On Wednesday, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to David Baker for his work in “computational protein design” and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for their advancements in “protein structure prediction.” This marks the second award of the year for artificial intelligence after the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on artificial neural networks.
Proteins. The common thread among the Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners is proteins, which the Academy of Sciences describes as “life’s ingenious chemical tools.” It has awarded Baker’s work for “building entirely new types of proteins,” while it recognizes Hassabis and Jumper for developing an artificial intelligence model capable of predicting the complex structures of these vital chains of amino acids.
Proteins are essential for life as they perform various chemical tasks in the human body. Comprised of different combinations of 20 amino acids, these macromolecules serve as the “building blocks of life.”
Baker. The Nobel Prize committee awarded Baker for his achievement in constructing “spectacular” proteins. The accolade recognizes his success in combining new amino acid sequences to create proteins that have never been seen before in nature.
Baker and his team created their first molecule in 2003 and have since continued to design new molecules. These molecules have various potential applications, including the development of drugs and vaccines for the health sector, as well as the creation of nanomaterials.
Hassabis and Jumper. Meanwhile, Hassabis and Jumper were awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking work in the field. They solved “a 50-year-old problem” by developing a method to predict the structure of a protein from its amino acid sequences. This is a significant achievement in the world of chemistry because proteins are more than just chains of amino acids. Their structure is also important, not just their composition.
In 2020, Hassabis and Jumper presented AlphaFold2, an AI model developed as part of Google’s DeepMind unit. This model successfully predicted the shape of the vast majority of the 200 million proteins discovered to date. This breakthrough has led to a better understanding of antibiotic resistance and has also facilitated the recreation of enzymes capable of breaking down plastics.
What did the polls say? According to a survey in Chemistry Views magazine, 53.3% of respondents believed that the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was going to be awarded in biochemistry, followed by materials chemistry and physical chemistry, both at 8.2%. In the poll, Chi-Huey Wong, Omar Yaghi, and Karl Deisseroth were among the most voted potential recipients.
Wong, a biochemist, is frequently mentioned in these kinds of polls. The same goes for Yaghi, known for his work in the synthesis of metal-organic frameworks. The annual list published by Clarivate, based on the citations received by the candidates, was closer to the final verdict.
The latest award in natural sciences. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded 115 times to 194 individuals as of today. The youngest recipient of the prize was Frédéric Joliot, who was 35 years old at the time of receiving the award. Married to fellow Nobel laureate Irene Joliot-Curie, he’s also notable for being Pierre and Marie Curie’s son-in-law. In contrast, John Goodenough received the prize at the age of 97 in 2019.
So far, four people have been double laureates: Marie Curie, who received the prize in Physics (1903) and in Chemistry (1911); Linus Carl Pauling, who received the prize in Chemistry (1954) and then the Peace Prize (1962); Frederick Sanger, who received two prizes in Chemistry (1958 and 1980); and K. Barry Sharpless, who is also a double winner in Chemistry (2001 and 2022).
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will announce the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, followed by the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. On Monday, it’ll award the Prize in Economic Sciences, which was established in memory of Alfred Nobel, the founder of the awards.
Image | Nobel Prize Outreach
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