STOCKHOLM, October 9. /TASS/. The Nobel Committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will name the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday.

The names of laureates are kept secret until the moment of announcement. Clarivate, a company that has been trying to forecast the names of laureates based on citation records and societal impact of their research, projects that this year’s award may go to David Baker of the United States and his UK colleagues John Jumper and Demis Hassabis "for contributions to the prediction and design of three-dimensional protein structures and functions."

Another potential contender is Kazunari Domen of Japan for his "fundamental research on photocatalysts for water splitting and the construction of solar hydrogen production systems."

The prize may also go to Roberto Car of the United States and Michele Parrinello of Italy "for the Car-Parrinello method for calculating ab-initio molecular dynamics, a revolution in computational chemistry."

Swedish experts also see the possibility of awarding the prize to scientists, who are working in the field of biomarkers and whose work made a great contribution into early diagnostics and treatment of dementia and other illnesses.

Another promising area is climate change and environment, including UK scientist Paul Anastas and his so-called "green chemistry" concept.

Last year’s winners

The 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded "for the discovery and development of quantum dots" which are currently "of great importance in nanotechnology." The prize went to two Americans, Moungi Bawendi and Louise Brus, and to Alexey Ekimov, a representative of the Soviet and Russian scientific school.

"Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED technology. They also add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue," the Nobel Committee said. Researchers believe that "in the future they could contribute to flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication," so the exploration of the potential of these tiny particles is only beginning.

Statistics

The Nobel Prize in Chmistry has been awarded 115 times, to 194 laureates in total. For various reasons, winners in this nomination were not announced in 1916, 1917, 1924, 1933 and 1940-1942.

The Nobel Prize has been awarded 621 times since 1901, to more than 1,000 people and organizations in total.

The award ceremony will take place in Stockholm on December 10, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. The size of the monetary component of the Nobel Prize will be 11 million kroner ($1.09 million at the current exchange rate).