Honoring the 2022 Nobel Laureates with free access to their research

Pictured above: The medals and diplomas are prepared and packed at the Nobel Foundation to be sent to the home countries of the Nobel laureates. (© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin)

Editor's note: This article will be continually updated with information about the newly announced Nobel Prize winners and access to their research.

Ask people to picture a scientist, and many will imagine a lone genius tinkering in a lab until that "Eureka!" moment arrives. The reality, of course, is that science is rarely done in isolation. Groundbreaking discoveries often stem from countless hours of work conducted across borders and decades. Even "unrelated" research and those "failed" experiments can play a key role.

It is in this realm that genius can emerge: in building on the knowledge of scientists who came before us — and questioning their conclusions. In applying seemingly disparate knowledge from other fields. In relating observations from our daily lives.

And just as researchers may draw their inspiration from far afield, their discoveries can improve the lives of people in unexpected ways. Alfred Nobel(opens in new tab/window) — himself a scientist, inventor and entrepreneur — understood the power of science to transform the world. In his will, he specified that the Nobel Prize(opens in new tab/window) go to those who "shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind."

As society continues to face massive challenges, we turn to science for solutions. And ultimately, each breakthrough is enabled by a community of researchers, co-authors, reviewers, editors and publishers. At Elsevier, we're proud to highlight that most of the Nobel Laureates in science and economics have published in our journals and books — 215 out of 216 since the year 2000, according to a Scopus analysis — and some have also served as editors, editorial board members or reviewers.

We consider it a privilege to help support the research community. Many of our people began their careers in science or medicine, and they are passionate about working closely with colleagues in the field so researchers around the world can find their work and build on it.

To honor this year’s Nobel Laureates and the community that made their breakthroughs possible, we are bringing together a selection of their most cited papers published with Elsevier.

Their work will, in turn, empower today’s scientists to make further discoveries.

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to Alain Aspect,  John F Clauser and Anton Zeilinger "for experiments with entangled photons, establishing the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering quantum information science(opens in new tab/window)."John Clauser(opens in new tab/window) developed John Bell’s ideas, leading to a practical experiment. When he took the measurements, they supported quantum mechanics by clearly violating a Bell inequality. This means that quantum mechanics cannot be replaced by a theory that uses hidden variables.

Some loopholes remained after John Clauser’s experiment. Alain Aspect(opens in new tab/window) developed the setup, using it in a way that closed an important loophole. He was able to switch the measurement settings after an entangled pair had left its source, so the setting that existed when they were emitted could not affect the result.

Using refined tools and long series of experiments, Anton Zeilinger(opens in new tab/window) started to use entangled quantum states. Among other things, his research group has demonstrated a phenomenon called quantum teleportation, which makes it possible to move a quantum state from one particle to one at a distance.

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences(opens in new tab/window) was awarded to Ben Bernanke, Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig for significantly improving our understanding of the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises.

For an economy to function, savings must be channeled to investments. However whereas savers want instant access to their money to cover unexpected outlays, businesses and homeowners need to know they will not be forced to repay their loans prematurely. Philip Dybvig(opens in new tab/window) and Douglas Diamond(opens in new tab/window) showed how banks can solve this problem by acting as intermediaries. They can accept deposits from many savers, banks can allow depositors to access their money when they wish, while also offering long-term loans to borrowers.

Diamond also showed how banks served as intermediaries between many savers and borrowers, being better suited to assessing borrowers’ creditworthiness and ensuring that loans are used for good investments.

Ben Bernanke(opens in new tab/window) analyzed the Great Depression of the 1930s, the worst economic crisis in modern history. Among other things, he showed how bank runs were a decisive factor in the crisis becoming so deep and prolonged.

Interviews with an Economics Laureate and Nobel committee member

Listen to a telephone interview with Douglas Diamond and an interview with John Hassler, member of the Nobel committee for the economics prize.

Telephone interview of Douglas W. Diamond(opens in new tab/window)

"We can learn how important it is to make sure that this system doesn't collapse."(opens in new tab/window)

Contributors

Elsevier employs over 8,100 people around the world, many beginning their careers in research or healthcare. This year’s coverage would not have been possible without the contributions of the following Elsevier colleagues:

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  Amsterdam: Tim Horscroft, Matthanja Muller, Maha Rhannam, Celine Richard, Rob van Dalen, Donna Weerd-Wilson

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  Cambridge, Massachusetts: Helene Hodak, Sana Nambiar, Takmela Rahman, Abby Sonnenfeldt

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  Chennai, India: Anburaj Thangaraj

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  Melbourne: Catherine Carnovale

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  New York: Alison Bert

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  Oxford, UK: Ian Evans, Alan Crompton, Marta Meazza, Leanne Mullen, Shamus O’Reilly, Jessica Pancholi, Rachel Shaw, Victoria Wetherell

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  Paris: Deborah Logan

Also, much of this information came from the Nobel Prize website(opens in new tab/window).