Demis Hassabis
Facts
Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach
Demis Hassabis
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024
Born: 27 July 1976, London, United Kingdom
Affiliation at the time of the award: Google DeepMind, London, United Kingdom
Prize motivation: “for protein structure prediction”
Prize share: 1/4
Work
Proteins control and drive all the chemical reactions that together are the basis of life. Proteins generally consist of 20 different amino acids. These are linked together in long strings that fold up to make a three-dimensional structure. In 2020, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper presented an AI model called AlphaFold2. With its help, they have been able to predict the structure of virtually all known proteins. AlphaFold2 has been widely used in many areas, including research into pharmaceuticals and environmental technology.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
