Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations for the 2021 October Madness, Sigma Xi's Nobel Prize prediction contest!
Voting is open until September 21, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time for the Elite 8 round.
Make sure to vote to keep your favorites in the running!
Elite 8 Voting
Chemistry
1.
John Brauman, for his contributions to the understanding of the factors that determine the rates and products of chemical reactions
vs.
Omar M. Yaghi and Makoto Fujita, for the development of metal-organic frameworks/coordination polymers and reticular chemistry; for pioneering reticular chemistry
2.
Andrew Smith, for the development of organocatalysis methodology to synthesize new heterocyclic ring systems
vs.
Donald A. Tomalia, for the invention of the dendrimer family of polymers that have the capability of transporting pharmaceutical agents through cell walls for medicine
3.
Peter G. Schultz, for his work in the exploitation of molecular diversity in the synthesis of new medicines and materials
vs.
Carolyn Bertozzi, for founding bio-orthogonal chemistry, and applying this novel chemistry to install artificial sugars on the surface of living cells, enabling the study of their roles in cancer and the immune system.
4.
Harry B. Gray, for his work in electron transfer research; tunneling, bioinorganic chemistry
vs.
Robert S. Langer, for development of nanocarriers as a platform for cancer therapy, and other biotechnology using his background as a chemical engineer, inventor, and entrepreneur
Physics
1.
Nicholas P. Samios, for the discovery of the Omega hyperon confirming the quark model
vs.
Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, for discovery of first radio pulsars
2.
Ewine van Fleur Dishoeck, for her research aimed at the determination of the structure of cosmic objects using their molecular spectra
vs.
Anton Zeilinger, John Clauser, Alain Aspect, for taking data which was loop-hole free and demonstrated that hidden variables could not be an explanation for quantum entanglement
3.
Edward Stone (and the Voyager team), for heading the Voyager I/II missions, which have explored all of the outer planets and are now cruising interstellar space (the first human-made objects to do so)
vs.
Lene Vestergaard Hau, for her work on slowing down and stopping light
4.
Michal Lipson, for her pioneering research that established the groundwork for silicon photonics
vs.
Michelle Simmons, for seminal contributions to our understanding of nature at the atomic-scale by creating a sequence of world-first quantum electronic devices in which individual atoms control device
Physiology or Medicine
1.
Anthony Fauci, for his work during the COVID-19 pandemic
vs.
Mary-Claire King, for the discovery of BRCA1 Linkage and confirmation of an inherited risk of cancer
2.
Marilyn Hughes Gaston, for her work on sickle cell disease screening program for newborns and her research showed both the benefits of screening for sickle cell disease at birth and the effectiveness of penicillin to prevent infection from sepsis, which can be fatal in children with the disease
vs.
Charles David Allis, for discovery of epigenetics and histone modification
3.
Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, for the idea to harness the power of mRNA to fight disease and the discovery and commercialization of mRNA vaccines
vs.
Arthur L Horwich and Franz-Ulrich Hartl, for discovery of the role of molecular chaperons in protein folding in health and disease
4.
Max D. Cooper and Jacques Miller, for their discovery of the two distinct classes of lymphocytes, B and T cells – a monumental achievement that provided the organizing principle of the adaptive immune system and launched the course of modern immunology
vs.
Michael Shepard, Dennis J. Slamon, and Axel Ullrich, for their invention of Herceptin, the first monoclonal antibody that blocks a cancer-causing protein, and for its development as a life-saving therapy for women with breast cancer