Important Days
World Nature Day – October 3
- World Nature Day aims to raise awareness about the challenges our environment faces, particularly due to climate change.
- The day was established by the World Nature Organization (WNO) in 2010.
Awards and Honour
2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology
- The 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their research that enabled the development of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.
- It was announced by The Royal Swedish Academy of Science.
- They were awarded the prize for their “discoveries concerning nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19”.
- The first vaccines to use the mRNA technology were those made by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna against COVID-19 – GEMCOVAC-OM.
- RNA as a therapeutic was first promoted in 1989
About mRNA vaccines
- mRNA stands for messenger RNA.
- A form of nucleic acid which carries genetic information.
- It activates the immune system to produce antibodies that help counter an infection from a live virus by introducing spike protein (protein found on the membrane of the virus)
- It does not expose individuals to the virus itself.
About Nobel Prize
- Ceremony date – 10 December 2023
- First awarded – 1901
- Categories – Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. Memorial prize in economic sciences was added in 1968.
- Reward – A gold-plated green gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary award of 11 million SEK.
- Established by the Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel through his last will.
- First Noble Prize Winner in India and Asia – Rabindranath Tagore for his work Geetanjali in 1913.
- Indian Nobel Prize laureates from 1913 to 2023
- Rabindranath Tagore (1913) – Literature
- C.V. Raman (1930) – Physics
- Har Gobind Khorana (1968) – Physiology or Medicine
- Mother Teresa (1979) – Peace
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983) – Physics
- Amartya Sen (1998) – Economics
- Kailash Satyarthi (2014) – Peace
- Abhijit Banerjee (2019) – Economics
ISRO scientists from T.N were rewarded
- Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced a cash reward of ₹25 lakh each for nine space scientists from Tamil Nadu.
- The awardees are
- Mr. Sivan, former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairperson.
- Mylswamy Annadurai, former Director of ISRO’s Satellite Centre
- V. Narayanan, Director of ISRO’s Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre
- A.Rajarajan, ISRO’s Launch Authorisation Board chief
- M. Sankaran, Director of U.R. Rao Satellite Centre
- J. Asir Packiaraj, ISRO’s Propulsion Complex Director
- V. Vanitha, Project Director of the Chandrayaan2 lunar mission
- Nigar Shaji, Project Director of the AdityaL1 mission
- P. Veeramuthuvel, Chandrayaan3 Project Director.
Note.
- TN announced a scholarship programme for nine engineering students pursuing
graduation with financial assistance under the 7.5% reservation for government school students. - The nine scholarships would be named after the nine rewarded ISRO scientists from Tamil Nadu.
