UCI TAKES PRIZES : The Nobel Prize

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 12, 1995 12 AM PT

* Established: 1901

* Founder: Alfred Nobel, Swedish industrialist who invented dynamite

* Categories: Literature; physiology or medicine; economics; physics; chemistry; peace

* How awarded: Candidates nominated by others in their field and by Nobel committees. Winners for physics and chemistry determined by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; economics by the Central Bank of Sweden; physiology and medicine by the Karolinska Institute; literature by the Swedish Academy, and peace by Norwegian Nobel Committee appointed by Norway’s Parliament.

* Nomination deadline: Feb. 1

* Announcements: Mid-October

* Presentation: Dec. 10, anniversary of Nobel’s death. All prizes awarded in Stockholm, except the peace prize, which is awarded on the same day in Oslo, Norway

* Amount: Varies according to net income of the Nobel Fund. 1994 winners shared a total of $7 million

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1995 Winners

* Literature: Seamus Heaney (poet)

* Physiology or medicine: Edward B. Lewis, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard and Eric F. Wieschaus

* Economics: Robert E. Lucas, Jr.

* Physics: Martin L. Perl and Frederick Reines

* Chemistry: Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina and F. Sherwood Rowland

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Physics: Frederick Reines

* Specialty: Particle physics

* Research: Co-discovered the neutrino, one of the universe’s smallest particles; researching neutrino’s properties and interactions

* Prize: Shares $1-million (before taxes) award with Martin L. Perl of Stanford University, who is conducting similar research

Neutrino Existence

The experiment which proved the existence of the neutrino:

1) Neutrino collides with proton creating a positron and a neutron

2) Positron slows, destroyed together with an electron creating protons (light particles)

3) Neutron slows, captured by cadmium nucleus, creating photons

4) Photons from step 3 reach detectors a mirosecond later than the light particles from the positron destruction, proving neutrino existence.

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Chemistry: F. Sherwood Rowland

* Specialty: Atmospheric chemistry

* Research: Pioneering work identifying formation and composition of Earth’s protective ozone layer and how gases such as chlorofluorocarbon (Freon) and methane damage the ozone

* Prize: Shares $1-million award with Paul Crutzen of the Netherlands and Mario Molina of Massachusetts Institute of Technology

How Chlorofluorocarbons Destroy Ozone

1) Solar ultraviolet radiation hits chlorofluorocarbon molecules and breaks them apart.

2) A freed chlorine atom destroys an ozone molecule, forming chlorine monoxide and oxygen.

3) Ultraviolet rays break up the chlorine monoxide molecule, releasing the chlorine atom. One chlorine atom can destroy as many as 100,000 ozone molecules.

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University of California Winners

Some of the UC faculty members who have been awarded Nobel prizes. The recipients, their field and the year they won:

UC Berkeley

William F. Giauque, Chemistry, 1949

Glenn T. Seaborg, Chemistry 1951

Edwin M. McMillan, Physics 1951

Owen Chamberlain, Physics 1959

Emilio Gino Segre, Physics 1959

Donald A. Glaser, Physics 1960

Melvin Calvin, Chemistry 1961

Charles H. Townes, Physics 1961