Who will get the call from Stockholm? It’s time for STAT’s 2022 Nobel Prize predictions
We live in a time where the rate of medical and superlative scientific advances is accelerating — by more than 1,300% since 1985, according to one recent estimate. With so many “unprecedented,” “transformative” breakthroughs happening, forecasting which one will be awarded top research honors isn’t getting any easier. But with the naming of this year’s Nobels fast approaching — the medicine award will be announced on Oct. 3, physics on Oct. 4, chemistry on Oct. 5 — prize prognosticating for the World Series of Science is once again in full swing.
Public polls, tallies of other elite awards, and journal citations have helped betting-minded people collect the names of who’s most likely in the running. The shortlist includes researchers who elucidated how cells make energy, those who discovered the chemical chatter of bacteria, many of the brilliant minds who shepherded us into the “era of the genome,” and most prominently, the pioneers behind the mRNA Covid vaccines.
