In 2011, the Nobel Foundation has granted the prestigious award in the category of medicine jointly to scientists Bruce A. Beutler, from the US, and Jules A. Hoffmann, from France, for their findings on the activation of innate immunity, and to Canadian scientist Ralph M. Steinman for his discovery of the dendritic cells and their role in adaptive immunity.

“This year’s winners of the Nobel Prize have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system through the discovery of key principles for its activation”, is written on the page of the Nobel Foundation.

The Nobel Prize is undoubtedly the most prestigious prize awarded in science, a recognition which started with its founder and has been consolidated throughout the 20th century. It comes with a financial prize of 10 million Swedish crowns, which is approximately 1.1 million Euros. The award of the Swedish Academy confers laureates, for whom it often represents the corollary of a long scientific career, enormous prestige and it even influences the paths taken in scientific research.

Unfortunately, Ralph M. Steinman died shortly before his name was announced as one of the winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2011. The Foundation, which does not give the award posthumously, upheld its decision, and Steinman’s part of the prize will go to his family.

Homepage of the Nobel Foundation:

 

André Silva
Editorial Team
news@fm.ul.pt