The 2020 Nobel Prize in chemistry goes to Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna for developing a method for genome editing.
It is an award that has frequently honoured work which led to practical applications in wide use today — such as last year's win for the brains behind the lithium-ion battery.
A panel at the Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announced the recipients today.
The prestigious award comes with a gold medal and prize money of 10 million krona (more than $1.1 million), courtesy of a bequest left more than a century ago by the prize's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The amount was increased recently to adjust for inflation.
On Monday, the Nobel Committee awarded the prize for physiology and medicine to Americans Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British-born scientist Michael Houghton for discovering the liver-ravaging hepatitis C virus. Tuesday's prize for physics went to Roger Penrose of Britain, Reinhard Genzel of Germany and Andrea Ghez of the United States for their breakthroughs in understanding the mysteries of cosmic black holes.
The other prizes are for outstanding work in the fields of literature, peace and economics.
