Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 17 hrs ago
Nobel rules leave many contributors unrecognised
This year’s science Nobel Prizes recognised a small number of people for work built on contributions from many others.
The medicine prize went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for work on optogenetics, a way to control neurons with light.
Earlier work by Gero Miessenböck, Edward Boyden, Ernst Bamberg and Feng Zhang also helped develop the technique and its uses.
The physics prize went to Francis Halzen for contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos from space.
IceCube is an international collaboration involving about 450 experts from 58 institutions in 14 countries.
Nobel rules limit each prize to three individual recipients, and the physics committee does not appear to award prizes to organisations.
The awards therefore leave out contributors whose work helped make the recognised discoveries and tools possible.
Nobel Prize rules limit each prize to at most three people and exclude anyone who has died by the time the award is announced.
The article argues that these limits leave important contributors unrecognised.
This year’s medicine prize for optogenetics went to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, while the article names other scientists whose work helped establish the field.
The physics prize went to Francis Halzen alone for work on the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, an international collaboration involving around 450 experts.
The article says the Nobel committees’ focus on individual breakthroughs can overlook collaborative contributions.
- Who
- Nobel committees and scientists whose contributions were not recognised. The article discusses medicine laureates Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, and physics laureate Francis Halzen.
- What
- The article examines how Nobel rules and award choices can leave contributors unrecognised.
- When
- The article was published on October 11, 2026, and discusses this year’s Nobel Prizes.
- Where
- The article discusses optogenetics research and the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, based in Antarctica.
- Why
- Nobel Foundation statutes limit each prize to at most three people and exclude people who have died before the award announcement; the article also points to a preference for singular breakthroughs.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin
Francis Halzen and John G. Learned reported the idea of using Antarctic ice to detect neutrinos from outer space.
Gero Miessenböck and colleagues sensitised neurons that were not naturally light-sensitive.
Feng Zhang was part of a team that adapted halorhodopsin to silence neurons with light; another team led by Xue Han and Edward Boyden demonstrated the same capability.
The Nobel Prizes discussed in the article recognised three scientists for optogenetics and Francis Halzen for work on IceCube.
- Medicine laureates
- Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel
- Physics laureate
- Francis Halzen
- IceCube collaboration
- Around 450 experts from 58 institutions in 14 countries
- Nobel prize limit
- At most three people per prize
- Optogenetics milestone
- Gero Miessenböck and colleagues sensitised neurons to light in 2002
Sources
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