by Sven Kullander Why accelerators Particle accelerators are devices producing beams of energetic ions and electrons which are employed for many different purposes, one being ultra-precision microscopy. As is well known objects with dimensions down to the size of a living cell are investigated by optical microscopes and those down to atomic dimensions by electron…

By Lars Brink Forces One of the basic features in physics is the occurrence of forces that keep matter together. There are for example, the forces that keep the cells together to build up the human body, and there is the gravitational force that keeps us on the ground and the moon in orbit around…

Asilomar and recombinant DNA by Paul Berg1980 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry26 August 2004 Introduction Advances in the life sciences, particularly in biomedicine, are increasingly being scrutinized and their acceptance questioned. Novel technologies and ideas that impinge on human biology and their perceived impact on human values have renewed strains in the relationship between science…

On being a scientist: A personal view by John C. Polanyi1986 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry This article was published on 12 March 2001. Doing science Science never gives up searching for truth, since it never claims to have achieved it. It is civilizing because it puts truth ahead of all else, including personal interests.…

Hydrocarbons for the 21st century – The work of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute by George A. Olah1994 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry This article was published on 6 September 1999. Hydrocarbons derived from petroleum, natural gas, or coal are essential in many ways to modern life and its quality. The bulk of the world’s…

The RNA world by Sidney Altman1989 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry The phrase “The RNA World” was coined by in 1986 in a commentary on the then recent observations of the catalytic properties of various RNAs. The RNA World referred to an hypothetical stage in the origin of life on Earth. During this stage, proteins…

Exploring the new RNA world by Thomas R. Cech1989 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry This article was published on 3 December 2004. Not too long ago, most people considered RNA to be just a disposable copy of the really important nucleic acid, DNA. It is the double helix of DNA, after all, that shows up…

Joseph Brodsky: A Virgilian Hero, Doomed Never to Return Home by Bengt Jangfeldt This article was published on 12 December 2003. “All my poems are more or less about the same thing – about Time. About what time does to Man.” – Joseph Brodsky Rebel Poet It is impossible to speak about Russian literature without…

Naguib Mahfouz – The Son of Two Civilizations by Anders Hallengren This article was published on 16 October 2003. “I am the son of two civilizations that at a certain age in history have formed a happy marriage. The first of these, seven thousand years old, is the Pharaonic civilization; the second, one thousand four…

Harry Martinson: Catching the dewdrop, reflecting the cosmos by Ulf Larsson Introduction In October 1974 it was announced that the Nobel Prize in Literature for that year had been awarded to and . In the pages of several Swedish newspapers, the announcement provoked indignant reactions. The Swedish Academy had awarded the Prize to two of…