The Nobel Prizes this year definitely have something to say to every woman waiting to be inspired. Yes, it is getting better. We are doing well!

Elinor Ostorm became the first woman to win the Prize in Economics. Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider were awarded a Nobel Prize in Medicine – the first time two laureates in the same category were female. Ada E. Yonath was only the fourth woman to win a Prize in Chemistry and Herta Mueller won the Prize in Literature. In all, these women won five of the 13 Nobels awarded in 2009; and five of the 41 ever awarded to women.

Their discoveries and theories are nothing short of stunning.

Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider found a clue to aging. Our cells have chromosomes, which contain all the information essential for life. This information, stored on DNA as genes, has to be copied perfectly each time a cell divides. But scientists never knew how the thread-like DNA strands copied themselves all the way to the end, without snapping. At least not until Elizabeth Blackburn met Harvard researcher Jack Szostak, who shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine with the two women.

Blackburn and Szostack discovered that every chromosome wears protective caps called telomeres, which help them copy themselves without breaking. With her then graduate student, Carol Greider, Blackburn later discovered the enzyme that makes these chromosome caps. These caps grow smaller in size as the cell grows older, and when they finally are too small for survival, the chromosome snaps and the cell dies. In older people, this occurs more often, explaining many changes like their sagging skin or wearing-out joints that we see and attribute to old age.

But this discovery offers no tonic for youth. Aging is more complex than chromosome caps. Their discovery instead offers insight into cancer. The enzyme that Blackburn and Greider discovered is found in excess in tumour cells, letting them divide innumerable times. This explains the abundance of abnormal cells in most cancers. Drugs that fight this enzyme can help us in our battle against cancer. Currently, these potent agents are on trial.

In the field of Chemistry, Ada Yonath did what many told her was impossible to do. She used X-rays to read into the protein factories of our cells.

The DNA in our cells speaks a coded language. Ribosomes translate this code into proteins. Proteins can speak a language our bodies understand. In a way, they almost entirely run our lives. They are the building blocks which form our cells along with lipids, and also the enzymes that dictate what these cells should do. In short, you and I are what our proteins ask us to be.

Thanks to Yonath and the individual efforts of Indian-born Cambridge researcher Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and American researcher Thomas Steitz, we now know how the secret codes in the DNA are translated to life. Because all living organisms have proteins, we can use this discovery to battle bacteria – especially those which have developed resistance to the antibiotics in use.

Elinor Ostrom’s theory makes self-governance possible and challenges ownership ideas. As the Nobel Committee cited in their examples of irrigation in Nepal, small and primitive dams have helped communities survive much better than internationally funded dams that the Nepalese government built. Most people assume that a common property to which many users have access cannot sustain itself for long. But Ostrom’s examples show that common property is surprisingly well managed. In Mongolia for example, she demonstrated how livestock was managed well by the nomads who seasonally moved their herds. In contrast, the government of Russia and China in neighboring areas did not do well.

Herta Mueller, unlike the others enjoys more female company in her field. She is the 12^th woman to win the Nobel Prize for literature. And she enjoys this for publically criticizing the idea of dictatorship.

The 2009 Nobel Prizes show us that women can be passionate and perseverant. We are fighting a battle for equality and this year a number of women have proved us right – we can think, we can discover, we can explore and we can win – just like the male of our species. I’d like to believe that this is more than pure accident, and that seeds of equality planted years ago are bearing fruit in the victory of these women. If we see greater numbers in the future years, I might be right – the world might be leaning toward better times for women.

Yes, there are problems. I am not overlooking them. A large section of the world is yet to welcome female empowerment and female literacy. Unfortunately, this large section includes the world’s most populous countries – leaving most women and children unequipped in a world of discovery and exploration.

But for those of us, who are lucky to be on the other side, these awards could be a cue – to look around and realize just how lucky we are. We have an education – the ability to set ourselves free.

An unexplored jungle awaits us. And it’s a pity if some of us are still afraid to open the doors and step outside.

And should we really talk of how our social roles restrict us? Marie Curie won her Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903- in a world of restrictions- alongside her husband. In fact, she was probably a better scientist than her husband – she won two Prizes – one for Chemistry, as well, in 1911. She raised a daughter, who went on to win an award in Chemistry in 1935.

Well, what say ladies? Shall we tackle our fetters headlong?

Have a look at the winners so far: A list of female Nobel Laureates.

Pic Source: PBS.org

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The Author
 There is nothing Shweta loves more than writing. A graduate from Madras Medical College, she is now a student at the Knight's Center for Science and Medical Journalism at Boston University, from where she hopes to graduate a fine science writer and a nuanced thinker. Apart from experimenting with eggs in the kitchen and paint brushes in her room, Shweta enjoys watching cricket and tennis and just about any movie. She is a voracious reader and enjoys astrophysics, anthropology, genetics, archaeology, mythology and just about anything that will kindle her imagination. Sa, for Shweta is her means of telling the men and the women in the world that there is enough space for everyone. It is also her way of letting people know that no one is more equal than another.

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