2 . It is that time of the year, when a handful of world’s leading scholars, social activists and researchers are rewarded with what is often cited as the most prestigious acknowledgement of human effort-the Nobel Prize. Here’s a look at who has won the prize and for what.

Physiology or Medicine

Swedish geneticist Svante Peabo won the first Nobel of the year, for starting the field of ancient DNA studies. He is well-known for extracting, sequencing, and analyzing ancient DNA from Neanderthal bones.

Physics

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger’s work in quantum (量子) technology landed them the second Nobel Prize announced in 2022. Although Aspect is from France, Clauser from the U.S, and Zeilinger from Austria, the three separately performed “groundbreaking experiments” as one team. “Their results have cleared the way for new technology,” the committee stated.

Chemistry

The Nobel Prize for chemistry went to another trio, Carolyn R. Bertozzi from the U.S., Morten Meldal from Denmark and K. Barry Sharpless from the U.S. “for the development of click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry,” the committee stated. Dr. Bertozzi is the eighth woman chemist to be awarded the prize, while Dr. Sharpless is the fifth scientist to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Economics

The Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three American economists, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises,” the Nobel Prize committee announced on Monday. By studying the history of American economics, particularly the Great Depression of the 1930s,they improved how we understand the role of banks during times of hardship and the bank’s impact on societal functions.

4 . Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on 14 March, 1879.     1     Einstein was so smart that at age 16 he wrote his first paper. However, Einstein did badly at school.     2     He ended up at college in Switzerland. His grades meant it was difficult to get a job after college, but a friend found him work finally.

Albert had a great year in 1905, publishing (发表) four scientific papers!     3     One of the things he researched was that energy and mass (质量) are different forms of the same thing. This was explained by his famous equation E=mc². In 1909 Albert was finally made a professor at the University of Zurich. He continued improving his work, and in 1915 he published his theory of general relativity (广义相对论) .

In 1919, one of Albert’s theories was proved, making him the most famous scientist alive!     4    His work changed the way we think about time and space, and also helped with developments like the television.

    5     And in 1933, Albert decided to stay in the USA forever. He became an American in 1940. Sadly, Einstein’s work with atoms (原子) led to the invention of the atomic bomb. Albert spent the rest of his life taking part in activities for world peace. He died in 1955.

6 . Famous People Who Begin With Difficulties

Oprah Winfrey

Probably having one of the most famous success stories, Oprah was born into a poor family in Mississippi, raised by a single mother living on welfare. She was physically, and mentally abused during her childhood. Despite her initial struggles as a young girl, she turned herself into one of the most successful talk show hosts of our time.

Jim Carrey

Jim Carrey has been the star of some of the most successful movies of all time. But Carrey grew up extremely poor in Canada. When he was a teenager, his family took security jobs in a factory to help pay the bills. And during his first stand-up comedy performance, he was booed off （喝倒彩） the stage. Not shortly after, he made it big on In Living Color and then went on to star in Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and Ace Ventura in the same year!

James Dyson

If you thought Thomas Edison’s failures were bad, let me introduce you to James Dyson, the famous inventor of the Dyson vacuums （真空吸尘器） you see all over the television. Dyson developed over 5,000 failed prototypes （原型） before finding the bagless vacuum brand. Not only that, he put his entire savings account into his prototypes over fifteen years! Luckily, the bagless vacuum worked.

Stephen King

Before Stephen King became known as a great living writer—having written over 60 novels, many of which have been adapted for film and television—King was rejected over and over again. In his memoir, On Writing, King describes how he used to post his rejection letters on the wall for inspiration. His first novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times.

7 . Throughout history,female scientists,engineers and mathematicians have changed the world. But while their_______have been massive, their names and their stories have_______been publicized. Physicist Jess Wade wanted to_______the stories of great scientific pioneers who may be overlooked and she_______a unique way to do that: writing Wikipedia pages.

Wade told CBS News that while the_______of women in science is small in comparison to that of men, she has always had_______in the field. When she was a graduate student,Wade_______ an inspiring woman in science,Kim Cobb,who is a climate scientist at Brown University.

"So when I met her I thought she is a(n)_______person and I need to learn more about her. When I did a little search, I couldn't_______any information about her. What I________was a Wikipedia page but it wasn't there."

That's how Wade got the________—to start writing Wikipedia pages for diverse people in science who don't yet have them.

In her free time, Wade searches the Internet to________information,and then she gets to work writing Wikipedia pages. She's written more than 1,700 so far.

Wade is now making a________for herself in science,and she knows she wouldn't be here without those who came before her.“We all have a role to________in making science a more diverse and________place," she said.

10 . Valerie L. Thomas is an African American scientist and inventor best known for her patented (专利的) illusion transmitter (幻觉发射器) and contributions to NASA research.

Thomas was born in 1943 in Maryland. She was interested in science as a child. At the age of eight, her curiosity about how things worked inspired her to borrow a book called The Boy’s First Book of Radio and Electronics, which she took home hoping her father would help her take on some projects in it. However, he didn’t help her.

She attended an all-girls high school that did not help her with hands on projects either. But this changed in college, when Thomas was admitted to Morgan State University as one of the only two women in her class to major in physics. Thomas excelled in her studies. She graduated with excellent results and accepted a position as a data analyst at NASA.

In the 1970s, she managed the development of the image-processing systems for Landsat, the first satellite (人造卫星) to send images to the Earth from space. In 1980, Thomas received a patent for an illusion transmitter. The device produces optical illusion images by means of two concave mirrors (凹面镜). Unlike flat mirrors, which produce images that appear to be inside, or behind the mirror, concave mirrors create images that appear to be real, or in front of the mirror itself. This technology was later used by NASA and has since been adapted for use in surgery (外科手术) as well as the production of television and video screens.

Thomas continued to work for NASA until her retirement in 1995. Over the course of her career, Thomas contributed widely to the study of space. She helped develop computer program designs that supported research on Halley’s Comet, the ozone layer, and satellite technology. For her achievements, Thomas received a number of NASA awards including the Goddard Space Flight Center Award of Merit and the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal.