Nobel Prize in Medicine Rewards 3 Scientists for Research on Brain Activity: NPR
Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel appear on screen as they receive the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, as announced during a press conference at the Nobel Forum at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, October 5, 2026.
Pontus Lundahl/TT news agency via AP
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Pontus Lundahl/TT news agency via AP
STOCKHOLM — The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded Monday to three scientists working on the mechanisms the brain uses to turn the activity of individual nerve cells on or off.
Karl Deisseroth, 54, Peter Hegemann, 71, and Georg Nagel, 73, conducted research on photosensitive ion channels and optogenetics. They are based at universities in Germany and the United States.
FILE – American scientist Karl Deisseroth, professor in the departments of bioengineering and psychiatry at Stanford University, presents his trophy in the field of “life sciences” during the Japanese prize award ceremony, Thursday April 13, 2023, in Tokyo.
Eugene Hoshiko/AP
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Eugene Hoshiko/AP
The Nobel committee praised their work, writing on X that the method “is now used in laboratories around the world to reveal the mysteries of the brain.”
The Nobel Assembly said Deisseroth is based at Stanford University in California, while Hegemann is at Humboldt University in Berlin and Nagel at the University of Würzburg in Germany.
Thomas Perlmann, the secretary of the medical committee, said he was able to reach the three winners by telephone on Monday.
The prize was announced at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, kicking off Nobel Prize Week.
This year’s prize money is 12 million Swedish crowns (about $1.2 million).
Last year, the prize was awarded to three scientists researching the immune system.
The medicine prize on Monday will be followed by the physics prize on Tuesday, chemistry on Wednesday and literature on Thursday.
After the Peace Prize is awarded on Friday, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on October 12.
This year’s prize money is 12 million Swedish crowns (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of winners or an organization.
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