'Secrets of the Brain' Award US and German Scientists the 'Nobel Prize in Medicine'

The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute selected Americans Karl Deisseroth, 54, and Peter Hegemann, 71, and German Georg Nagel, 73, to share the prize, which carries a monetary award of 12 million Swedish kronor (1.2 million dollars) to be divided among multiple laureates.

In a statement reported by Reuters, the awarding body said that optogenetics “enables the activation or deactivation of individual nerve cells within the living brain,” adding that this method is now used in laboratories worldwide to uncover the brain’s secrets.

The medicine prize is traditionally the first Nobel prize announced each year, followed in the coming days by the prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, and economics.

The five original Nobel prizes were established by the will of Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel. They have been awarded since 1901, with only limited interruptions, particularly during the First and Second World Wars.

A sixth prize, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by Sweden’s central bank, the Riksbank.

Nobel laureates are chosen by expert committees appointed by the awarding institutions. The prizes are presented in Stockholm, except for the Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, in a tradition often linked to the union that existed between Sweden and Norway during Alfred Nobel’s lifetime.

The celebrations culminate on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death, when laureates receive their awards at a ceremony attended by the royal families of Sweden and Norway, and are honored at official banquets held in their honor.