Nobel Prize Winners 2012

<b>The Nobel Prize in Physics:</b> David J. Wineland, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, gives media a tour of his lab after being named one of two winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for the measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics: David J. Wineland, a physicist at the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology, gives media a tour of his lab after being named one of two winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for the measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems.

Dana Romanoff/Getty Images

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<b>The Nobel Prize in Physics:</b> Serge Haroche of France poses with his research team after being named one of two winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for inventing methods to observe the properties of the quantum world, research that has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers.

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The Nobel Prize in Physics: Serge Haroche of France poses with his research team after being named one of two winners of the 2012 Nobel Prize in physics for inventing methods to observe the properties of the quantum world, research that has led to the construction of extremely precise clocks and helped scientists take the first steps toward building superfast computers.

Michel Euler/AP

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<b>The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:</b> British developmental biologist Sir John Gurdon was named one of two winners of the prize for his research in nuclear transplantation and cloning.

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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: British developmental biologist Sir John Gurdon was named one of two winners of the prize for his research in nuclear transplantation and cloning.

Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

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<b>The Nobel Prize in Literature:</b> Mo Yan was awarded the honor for his 'hallucinatory realism that merges folk tales, history and the contemporary.' He is best known for his novels the novels 'Red Sorghum' and 'Sorghum Wine.'

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The Nobel Prize in Literature: Mo Yan was awarded the honor for his "hallucinatory realism that merges folk tales, history and the contemporary." He is best known for his novels the novels "Red Sorghum" and "Sorghum Wine."

Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images

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<b>The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences:</b> UCLA professor emeritus Lloyd Shapley and Harvard professor Alvin E. Roth were awarded the Nobel economics prize for studies on the match-making that takes place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools and human organs with transplant recipients.

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The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences: UCLA professor emeritus Lloyd Shapley and Harvard professor Alvin E. Roth were awarded the Nobel economics prize for studies on the match-making that takes place when doctors are coupled up with hospitals, students with schools and human organs with transplant recipients.

Reed Saxon, Harvard University/AP

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<b>The Nobel Peace Prize:</b> The European Union was honored for 'contributing to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe' for more than six decades. Herman van Rompuy is the European Council President.

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The Nobel Peace Prize: The European Union was honored for "contributing to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe" for more than six decades. Herman van Rompuy is the European Council President.

Ilmars Anotins/AFP/Getty Images

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<b>The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine:</b> Japan's Shinya Yamanaka was named one of two winners of the prize for 'the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.'

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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Japan's Shinya Yamanaka was named one of two winners of the prize for "the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."

Junji Kurokawa/AP

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