Nobel Notes

Thumbs up to the Nobel Foundation for their decision regarding Ralph Steinman's laureate status. I always felt that the rule was to make sure nominations of those who have passed on were not submitted in the first place. Now, whether or not one agrees with this is a separate issue.

Given that my professional interests are not very immunological or astrophysical, I don't have any particularly incisive commentary about the Physiology/Medicine or Physics Prizes.

A followup to a comment elsewhere - Tom Wainwright passed away in 2007, so unfortunately he would be ineligible for a Nobel. Given that Aneesur Rahman and George Vineyard have also passed on, Alder is really the only "founding father" of MD who would be a possibility.

On the off chance it is a magnetic resonance Chemistry Prize this year, I will not be sarcastic and post "but it's just applied physics! Why are applied physicists winning Nobel Prizes?" I'll actually just write a short blurb on what was so cool about the new laureates' research. (All other fields of physical chemistry being recognized are fair game for such commentary, though.)