Every year, six Nobel Prizes are awarded to honorees who have made a significant impact in one of six categories. These include, physiology or medicine, physics, economic sciences (also known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize), chemistry, literature or peace. 

In 1895, Alfred Nobel founded the award, during a time of rivalry between different empires and increased worry over the possibility of a world war. To prevent this war, Nobel wanted to offer prizes for people who attempted to make an effort for peace.

This year, on Oct. 6, six awardees or groups were given the Nobel Prize for their innovative work in one of these categories. Here are this year’s recipients of the prestigious award. 

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman have been awarded a prize in physiology. They have conducted groundbreaking research regarding how messenger ribonucleic acid works in humans’ immune systems, which led to the making of more efficient vaccines to fight COVID-19, which still has a global effect on people today.

Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huiller have been awarded the physics award. They developed a method to create very short pulses of light, making the study of electron dynamics in matter, a process of studying the motion of electrons under the action of forces in matter, more accessible. 

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov have been presented the chemistry award. They discovered quantum dots, which are nanoparticles created from conductors of moderate energy. They are so small in size that their measurements define their properties rather than their chemical aspects, an unconventional observation. The importance of this discovery is that they can largely increase the quality of displays, lighting and biomedical applications, which can benefit humankind.

Jon Fosse has been awarded the literature award. He has written many plays, which have symbolic meanings embedded in them, giving them a special touch. He has also made several other books for various audiences. For example, he has written the plays “The Name” and “The Dream of Autumn,” both of which convey ideas of love and the relationship  between couples in different situations.

Narges Mohammadi has received the peace award. She is an Iranian activist who is currently being held prisoner. She has consistently represented the fight for women’s representation and to promote human rights for everyone, even behind bars. 

She fought for representation by writing for reformist newspapers, and she has also written “The Reforms, the Strategy and the Tactics,” a book of political essays. Since then, she has written speeches and reports on the oppression of Iranian women, consistently representing this recurring issue of the oppression of women.

Claudia Goldin was awarded the economic sciences prize. She has been observing and researching the impacts of women in the labor market, specifically their increasing wages and their historical roles in this market. However, significant gender differences still remain in modern workplace societies today despite these insights.

Nobel Prizes are internationally renowned awards and are awarded to people who have done work that takes a lifetime to finish. According to the United Nations, the Peace Prize is awarded to people who have made many efforts to preserve humankind, and to make a beneficial impact worldwide.

“This is a great way to acknowledge people who are good at their craft,” English teacher Stephanie Halloran said. 

This year, and in past years, different individuals and organizations have contributed largely to making the world a better place, encompassing the six categories of the Nobel Prize. Thus, they have been given the Nobel Peace Prize as a result.

“I think what I like about it is that these are people who are doing what they’re doing, not for a prize,” Mrs. Halloran said.