Chemical Forums
General Forums => Generic Discussion => Topic started by: Borek on October 08, 2014, 08:54:36 AM
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to Eric Betzig, Stefan W. Hell and William E. Moerner "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy".
Which makes me wonder where does the committee put the border between chemistry and physics.
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Given that single molecule fluorescence spectroscopy really only has applications in the chemical sciences, and isn't based on any fundamental discovery in physics, I'd say the chemistry prize is appropriate. A worthy selection, too, IMO.
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The field of super-resolution imaging points to the interdisciplinary nature of chemistry, and science in general. The field relied on developments in physics and optics (e.g. Moerner's work on single molecule detection and Hell's work on stiumlated emission depletion), development of new chemical probes (e.g. work on photoswitchable fluorescent proteins by Jennifer Lippincott-Scwartz and photoswitchable organic dyes by Xiaowei Zhuang), and the technique has been hugely important in addressing a number of fundamental biological questions from the spatial organization of components in bacteria to the inner workings of the brain.
This is an unfortunate case where the limit of only three Nobelists per prize excludes worthy individuals from recognition. All three are definitely worthy of the honor (though Moerner more for his contributions to single molecule imaging and spectroscopy, not necessarily to super-resolution imaging). Betzig published his super-resolution imaging method (Betzig et al. 2006 (http://www.sciencemag.org/content/313/5793/1642)) simultaneously with two other groups, those of Xiaowei Zhuang (Rust et al. Nature Methods 2006 (http://www.nature.com/nmeth/journal/v3/n10/full/nmeth929.html)) and Sam Hess (Hess et al. Biophysical Journal 2006 (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006349506721403)). Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz also has contributed to a lot to the field through her work with photoswitchable fluorescent proteins, a requirement for Betzig's method (she was a co-author on Betzig's 2006 papers). Mats Gustafsson, who sadly passed away a few years ago, was another key pioneer in the field through his work on structured illumination microscopy, and would have been another worthy of recognition.
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@Yggdrasil: You should write that up for Chemistry Blog. I'm sure the broader chemical community would enjoy reading details like that.
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I'll
@Yggdrasil: You should write that up for Chemistry Blog. I'm sure the broader chemical community would enjoy reading details like that.
I'll consider this. We'll see if I can find the time to write an expanded piece over the next few days.
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@Yggdrasil: You should write that up for Chemistry Blog. I'm sure the broader chemical community would enjoy reading details like that.
+1