WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), along with National Academy of Sciences President Marcia McNutt, yesterday hosted a reception in the U.S. Capitol to honor the U.S. recipients of the 2017 Nobel Prizes. The event recognized the scientists for their significant contributions to their fields and the advancement of human knowledge. National Academy of Engineering President C.D. Mote, Jr. and National Academy of Medicine President Victor J. Dzau also attended the reception.
The reception honored the following Nobel laureates:
- Dr. Barry Barish and Dr. Kip Thorne, who shared one-half of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics in recognition of "decisive contributions to the LIGO [Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory] detector and the observation of gravitational waves."
- Dr. Joachim Frank, who received one-third of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for “developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution."
- Dr. Michael Rosbash and Dr. Michael Young, who each received one-third of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm."
Full audio and video of the event are available here.
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