On October 2, 2017 (August 13, 2017 in the lunar calendar), Michael Yang, Jeffrey Hall, and Michael Rosbash were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. At about 17:30 on October 2, Beijing time, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was announced in Stockholm. Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young, in recognition of their "discoveries on the molecular mechanisms of biological rhythms". The Physiology or Medicine Prize was established in accordance with the will of the late Swedish chemist Nobel to recognize outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. According to the announcement of the International Nobel Prize Foundation on September 25, the prize money for each award this year will be increased to 9 million Swedish kronor (about 7.3849 million yuan), which is 1 million kroner higher than last year. The reason for the increase this year is because of the improved financial situation. The three Nobel Prize winners in physiology and medicine, what is the origin? What is the significance of the molecular mechanism of biological rhythms for ordinary people? From left: Michael WYoung (Michael WYoung), Jeffrey CHall (Jeffrey CHall), Michael Rosbash (Michael Rosbash) The average age of the three winners is 71 years old. These three scientists are all from the United States, and the youngest winner is Michael, who was born in 1949. Michael W. Young is 68 years old, and the average age of the three winners is 71. Among them, Jeffrey Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1945, received his doctorate in genetics from the University of Washington in Seattle in 1971, and later pursued postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology. He joined Brandeis University in 1974 and was promoted to professor in 1986. After an emeritus at Brandeis University, he joined the University of Maine in Orono and retired a few years ago. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a member of the American Academy of Humanities and Sciences. Another recipient, Michael Rothbach, was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1944, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Animal Genetics at the University of Edinburgh from 1972 to 1974. Since then, he has taught in the Department of Biology at Brandeis University, where he has been awarded the Peter Gruber Chair in Neuroscience (PeterGruberEndowedChair) since 2012. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Michael Young was born in Miami, Florida in 1949, received his PhD in genetics from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975, received postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine from 1975 to 1977, and joined Rockefeller University in 1978. He has been awarded the RichardandJeanneFisher Chair since 2004. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2013, three scientists won the 10th Shaw Prize in Life Sciences and Medicine. They have spent more than three decades exploring the mysteries of the biological clock and finding the molecular mechanisms that control the circadian rhythm. What technology won them the Shaw Prize? The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for their "discovery of the molecular mechanism of biological rhythms". The biological clock is a familiar word, but its nature and mode of operation have always been a mystery. The three scientists broke with tradition and conducted a series of bold experiments based on past research. Before them, the American physicist, molecular life scientist and behavioral geneticist Seymour Benzer discovered the secret of biological clock regulation in fruit flies. The three scientists then continued Seymour Benzer's research. In 1984, the three scientists discovered that if they changed a specific set of genes in fruit flies, the biological clock would be changed. This set of genes was named periodgene ("theper"). This discovery revealed that the circadian clock is determined by genetics. On this basis, they found that the ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and protein levels of cyclic genes in the Drosophila brain change in a circadian rhythm. They have lower concentrations in the morning and higher concentrations at night. After that, the three scientists further explored and discovered more genes (9 to 12 groups) related to the circadian clock, and studied their production and operation mechanisms. Learn how the mRNA and proteins of these genes control the circadian rhythm, and find the molecular mechanisms that control the circadian rhythm. The greatest value of this research is that this regulatory mechanism also applies to other organisms, including humans. For example, humans have two genes that correspond to the circadian rhythm genes of fruit flies, and these two genes are associated with the presentation of genetic diseases that affect sleep rhythm. Three scientists have made important contributions to the treatment of human hereditary diseases by studying the biological rhythm of mammals from the perspective of gene variation. The average age of the winners in the past five years is 67.8 years old. According to the statistics of the official website of the Nobel Prize, it started in 1901 and a total of 108 Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded in 2017, of which a total of 12 were female scientists. According to statistics, among the winners of physiology or medicine prizes, the most common research field is genetics, with a total of 48 winners. Followed by biochemistry, cell physiology and neurophysiology. In the past five years, there have been 12 winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology, with an average age of 67.8 years. Among them, there are three scientists from Japan, two each from the United Kingdom, the United States and Norway, and one each from Germany, Ireland and China. The following are the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in the past five years and the reasons for their award: 2012: British scientist Sir John Gurdon and Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka were awarded for "discovering that mature cells can be rewritten into pluripotent cells". The two were 79 and 50 years old respectively. 2013: American scientists James E. Rothman and Randy-W. Schechmann, and German scientist Thomas C. Mr. Sudhofer was awarded the prize for his "discovery of the mechanism of operation and regulation of cellular vesicle transport in the field of intracellular transport systems". The three scientists were 63, 65 and 58 when they won the prize. 2014: British scientist John O'Keefe and two Norwegian scientists, Edward Mossall and May Bright Mossall, were awarded for their "discovery of the cells that make up the positioning system of the brain". The three scientists were 75, 51 and 52 when they won the prize. 2015: Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the prize for "proposing the therapy of artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin for the study of the combination of traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese and western medicine". Tu Youyou, who was 85 when she was the first Chinese scientist to win the Nobel Prize in medicine, was also awarded the prize to Irish scientist William Campbell, who was 85, and Japanese scientist Tomoin Omura, who were 80, for "discovering a new treatment for an infection caused by a parasitic roundworm". In 2016, Yoshinori Ohsumi, a molecular cell biologist from Japan, won the prize for "discovering the mechanism of autophagy in cells". Ohsumi was 71 when he won the prize.