Ganga Library Inc.

Alfred Nobel

Chemist, Inventor, Awesome Administrator, Social Reformer.

"It could and should soon come to pass that all states pledge themselves collectively to attack an aggressor. That would make war impossible, and would force even the most brutal and unreasonable Power to appeal to a court of arbitration, or else keep quiet."

Eugene F. Fama Ph.D., MBA

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2013
Nobel co-recipients Lars Peter Hansen, Robert J. Shiller

Economist. Empirical analysis of asset prices. Influenced development of index funds. Father of modern finance. Idea is 'how do you measure risk?' Windsurfing, golf, opera.

In University of Chicago - Economics. Environment so productive. "We have good people, you need that; very interactive environment; people help one another out a lot. I couldn't do what I did without the help of my professors, colleagues and students. Everybody contributes to everybody else."

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Richard F. Heck Ph.D.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010
Nobel co-recipients Ei-ichi Negishizz, Akira Suzuki

Physical organic chemist. Palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction. Sole author - 7 consecutive papers. Heck reaction: important concept, tool for organic and medicinal chemists; fuorescence labeling of DNA bases - sequencing DNA/Genome. Thinner computer screens in future. "Great art in test tube."

Growing orchids in early teens lead to passion for chemistry.

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Oliver E. Williamson Ph.D.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2009
Nobel co-recipient Elinor Ostrom

Economist and Founding Editor of the Journal of Law, Economics and Organization. His book, The Economic Institutions of Capitalism: Firms, Markets, Relational Contracting, is said to be the most frequently cited work in social science research.

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Gordon H. Bower Ph.D.

National Medal of Science - Behavior and Social Science 2005

"Psychologist, Cognitive-Social. Human memory, mnemonic devices, retrieval strategies, recording strategies, category learning. Cognitive processes, emotion, imagery, language and reading comprehension as they relate to memory. Mathematical Models, Computer Simulation of Memory, Behavior Modification."

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Paul C. Lauterbur Ph.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2003
Nobel Co-recipient Sir Peter Mansfield
The President's National Medal of Science - Physical Sciences 1987
The National Medal of Technology and Innovation 1988

Chemist. Magnetic resonance imaging.

"Every great idea in history has the red stamp of rejection on its face. If you scratch any innovation's surface, you'll find the scars: they've been roughed up and thrashed around by the masses and the leading minds before they made it into your life."

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Gene Likens Ph.D.

National Medal of Science - Biological Sciences 2001

Zoologist. Ecosystem ecology, biogeochemistry, acid rain, human impacts on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Linked fossil fuel combustion to acid rain. Founder, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

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Nancy Andreason M.D.,Ph.D.

National Medal of Science - Biological Sciences 2000

Psychiatrist, Litterateur. Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, Genomics, Neuroimaging, Neuroscience of Creativity, Schizophrenia. Writes books to educate laity and reduce stigma. Founding Chair, Neuroscience Section, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Creative people tend to be very persistent, even when confronted with skepticism or rejection.

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William D. Phillips Ph.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997
Nobel co-recipients Steven Chu, Claude Cohen-Tannoudji

Physicist. Development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. Think about physics intuitively. Open, lively discussion of physics problems. Do physics at frontiers competitively with openness, humanity, cooperation. Excellent teacher. Religious.

"No prize can compare in importance to family and friends I count as my greatest treasures".

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Vinton Cerf Ph.D.

National Medal of Technology and Innovation 1997

One of two Fathers of the Internet. TCP/IP protocols. Internet Architecture. Chief Internet Evangelist, Google. Interplanetary Internet. Living Legend.

"Brilliant, indescribably enthusiastic, humorous, happy, treats people extremely well. It would be nice to go to work every day and work with people like Vint Cerf." – R.V. Nagaveni, Founder, Ganga Library.

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Shing-Tung Yau Ph.D.

National Medal of Science - Mathematics and Computer Science 1997

Mathematician. Differential geometry, Differential equations, General relativity. Calabi-Yau manifolds. Miyaoka-Yau inequality. Founder: Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Morningside Center of Mathematics at Academia Sinica; Center of Mathematical Sciences at Zhejiang University; Tsinghua Mathematical Sciences Center, China. Adviser more than 50 doctoral students.

Family fled mainland China and Communist takeover when he was an infant. Leader of street gang and often skipped school.

Shing-Tung Yau

John C. Harsanyi Ph.D.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 1994
Co-Nobelists: John F. Nash Jr., Reinhard Selten

Economist. Contributed to developing game theory. Hungarian-American.

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Gertrude B. Elion M.S.[Chemistry]

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988
Co-Nobelists: Sir James W. Black, George H. Hitchings
National Medal of Science - Chemistry 1991

Chemist, Pharmacologist. Discovered principles for drug treatment; developed drugs - anticancer, immunosuppressive, antiviral, antibacterial, anti-gout, anti-malarial. Purines.

"I was a child with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. My beloved grandfather died of cancer when I was 15. I was highly motivated to discover a cure for this terrible disease".

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Jean-Marie Lehn Ph.D.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1987
Nobel co-recepients Donald J. Cram, Charles J. Pedersen

Chemist. Interests: Supramolecular chemistry, Self-assembly and self-organization, Constitutional dynamic chemistry; Music, Philosophy.

Founding director, 'Chemistry, a European Journal'. Gave starting impetus to other European journals, rare manifestation of European spirit and supranationality bridging historical divides!

President, International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development, helping chemists in developing countries.

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Michael H. Freedman Ph.D.

National Medal of Science - Mathematics and Computer Science 1987

American mathematician. Proof of Poincare Conjecture in dimension four. One of the greatest achievements in mathematics in this century. Fields Medal, 1986.

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Seymour Benzer Ph.D.[Physics]

National Medal of Science - Biological Sciences 1982

Physicist, molecular biologist, behavioral biologist (neurogeneticist). Post Pearl Harbor worked in secret wartime project studying semiconducting properties of germanium, work that foreshadowed development of transistor. Functional gene is a linear stretch of DNA with definable boundaries. Stretches of DNA are all linked to each other as adjacent pieces of chromosome.

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Adolfo Pérez Esquivel

The Nobel Peace Prize 1980

Human Rights Leader, Architect, Sculptor. Believed in nonviolence. Fought for indigenous peoples.

"It is essential to have inner peace and the serenity of prayer to listen to the silence of God, which speaks to us, in our personal life and the history of our times, of the power of love."

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H. Gobind Khorana Ph.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1968
National Medal of Sciences - Biological Sciences 1978
Co-Nobelists: Robert W. Holley, Marshall W. Nirenberg

Organic Chemist, Biochemist. 'Genetic code interpretation, function in protein synthesis. Pioneered synthesizing biologically active gene, determine codon triplets' nucleotides order. Unraveled genetic code, how nucleic acids form proteins. Pioneered genetic engineering. Multidisciplinary work.

"Wife brought sense of purpose. In foreign country, I felt out of place everywhere, at home nowhere."

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James D. Watson

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962
The President's National Medal of Sciences - Biological Sciences 1997
Co-Nobelists Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins

Zoologist. 'Discovered molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material.' Very generous with subordinates regarding authorship of articles.

"Good science is difficult. We must believe strongly in our ideas."

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Herbert S. Gasser M.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1944
Co-Nobelist Joseph Erlanger

Physician, Electrophysiologist, Pharmacologist. Discovered differentiated functions of single nerve fibers. Two types of nerve fibers with different thicknesses; thicker fibers convey nerve impulses fast.

Two times for working on a problem - before anyone has thought of it and after everyone else has left it - result: innovator or finalist.

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Gerhard Domagk

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1939

Award: "for the discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil."

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Thomas H. Morgan Ph.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1933

Zoologist, Geneticist. Chromosome role in heredity, sex determination. Drosophila. Genes stored in chromosomes in nuclei. Epigenetics. Combination rule. Limited number of combination groups. Crossing-over rule. Linear arrangement of genes in chromosomes.

Didn’t attend Nobel award ceremony, because in Caltech, busy establishing new physiology group and with future of biochemistry, genetics.

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Karl Landsteiner

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1930

Physician - Anatomic Pathologist, Father of Immunology. ABO Blood Groups, Rh Typing. Paroxysmal Haemoglobinuria. Polio. Spirochaetes. Chemistry into service of serology. Meticulous observation, description, understanding in many fields.

Rigorously demanding of himself. Energetic. By nature somewhat pessimistic, preferred to live away from people.
Characteristic of him - died pipette in hand.

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Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman M.A. [Physics]

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1930

Atomic Physicist. Molecular Diffraction of Light. Raman Effect. Structure, optical behaviour of iridescent substances. Acoustics, violin.

Raman lost Nobel Prize money to fraudulent financer. Meeting fraudster years later, he said: You deserve Nobel Prize for your cunning in duping Nobel Laureate!

Playful comment: Unfortunately Economics Nobel instituted later in 1969!

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Henri Bergson

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1927

Philosopher, Essayist wrote in French. Rich and vitalizing ideas and brilliant skill in presentation. President, Commission for Intellectual Cooperation of League of Nations.

Philosophical system demonstrating Nobel's idea of acknowledging with his Prizes, not human deeds but new ideas revealed through select personalities. Regain for man's consciousness the divine gift of intuition and to put reason in its proper place: serving and controlling ideas.

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George Bernard Shaw

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1925

Award: "for his work which is marked by both idealism and humanity, its stimulating satire often being infused with a singular poetic beauty."

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

Pygmaion/My Fair Lady

Willem Einthoven Physician

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1924

Physician, Physiologist. Discovered electrocardiogram [EKG/ECG] mechanism. It was known that heart generates weak electrical current varying in health, heart disease. Invented galvanometer recording these currents. Named electrical waves P, Q, R, S, T. [P petite; next letters in alphabet]. Interests: Physics, Acoustics, Asthma, Optics, Physical activity. Great concentration. Generous, Kind.

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Anatole France

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1921

Novelist, storyteller; almost all genres. Nobility of style, profound human sympathy, true Gallic temperament. Historical fiction evokes past civilizations with great charm, deep insight.

Post-World War I. At Nobel ceremony Frenchman France turned to Nobelist, German Nernst, exchanged a long and cordial handshake with him - a profoundly symbolic gesture.

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Knut Pedersen Hamsun

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1920

Norwegian writer. In youth, poverty stricken. Little formal education. Leader of Neo-Romantic revolt. Promoted individualism. Exciting description of nature.

"I sat looking at her with rapt attention. What a wonderful pleasure to be sitting in a human dwelling again, and talk with a lively young girl instead of with myself!"

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Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1916

Swedish Poet, Writer. New era in Swedish literature. Perspectives to inner life. Love for ancestral hearth and for home of one's birth most strongly links man to life.

"O Man, you will become wise only when you reach the summit of the evening-cool heights where all the earth is beheld"

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Rabindranath Tagore

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1913

Indian Poet, Bangali, English. All literary genres. Voice of India's Spiritual Heritage. Social reformer. Promoted gender equality, empowerment of women. Indian National Movement participant. Mahathma Gandhi was his devoted friend. Founder, school in Shantiniketan. Author, National Anthem of India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

"Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom."

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Henri La Fontaine

The Nobel Peace Prize 1913

Lawyer, Socialist, Parliamentarian, Peace Activist. International Peace Bureau. Internationalism, "An Intellectual Parliament" for Humanity. Cofounder, Institut international de bibliographie. Education. Women's rights. Labor. Cultural achievements.

When Germany invaded Belgium, 1914, "Peoples will be as before, the sheep sent to the slaughterhouses or to the meadows as it pleases the shepherds."

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Alfred Fried

The Nobel Peace Prize 1911
Nobel Co-recipient Tobias Asser

Publisher, Philosopher. Founder, Die Friedenswarte (peace publication). Permanent Court of Arbitration, Netherlands. Collaborator, Nobelist Bertha von Suttner. Propaganda for peace: war was proof of validity of pacifistic analysis of world politics.

War is not in itself a condition so much as the symptom of a condition, that of international anarchy.

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Count Maurice (Mooris) Polidore Marie Bernhard Maeterlinck

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1911

Belgian writer in French. Lawyer. Many-sided literary activities. Dramatic works distinguished by a wealth of imagination. Poetic fancy. Reveals deep inspiration. Appeals to readers' own feelings, stimulates their imaginations.

When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.

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Paul Johann Ludwig Heyse

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1910

German writer: drama, poetry, prose. World-renowned short stories. Idealism. Consummate artistry permeated with idealism. Philology. Doctorate for dissertation on the refrain in Provençal poetry. Nobleman.

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Selma Ottolia Lovisa Lagerlöf

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1909

Author. Lofty idealism, vivid imagination. Described peasant life, Nordic nature accompanied by ethical strength, deep religious feeling. Respect for Nature, Women's Causes. 1914, became member of the Swedish Academy which awards Nobel Prize for Literature.

"Nothing on earth can make up for the loss of one who has loved you."

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Rudolf Christoph Eucken

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1908

Writer, Philosopher.

Idealism raises our life to greatness above the hubbub of everyday life by representation of eternal truths; in midst of our dark situation it can strengthen our belief in reason of life. Only faith can enable us to cope with enormous obstacles, fill us with confidence of success.

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Paul Ehrlich

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908
Nobel co-recipient Ilya Mechnikov

Physician, Scientist. Immunologist, Hematology pioneer. Founded Chemotherapy. Classified stains. Stained tissues, blood cell granules, tubercle bacillus. Standardized sera. Idea: Drugs’ chemical constitution related to action, affinity for cells against which directed.

"Schwann established cell as biological unit. Concept of cell is axis around which whole modern science of life revolves"

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Theodore Roosevelt

The Nobel Peace Prize 1906

President, USA. International Peace Arbitrator, various treaties. Vigorous, businesslike. "We abhor bully, oppressor, in private or public life". Conservationist, protected 230,000,000 acres of public land.

After camping in Yosemite National Park, "It was like lying in a great solemn cathedral, far vaster and more beautiful than any built by man."

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Giosuè Carducci

The Nobel Prize in Literature 1906
Nobel Co-recipient Ernesto Teodoro Moneta

Poet, Senator. Wrote poetry as child. Excellent translator, literary historian, orator. Conducted research in every phase of literature and eloquently expressed his findings. Poetry inspired compatriots in war for Italian independence, enjoyed immense popularity at home and abroad. Greatest Italian literary figure in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

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Niels Ryberg Finsen M.D.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1903

Physician. Founder, phototherapy in dermatology. Lupus vulgaris treatment. Researched salt. Despite having Niemann-Pick disease, strong willed, persevering.

Denmark early education - Rector: "Niels is a very nice boy. His gifts are small; he’s devoid of energy." Cause: fagging for older pupils. Moved to Iceland school; succeeded despite not knowing language.

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