2008 Nobel Prizes

The 2008 Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden. Six categories were awarded: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences.^[1]

Nobel Week took place from December 6 to 12, including programming such as lectures, dialogues, and discussions. The award ceremony and banquet for the Peace Prize were scheduled in Oslo on December 10, while the award ceremony and banquet for all other categories were scheduled for the same day in Stockholm.^[2][3]

Prizes

Physics

Awardee(s)
	Makoto Kobayashi (b. 1944)	Japanese	"for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature"	[4]
	Toshihide Maskawa (1940–2021)
	Yoichiro Nambu (1921–2015)	Japanese American	"for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics"

Chemistry

Awardee(s)
	Osamu Shimomura (1928–2018)	Japanese[5]	"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP"	[6]
	Martin Chalfie (b. 1947)	American
	Roger Y. Tsien (1952–2016)

Physiology or Medicine

Awardee(s)
	Harald zur Hausen (1936–2023)	Germany	"for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"	[7]
	Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (b. 1947)	France	"for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"
	Luc Montagnier (1932–2022)

Literature

Awardee(s)
	Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio (b. 1940)	France Mauritius	"author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilization"	[8]

Peace

Awardee(s)
	Martti Ahtisaari (1937–2023)	Finland	"for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts."	[9]

Economic Sciences

Awardee(s)
	Paul Krugman (b. 1953)	United States	"for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity"	[10]

Controversies

Physiology or Medicine

zur Hausen's award for the Physiology or Medicine Prize was overshadowed by a brief investigation into possible corruptive influences between the Nobel Foundation and AstraZeneca, a pharmaceutical company that had major stake in HPV vaccines. Although it was revealed that two senior officials on the selection committee had ties to AstraZeneca, no formal indictment happened.^[11] Many also showed dismay at the lack of acknowledgement for Robert Gallo's contributions to HIV/AIDS research.^[12]