Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to 2 Americans, 1 German

Two Americans and a German were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for pioneering methods that allow researchers to peer into the molecular workings of living things on a scale that could not be achieved with ordinary optical microscopes.

Eric Betzig, 54, who works at Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, and William Moerner, 61, of Stanford University, were recognized for breakthroughs that give researchers the ability to switch fluorescent molecules on and off, allowing them to create finely detailed images of biological processes, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which grants the prizes.

German scientist Stefan Hell, 51, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Goettingen, Germany, was credited with laying the theoretical groundwork for another technique using two laser beams, one to stimulate fluorescence and another to cancel out all but the tiniest wavelengths of its light.

“Their groundbreaking work has brought optical microscopy into the nanodimension,” the academy said.

The Nobel recipients “allowed us to see the previously unseen – lifting the veil on bacteria, viruses, proteins and small molecules,” said Tom Barton, president of the American Chemical Society, which has published their work.

The relatively new field, known as nanoscopy, sidestepped a long-established limit on what can be seen via microscopes using visible light. It also pushes past limits in more advanced microscopy that uses X-rays, by opening access to living tissue and substances that don’t readily take a crystal form, Barton said.

The new methods, for example, helped researchers understand what goes on in the tiny space between brain cells, and allowed them to witness how proteins accumulate and contribute to Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s diseases, according to the academy.

“It’s really new science for a Nobel Prize,” Barton said. But few in the chemistry field were surprised it was recognized, given how rapidly the techniques were adopted for uses that have led to substantial, new discoveries, he added. “It was going to come up this year or the next couple years,” Barton said. “Most people saw it as one of the front-runners.”

Hell developed his laser-based method in 2000, while Betzig used single molecule microscopy for the first time in 2006, according to the academy.