Thomson Scientific predicts Nobel Laureates

US-based information provider, Thomson Scientific, has predicted which researchers it believes will be candidates for the 2007 Nobel Prize.

Each year, data from the business’s ISI Web of Knowledge, is used to quantitatively determine the most influential researchers in the Nobel categories of chemistry, economics, physiology or medicine, and physics.

Because of the total citations to their works, these high-impact researchers are named Thomson Scientific Laureates and predicted to be Nobel Prize winners, either this year or in the near future.

Of the 54 Thomson Scientific Laureates named since 2002, four have gone on to win Nobel honors.

‘Citations are an acknowledgement of intellectual debt; a direct demonstration of influence in a given subject area,’ said Henry Small, chief scientist of Thomson Scientific. ‘Over the past 30 years, our studies have demonstrated a strong relationship between journal article citations and peer esteem. Researchers who have accumulated such credits from their peers are also often nominated for prizes and other honors, such as the Nobel Prize.’

The 2007 Thomson Scientific Laureates include:

Chemistry  

Samuel J. Danishefsky

Columbia University New York, N.Y., USA

For his pioneering work on biologically active organic compounds and the synthesis of natural products, such as epothilones, novel anti-cancer agents.

Dieter Seebach

Eidhenossiche Technische Hochschule Zurich, Switzerland

For his contributions to synthetic organic chemistry, in particular the development of new methods and his and others’ many discoveries derived from them.

Barry M. Trost

Stanford University

For his wide-ranging contributions in organic, organometallic and bioorganic chemistry.

Physics

Arthur B. McDonald

Queen’s University

And

Yoji Totsuka

University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

For their leadership roles in discovering that neutrinos change types and have mass

Sumio Iijima

NEC Corporation, Ibaraki, Japan

For his pioneering work on carbon nanotubes, which has ignited a revolution in both physics and chemistry.

Martin J. Rees, F.R.S.

Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

For his many contributions to cosmology, but especially for his recent studies of gamma-ray bursts.