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Karl Deisseroth Wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Medicine

By Drooid · Oct 10, 2026, 11:16 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Deisseroth Wins Nobel

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Karl Deisseroth the 2026 Nobel in Medicine.
Deisseroth shared the prize with German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
Their discovery of light-gated ion channels created optogenetics, enabling precise neuronal control with light.
Over 10,000 papers now use optogenetics to study behaviors such as hunger, aggression and memory.
After the announcement he gave media interviews while preparing school lunches for his children.

Summary

Pillay Wins Peace

Navanethem Pillay, former UN human-rights chief, received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
The Nobel Foundation raised each 2026 prize to 12 million kronor, adding one million for the 125th anniversary.
Anne Carson, Canadian poet and essayist, was named the 2026 Nobel laureate in Literature.
Carson disclosed a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis in an August 2024 London Review of Books article.

History

Historical Context

Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will created the Nobel Foundation (29 June 1900), which on 10 December 1901 awarded the first prizes—Karolinska Institute gave Emil von Behring the Medicine prize and laureates received 150,782 SEK. The 2026 ceremony honoring Karl Deisseroth and Navanethem Pillay shows how the award, overseen by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Nobel Committee, has become a platform for excellence.

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Deisseroth Wins Nobel

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Karl Deisseroth the 2026 Nobel in Medicine.
Deisseroth shared the prize with German researchers Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel.
Their discovery of light-gated ion channels created optogenetics, enabling precise neuronal control with light.
Over 10,000 papers now use optogenetics to study behaviors such as hunger, aggression and memory.
After the announcement he gave media interviews while preparing school lunches for his children.

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