The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2019

nobelprize.org

16 points·_of··9 comments

Quanta has a good write up.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/nobel-prize-awarded-for-cells...

Will the committee ever move past its antiquated restriction of three people per award? No glory is saved for the dozens if not hundreds of people (and institutions) who enabled this research.

They literally can't. It's in Nobels will. One of the main reasons these prizes are less and less important and prizes like the breakthrough are on the rise.

The Nobels used to be elite but I think more and more are seen as out of touch and behind the times. Theyre only awarded to people who are already very, very famous. They've ceased lifting and now are content to coronate/free ride.

Look at prizes which honor younger/more diverse awardees: MacArthur, Breakthrough, Packard... Even the Laskar is ahead here.

That's not to mention their history of awarding for the right science but the wrong people. Usually, the older/whitier/male-r/famous-r people.

Good riddance!

Yes stick to medicine. Psychology is in the puffy science zone (social science). Medicine is the oldest practice and I'm happy to see it being rewarded.

Where does psychology come into play here? I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the article.

Perhaps physiology was misread?

There is no Nobel Prize for psychology for a reason.

Physiology is the scientific study of the functions and mechanisms which work within a living system [0]. It has nothing to do with social sciences or psychology.

That said, social sciences are integral to understanding how this world works and how we can improve, and are in no way inferior to "pure/traditional" sciences.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physiology

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