row 2: Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki (Chemistry). Row 3: Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen and Christopher Pissarides (Economics).

 

Elsevier honors their achievements by providing free access to the prize-winning research they published in our journals.

 

For more than half a century, the vast majority of Nobel Laureates have been active with Elsevier, publishing in our journals and books and serving as editors and members of our editorial boards. In 2010 – for the second straight year – Elsevier has connections with all of the award-winning scientists. They will be honored at the Nobel Prize Ceremony December 10 in Stockholm.

Medicine

 

Robert Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the development of human in vitro fertilization (IVF) therapy. His achievements have made it possible to treat infertility, a medical condition affecting more than 10 percent of all couples worldwide.

 

In the 1950s, Dr. Edwards had the vision that IVF could be useful as a treatment for infertility. He worked systematically to realize his goal, discovered important principles for human fertilization, and accomplished fertilization of human egg cells in cell culture dishes. His efforts came to fruition on July 25, 1978, when the world's first "test tube baby" was born. In the following years, Edwards and his co-workers refined IVF technology and shared it with colleagues around the world. So far, about 4 million people have been born as a result of IVF. Professor Edwards also cofounded the world’s first IVF clinic, Bourn Hall, where embryologists and doctors who received training went on to establish clinics worldwide.

 

Dr. Edwards, who is now professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge, founded the journal Reproductive BioMedicine Online in 2000 and published it independently for 10 years. Having developed it and ensured its place among the leading journals in the field of reproductive medicine, he began handing over the reins for the journal in 2009, becoming Editor Emeritus of RBMOnline. In 2010 Elsevier became the publisher of this innovative journal.

 

Physics

 

Andrew Geim and Konstantin Novoselov shared the Nobel Prize in Physics "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material grapheme.” Geim, Professor of Physics and Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor at the University of Manchester, is an Advisory Board member to Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures and former Editorial Board member. Both have published many of their own papers with Elsevier, and Geim has served as guest editor, organizing several topical issues on graphene for Solid State Communications.

 

Over the past few years, Geim and Novoselov have worked together to successfully produce, isolate, identify and characterize graphene – the thinnest and strongest material known. The use of graphene is expected to have a major impact on the development of new computers, electronics, materials and solar cells. Geim and Novoselov extracted the graphene from a piece of graphite; using regular adhesive tape, they managed to obtain a flake of carbon with a thickness of just one atom. Their joint efforts to produce graphene have made possible faster computers, lighter airplanes, transparent touch screens and many more innovative technologies. When mixed into plastics, graphene can turn objects into conductors of electricity while making them more heat resistant and mechanically robust. This resilience can be utilized in new super strong materials, which are also thin, elastic and lightweight.

Chemistry

 

Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki were awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis.” They were honored for discovering more efficient ways of linking carbon atoms together to build the complex molecules. Palladium-catalyzed cross couplings are an investigative chemical tool that has vastly improved the opportunities for chemists to create sophisticated chemicals, directly enhancing product development in pharmaceutical and electronics industries, for example. It’s used in research worldwide and in the commercial production of pharmaceuticals and molecules used in the electronics industry.

 

Heck, Professor at the University of Delaware, has published in Inorganica Chimica Acta, the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry and Tetrahedron Letters.

 

Negishi, Professor at Purdue University in Indiana, has published in Heterocycles, Inorganica Chimica Acta, the Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, Polyhedron, Tetrahedron, Tetrahedron Asymmetry and Tetrahedron Letters.

 

Suzuki, Professor at Hokkaido University published one of his first papers on Pd coupling in Tetrahedron Letters. He has also published in the Journal of Organometallic Chemistry and Tetrahedron.

Economic Sciences

 

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded jointly to Peter A. Diamond, Dale T. Mortensen and Christopher A. Pissarides "for their analysis of markets with search frictions.” They developed a theory that can be used to answer complex questions such as: Why are so many people unemployed at the same time that there are a large number of job openings? How can economic policy affect unemployment? Their models help us understand the ways in which unemployment, job vacancies and wages are affected by regulation and economic policy. Their theory is also applicable to other areas, such as the housing market, monetary theory and family economics.

 

Besides publishing many of their own papers with Elsevier, Dale Mortensen serves as an Advisory Board member for Review of Economic Dynamics and Peter Diamond is an Advisory Board member for the Journal of Public Economics.

Sources: Nobel Foundation; Pamela Poppalardo, Executive Publisher, Health Sciences (New York); Koos Admiraal Executive Publisher – Medicine (Amsterdam); Lynelle Korte, Director, Segment & Specialty Marketing, Global Medical Research (St. Louis); Greyling Peoples, Associate Publisher – Medicine (Amsterdam); Andrea Maas, Publishing Support Manager, Health Sciences (Amsterdam); Jocelyn Quigley, Marketing Communications Manager – Medicine (London); Jan Willem Wijnen (Executive Publisher – Physics (Amsterdam); Carolien Van Der Zanden (Marketing Communications Manager – S&T Journals (Amsterdam); Ursula Van Dijk, Group Marketing Communications Manager (Amsterdam); Noora Luotola, Marketing Communications Manager – S&T Journals (Amsterdam); Darren Sugrue, Marketing Communications Manager – S&T Journals (Amsterdam); Rachel Guest, Group Marketing Communications Manager, Economics (Oxford);  Ylann Schemm, Corporate Relations Manager (Amsterdam); Ruth Cespedes, Communications Executive (Amsterdam)