皮皮蝦：【这是诺贝尔化学奖吗？】

今天诺贝尔化学奖出炉，由Tomas Lindahl、Paul Modrich和Aziz Sancar分享，以表彰他们在DNA修复的细胞机制方面的研究。这是诺贝尔化学奖吗？

 

最近几年，诺贝尔化学奖总是被搞成理综奖。大分子、和生物有关的成果每每夺得化学奖。一方面可能是小分子田里的草都拔光了，难有突破性成就；另一方面科学的发展有时各科间的界限也很难划清。

 

我们熟知的居里夫人两得诺奖，大家都知道她的贡献应该是化学领域，但其实她的诺奖一次是化学，一次却是物理。

 

 

过去我们总是想问谁是华人的居里夫人？以前人们认为是吴健雄。她虽没有得到诺贝尔物理学奖，但成就举世公认。正是她用实验物理学证实了此前提出的理论，成就了別人的诺贝尔奖。为尊者讳，她毕业于汪伪政权的中央大学（1943届）这段历史，官方从不提及（正牌中央大学在当时已迁往重庆沙坪坝）。另一不大宣传的事实是，她的先生袁家馏是袁世凯的孙子。当年鄙人上大学时，吴健雄来校作报告，因中文不流利，学生听不下去，纷纷离席，令校领导很尴尬。其实按中共国宾规格，诺贝尔奖获得者以国家元首的规格接待，吴健雄虽未得诺奖但也在其列。

 

 

去年哈佛的双料教授（物理、化学）庄晓威又被认为是华人的居里夫人，她去年呼声极高却没得上诺贝尔奖令许多人为她婉惜。她只有三十多岁，据说其后续的研究仍有希望有大突破。二〇〇四年，鄙人在新英格兰的剑桥短暂工作时，曾见过此女中豪杰的风采。

 

 

还有一奇女，南大化学系的鲍哲南，大学三年级时出国留学，后在贝尔实验室工作，现为斯坦福教授，也在科学界扬名立万。她和她的德国老板在贝尔实验室曾有十三篇《Science》上发表的文章，引起轰动，但随后又有纷争。但她被认定清白，《Science》还为她作了专访，间接为她恢复名誉。

 

然而，屠呦呦横空出世，以八十多岁高龄捷足先登，不但是首位中国本土诺奖获得者，而且是首位华人女性获得者。这华人的居里夫人应该是她了。顺便说一下，她的突破性思路是用乙醚提取青蒿素(其实是黄花蒿有效成份)，这应该是化学手段，为什么不是化学奖呢？因为这手段本身并非什么化学上了不起的理论突破或技术创新，但却是寻找解决治疟药的关键。

 

 

居里夫人两获诺奖，其女儿女婿也获诺奖(差点也是两次获奖)，当是难以超越的记录。如果有哪位华人女性能两夺诺奖，那华人中的居里夫人就该是她了。

 

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[皮皮蝦]

回复 'Calypso' 的评论 : Thank you very much for your nice words. That might be an impossible dream.

[Calypso]

Speaking of Brian and potential father-son Laureates, how about buddy Laureates? Weinberg and Glashow were buddy's at Bronx High and they went to win the Nobel prize together. Maybe your son and Brian can achieve that too?

[Calypso]

"这是诺贝尔化学奖吗"
Good question. I guess in the future we'll have more questions like this. "Is this the Noble prize for physics? It looks like material science!" "It looks like chemistry!"

Your son's buddy Brian, his dad is a true physicist and he will definitely win the Nobel prize for physics. But one of his co-laureates will be a chemist (or a physical-chemist) because that guy observed the topological insulator experimentally, as predicted by Brian's dad.

[皮皮蝦]

回复 'Calypso' 的评论 : Thank you for your correction. Seems like you know a lot on this.

[Calypso]

"鲍哲南的德国老板岂止是纷争,那是轰动一时的学术欺骗".
Not completely accurate.

The German guy Schon is not Bao's boss. He was a postdoc himself. He published numerous papers as first authors in Science and Nature, rare in physics though not uncommon in biology. The boss and the corresponding author was Bertram Batlogg. He probably did not intend to cheat but was blind to Schon's deeds.

Bao was neither first nor corresponding authors of any of the series of papers. She is not a true physicist and only provided samples for Schon. So if Schon's result were correct, Bao would still get only marginal credit.

[matrix123]

鲍哲南的德国老板岂止是纷争,那是轰动一时的学术欺骗.