The anticipation builds as the countdown to the Nobel Prize Committee’s announcement for the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipients draws near.
“This is the ‘Oscars’ of science,” said Paul Bracher, Ph. D., assistant professor of chemistry at Saint Louis University (SLU). “It’s the glitz and glamour of the scientific world. The one morning where everyone’s attention is focused on chemistry.”
Bracher posts his annual Nobel predictions on his blog, ChemBark. This year, Bracher has selected Harry B. Gray, Richard H. Holm and Stephen J. Lippard as his top picks for their pioneering work in bioinorganic chemistry.
Regardless of which chemists are selected by the Nobel Committee, Bracher is available to weigh-in on the significance of the winners’ chemistry achievements. Winner of Saint Louis University’s top teaching award, Bracher has a gift for explaining complicated science to a lay audience.
The Nobel Prize Committee will announce the winners of the chemistry prize via live stream from Stockholm, Sweden on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 4:45 a.m. CST
Blogging about chemistry is a hobby Bracher began as a graduate student at Harvard University where he obtained a doctorate of philosophy in chemistry in 2010. Although he majored in science, there is no scientific method to the madness of his Nobel odds, which he declares are based solely on “gut instinct.”
Bracher says traffic on his blog is high during Nobel week and represents an opportunity to help inform discussion about pertinent scientific discoveries.
