Sharing knowledge, river blindness and the Nobel Prize

On sharing…

Masa: Amazing guy, Satoshi Ohmura. Won the Nobel. Art collector, businessman, golfer.

Yuki: A question. How do you think he achieved it? The Nobel.

Blind men being led by children,
 Ghana, 1950s, BBC

Masa: He discovered bacteria that helped cure river blindness. AND shared this knowledge with American professor William Campbell resulting in a joint Nobel Prize. And that lead to helping countless Africans cope with disease.

Yuki: I hear you. Message is sharing?

Masa: Ohmura also says that artistic imagination assists scientific discovery.

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Voice-over

"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want." 
Zig Ziglar
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Nobel Prize in Physics 2014

Akasaki, Amano and Nakamura

Bad news, good news…

Joaquin: Ebola doesn’t look good.

Scarlett: Isn’t there any good news this morning?

Joaquin: Good news? Oh, there’s the Nobel Prize for Physics.

Scarlett: Another Higgs particle?

Joaquin: Something easier to comprehend. Three Japanese are awarded the Nobel for developing blue LEDs. There was red, there was yellow, they needed blue to mix them to make white light.

Scarlett: LEDs are better than ordinary lights?

Joaquin: Good Lord yes. Most of the energy they use goes into light, not heat, so they use far less energy, shine brighter. Good for the environment and poor people can run them from solar power and batteries.

Scarlett: Proper marvels.

Joaquin: And to cap the good news. Other scientists were full of praise for these three clever and persistent scientists. Companies gave up, they pressed on. “Fantastic,” says an Oxford researcher. “Thrilling,” says a Cambridge professor.

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Voice-over

A splendid example of upbeat reporting. The story of a reward for the inventors, the widespread benefits, and the supportive comments from peers. As good as it gets.

From the BBC.

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