all six 2026 nobel prizes were announced in early october. no british winners this year, but plenty to argue about:
physics: francis halzen, for the icecube neutrino observatory at the south pole, a cubic kilometre of antarctic ice fitted with light sensors that catches neutrinos from the far reaches of the universe.
chemistry: henri b. kagan and kenso soai, for explaining how chemistry can end up favouring one of two mirror-image molecules. living things only use one "hand" of molecules like amino acids, and why has long been a puzzle.
medicine: karl deisseroth, peter hegemann and georg nagel, for optogenetics: a light-sensitive protein from algae that lets scientists switch individual nerve cells in a living brain on and off.
literature: anne carson, the canadian poet, essayist and translator, for work that plays with the classics and invents new forms. she says the history of words is where all her writing starts.
peace: navi pillay of south africa, the judge and former un human rights chief, for promoting peace and international law.
economics: robert e. hall and michael woodford, whose research led to the new keynesian models that central banks, the bank of england included, use to decide when to cool or warm up the economy.
which one deserved it most, and who was robbed?
source: https://www.nobelprize.org/all-nobel-prizes-2026/
physics: francis halzen, for the icecube neutrino observatory at the south pole, a cubic kilometre of antarctic ice fitted with light sensors that catches neutrinos from the far reaches of the universe.
chemistry: henri b. kagan and kenso soai, for explaining how chemistry can end up favouring one of two mirror-image molecules. living things only use one "hand" of molecules like amino acids, and why has long been a puzzle.
medicine: karl deisseroth, peter hegemann and georg nagel, for optogenetics: a light-sensitive protein from algae that lets scientists switch individual nerve cells in a living brain on and off.
literature: anne carson, the canadian poet, essayist and translator, for work that plays with the classics and invents new forms. she says the history of words is where all her writing starts.
peace: navi pillay of south africa, the judge and former un human rights chief, for promoting peace and international law.
economics: robert e. hall and michael woodford, whose research led to the new keynesian models that central banks, the bank of england included, use to decide when to cool or warm up the economy.
which one deserved it most, and who was robbed?
source: https://www.nobelprize.org/all-nobel-prizes-2026/
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