2016 - All Press Releases

Springer Nature congratulates Nobel Prize winning authors

London, 13 October 2016

Eight out of the 11 Nobel Prize Laureates for 2016 are authors of research or books published by Springer Nature. The Nobel Prize is awarded to exceptional people demonstrating high achievement in their field of work. Winners of this year’s Nobel Prize were announced over the last week and will be presented at the formal ceremony in Stockholm on the 10th of December 2016.

Steven Inchcoombe, Chief Publishing Officer for Springer Nature, said: "Yet again, many of the new Nobel Laureates have trusted Springer Nature to publish their work, and we offer our congratulations to all this year’s winners. The Nobel Prize is seen as one of the highest honours and it reflects the contribution made, and dedication given, by each person to their respective field.

"It’s a real testament to the quality of our books and journals, that they are seen as a key forum to share knowledge for the world’s most renowned academics. We are especially proud of the fact that we have provided the new Laureates with long-term support, with many of them publishing book chapters, editorials and novel research findings throughout their career, and we look forward to seeing which of the early career researchers we published this year could be future Nobel Laureates."

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi "for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy".  Yoshinori Ohsumi has previously published research with Springer Nature including articles in Nature, Nature Cell Biology and Nature Communications. Amongst them are two Nature articles from 1998 and 2000 which are highlighted in the Nobel Prize announcement itself. The 1998 article describes the first set of proteins that regulate autophagy in mammalian cells and the 2000 article reports the molecular system that influences membrane dynamics during autophagy.  Ohsumi has also published research in Springer journals, including an article in the Journal of Bimolecular NMR revealing the physical structure of a protein involved in autophagy.

David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics "for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter". All three of the winners are authors of research articles and chapters in academic books published by Springer Nature. These include books on topology and phase transitions for which the Nobel Prize was awarded.

The Nobel Prize for Chemistry was shared this year by three people who have published work with Springer Nature. Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa won this year’s prize "for the design and synthesis of molecular machines". Fraser Stoddart is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of the SpringerOpen journal Applied Nanoscience, making him the second SpringerOpen editor to win a Nobel Prize in recent years. Fraser Stoddart has also published articles with Nature, including a 1994 paper describing a chemically and electrochemically switchable molecular shuttle. Bernard Feringa's research describing the famous molecular rotor was also published in Nature in 1999. Jean-Pierre Sauvage has published several books and articles with Springer explaining the principles of molecular machines.

Steven Inchcoombe added: "Springer Nature have been a key partner in the scientific endeavours of Nobel Laureates. Previous Laureates have authored research across the portfolio including articles for BioMed Central, Nature Research, Springer and Palgrave Macmillan."

Congratulations are due to the winners of this year’s Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström, "for their contributions to contract theory". Oliver Hart has previously authored chapters for several books published by Palgrave Macmillan. Springer Nature also congratulates this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, Juan Manuel Santos, the President of Colombia, "for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end", and the Nobel Prize for Literature winner, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".


ENDS

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Matthew Lam
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T: +44 (0)20 3192 2722
E: matthew.lam@springernature.com

About Springer Nature

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