Every Fall the Nobel Prize is awarded in six categories: Chemistry, Physics, Physiology and Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences. It takes a long time to win a Nobel Prize (unless of course you are Barack Obama) and most awardees in the sciences end up being honored for initial discoveries that they made years ago that have had a tremendous impact on society since their discovery.
This year the winners are:
Physiology and Medicine - Robert G. Edwards for developing in vitro fertilization, which most people know is a way around infertility to help people have children who otherwise wouldn't be able to.
Physics - Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for discovering the "two-dimensional material graphene" which is basically a new carbon-based material that is very thin but very strong and is useful in experiments in quantum physics.
Chemistry - Richard F. Heck, Ei-ichi Negishi, and Akira Suzuki for "palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis" which is a method that helps organic chemists stabilize carbon atoms so that they can be manipulated and used in research.
The prizes in Literature, Peace, and Economic Science haven't been announced yet, but they will be on October 7, 8, and 11 respectively so be sure to check the news for those winners it is always interesting to see who gets recognized, and sometimes the results can be shocking (like Obama's win in the Peace category last year.)
Here is some more coverage of the science winners:
MSNBC: Test-tube baby pioneer wins Nobel Prize in Medicine
Scientific American: Robert Edwards Wins the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for Pioneering In Vitro Fertilization (by the way, way too long for a title)
Physics Today: Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov win 2010 physics Nobel for graphene
Associated Press: Nobel Prize honors super-strong, super-thin carbon
USA Today: 2 Japanese, American share Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Associated Press (via MSNBC): Trio wins Nobel for key chemical tool
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