Women Wins Nobel For Literature And Chemistry This Year

The Nobel Prize 2022 announcements are currently in process. While the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Literature have been announced, awards for Peace and Medicine are yet to be declared. The Nobel Prize committee revealed the names of winners in Physics, Chemistry and Literature recently via their social media channels and press release. Two women have been honoured with the award until now, for this year.

Annie Ernaux and Carolyn Bertozzi have been conferred the Nobel Prize 2022 for their contribution to literature and chemistry respectively. 58 women have won the Nobel Prize between 1901 to 20221, and with Annie Ernaux and Carolyn Bertozzi winning, the tally has gone up to 60. Scientist Marie Curie is the only woman to have won the Nobel Prize twice, one in 1903 for Physics and the other in 1911 for Chemistry.

Suggested reading: Who is Carolyn Bertozzi? 2022 Nobel Prize Winner In Chemistry

Nobel Prize 2022 Women Winners

Annie Ernaux

82-year-old Ernaux is a writer and professor of literature. Her exemplary work in literature is closely linked with sociology. Popularly known for her autobiographical work, the French Laureate's notable work includes Simple Passion, A Woman's Story, and A Man's Place. Ernaux started her career in 1974 and most of her work has been translated into the English language. She was also nominated for the International Booker Prize for her book, The Years, in the year 2019. As a writer who has always written about the very fabric of the society we live in, she has covered diverse angles examining gender and class.

The press release stated: "The Nobel Prize in Literature is being awarded to Annie Ernaux for the courage and clinic acuity with which she uncovers roots, estrangements and collective restrains of personal memory."

Ernaux is one of the 17 women, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature between 1901 to 2022.

Carolyn Bertozzi

Carolyn Ruth Bertozzi, 55, is an American Chemist and professor. She currently works as a researcher and professor at Stanford University in California. The Nobel Prize committee honoured Bertozzi with an award in Chemistry owing to her outstanding contribution to the field with her work in biorthogonal reactions, which is being used globally for clinical trials as well.

Bertozzi shares the award with her colleagues on the project, Morten Meldel and Barry Sharpless, who have shaped the workaround Click Chemistry, which is a functional form of chemistry where molecular building blocks snap together and work efficiently. Bertozzi's work led to the development of click reactions working inside living organisms, and the fact that her biorthogonal reactions took place without disrupting the normal chemistry of the cells, marked the success of the entire project helmed by the three Chemists.

Carolyn R Bertozzi lives in California and shares three children with her wife. She proudly represents the LGBTQ+ community and is vocal about issues around women's rights, gender imbalances, LGBTQ+ rights, and equal pay. Bertozzi is one of the eight women winners in Chemistry in the history of the Nobel Prize. 

The Nobel Prize is considered one of the most honourary prizes around the globe. The gender gap when it comes to award recipients, however, is huge considering the awards have been in place since 1901. Only 60 women have won the award up until now compared to the 800-plus men in the history of Nobel-winning Laureates. | Nobel Prize 2022 Women Winners