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How many people will believe that Manchester has been the home to more than 25 Nobel laureates? What could you do with a pencil and a piece of Sellotape? Read on…

A blog by Rosie Upstill and Anne Dornan

Manchester and the Nobel Prizes

Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Founded by Alfred Nobel in his famous will signed on 27 November 1895, a year before his death, the Prize is one of the most coveted around the world.

The University of Manchester boasts an illustrious history of Nobel Prize wins, counting 25 Nobel laureates among its staff and students, past and present. It is not known how many more individuals with a connection to Manchester itself have won a Nobel Prize.

This year, Manchester laid claim to not one but two Nobel Prizes. Professor Robert G. Edwards, Manchester born and bred, was awarded the prize for physiology or medicine in recognition of his pioneering work in the development of in vitro fertilization (IVF). Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, based at the University of Manchester, received the prize for physics for their groundbreaking experiments with the world’s thinnest material, graphene.

The Pioneers of IVF

Professor Robert G. Edwards was born in Manchester in 1925 and was educated at Manchester Central High School on Whitworth Street. Edwards, now 85, developed IVF technology with the late Patrick Steptoe, a gynaecologic surgeon. Steptoe himself came to Manchester to work at Oldham General Hospital in 1951, pursuing an interest in fertility problems. Together their contributions represent a milestone in the development of modern medicine.

IVF is a process in which egg cells are fertilised outside the body and then implanted into the womb. This groundbreaking work led to the birth of the world’s first test tube baby, Louise Brown, in 1978 in nearby Oldham. It is estimated that four million babies have been born through the IVF method since it was pioneered in Oldham, changing lives across the world. Louise Brown and several other IVF babies have grown up and gone on to give birth to children themselves – evidence of the safety and success of IVF.

‘’The most important thing in life is having a child. Nothing is more special than a child.’’ Professor Edwards

The Material of the Future

The University of Manchester may have an impressive record overall, but through the University’s physics department have passed no fewer than twelve Nobel laureates. After a 33 year break, the Prize returned in 2010 thanks to the experimentations of Professors Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov.

Graphene is an incredible form of carbon, the thinnest and strongest material ever discovered. It conducts electricity and heat, and it is almost totally transparent, yet so dense that even helium cannot pass through it. Geim and Novoselov made their extraordinary breakthrough with this material in 2004. They extracted graphene from a piece of graphite, just like the kind found in a pencil. Using ordinary adhesive tape they peeled off a flake of carbon with the thickness of a single atom.

Their work has had a huge effect on materials science – many had believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. The list of potential uses for graphene seems endless – in sensors, transistors, solar cells, even flat screens and aircraft. Graphene even made a recent guest appearance on TV show The Big Bang Theory.

“We have had a fantastic seven years working together on this new material graphene. The University is well suited to this style of research – we have excellent facilities. It’s great to be a young academic at The University of Manchester and I’m grateful to everyone who has collaborated with us.” Professor Novoselov

Biographies

Robert Edwards was born in Manchester in 1925 and educated at Manchester Central High School. He studied Biological Sciences at the University of Wales, Bangor, before receiving his Ph.D. in 1955 from the University of Edinburgh. Edwards joined the University of Cambridge in 1963 where he co-founded Bourn Hall Clinic, the world’s first IVF centre. Edwards is remains professor emeritus at the University of Cambridge.

Andre Geim was born in 1958 in Russia to German parents, and now has Dutch nationality. He received an MSc in 1982 and gained a Ph.D. in 1987 at the Institute of Solid State Physics, Chernogolovka, Russia. After working there for another three years, he conducted research in England and Denmark. In 1994, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He joined The University of Manchester in 2001 as Professor of Physics, today holding the position of Langworthy Research Professor.

Konstantin Novoselov was born in Russia in 1974. He also has British citizenship. He received a Diploma from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology before completing his PhD at The University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands in 2004. In 2001 he moved to Manchester with Geim, his former doctoral professor at Nijmegen. Novoselov joined The University of Manchester as a Leverhulme Research Fellow in 2005.

The University of Manchester’s Nobel Laureates

The University of Manchester boasts an impressive record when it comes to Nobel laureates. Overall, there have been 25 Nobel Prizes awarded to staff and students past and present, with some of the most important discoveries of the modern age being made here in Manchester.

Chemistry:

• Ernest Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908 for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements and the chemistry of radioactive substances. He was the first to probe the atom.
• Arthur Harden was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1929 for investigations on the fermentation of sugar and fermentative enzymes.
• Walter Haworth was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1937 for his investigations on carbohydrates and vitamin C.
• Robert Robinson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1947 for his investigations on plant products of biological importance, especially the alkaloids.
• Alexander Todd was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1957 for his work on nucleotides and nucleotide co-enzymes.
• Melvin Calvin was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1961 for his research on the carbon dioxide assimilation in plants.
• John Charles Polanyi was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1986 for his contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes.
• Michael Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993 for his fundamental contributions to the establishment of oligonucleotide-based, site-directed mutagenesis and its development for protein studies.

Physics:

• Joseph John (J. J.) Thomson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1906 in recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of electricity by gases.
• William Lawrence Bragg was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1915 for his services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of X-rays.
• Niels Bohr was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1922 for his fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics.
• Charles Thomson Rees (C. T. R.) Wilson was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1927 for his method of making the paths of electrically charged particles visible by condensation of vapour.
• James Chadwick was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935 for the discovery of the neutron.
• George de Hevesy was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1943 for his work on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes.
• Patrick M. Blackett was awarded Nobel Prize in 1948 for developing cloud chamber and confirming/discovering positron.
• Sir John Douglas Cockcroft was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1951 for his pioneer work on the splitting of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles and also for his contribution to modern nuclear power.
• Hans Bethe was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1967 for his contributions to the theory of nuclear reactions, especially his discoveries concerning the energy production in stars.
• Nevill Francis Mott was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1977 for his fundamental theoretical investigations of the electronic structure of magnetic and disordered systems.
• Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize in 2010 for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.

Physiology and Medicine:

• Archibald Vivian Hill was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1922 for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle. He was one of the founders of the diverse disciplines of biophysics and operations research.
• Sir John Sulston was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002, for his discoveries concerning ‘genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death’. He is currently Chair of the Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation (iSEI) at the University of Manchester.

Economics:

• John Hicks was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974 for his pioneering contributions to general economic equilibrium theory and welfare theory.
• Sir Arthur Lewis was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1979 for his pioneering research into economic development research with particular consideration of the problems of developing countries.
• Joseph E. Stiglitz was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2001 for his analyses of markets with asymmetric information. He currently heads the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) at the University of Manchester.