American Scientist Found Out He Had Won Nobel Prize Whilst Lecturing in Brazil

10/09/2014 - 09h48

The American scientist William Moerner was in Recife on Wednesday (8) morning when he found out that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

He had given a lecture on Monday (6) in the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), in the 3rd International Workshop on Fundamentals of Light-Matter Interaction.

According to the university, Moerner went back to the U.S. early on Wednesday (8) afternoon.

Moerner told the Nobel team that he found out about the prize thanks to a phone call from his wife, at 7am Brazilian time. She called after having been contacted by a reporter from the Associated Press.

He said he had to cancel commitments in Brazil because of the prize.

"I had that feeling: 'What do I do now? Should I go to this meeting or should I get a plane back to California?' Lots of things change suddenly when you get amazing news like this, and I'm very happy about the recognition of the field and for the scientists and researchers all around the world who have contributed in one way or another," he said, while still in Brazil.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three researchers who, working separately, overcame a problem that has perplexed scientists since 1873: the minimum size for a live organism seen through a microscope.

Two Americans, Eric Betzig, a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and William Moerner, from Stanford University, and a German, Stefan Hell, from the Max Planck Institute, had been working separately on the same issue.

The key was to use fluorescence: make the molecules of the cells shine, in order to increase the focus and the resolution of the microscope.

Previously, to see very small structures, such as the parts of a cell or a virus, scientists had to use an electronic microscope. However, this cannot be used with live structures, because it slices the sample.

With this breakthrough, it is possible to see cell dynamics, understand how they work and what happens when they are affected by an illness, for example.

The three men will divide equally the prize of eight million Swedish krona (US $1.1 million). The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was the third so far this year, after the prizes in Medicine and Physics.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Diego Nigro/JC Imagem/Folhapress
	William Moerner was in Recife on Wednesday (8) when he found out that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry