Stockholm: The
Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to three scientists who helped to identify
Hepatitis C Virus in a human body. Michael Houghton, Charles M. Rice and Harvey
J. Alter were the three scientists to win the prestigious award this year. Houghton
is British while Rice and Alter are Americans. Hepatitis C virus is a deadly
disease that will primarily attack liver and cause cancer. The Nobel Prize Committee
headed by Thomas Perlmann announced the winner on Monday. The winners of Nobel
Prizes in different categories will be announced through the week.
The first Nobel
Prize had been awarded in 1901 after the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred
Nobel instructed in his will that the pioneers in Medicine, Peace, Chemistry,
Physics and Literature be awarded with Nobel Prize and a significant amount of
money for their efforts in their respective fields. The Nobel Prize is
considered to be the most prestigious award in the world. The awards emphasise
the medical research in human diseases as the world is still coming to grips
with the coronavirus. More than a million people have succumbed to the
coronavirus and is still raging across the globe with several countries in deep
peril.
