Nobel Laureates - Most Popular in 2010

Here is a list of top 5 Nobel Laureates who are most popular during 2010. The popularity is represented by the number of searches on them and the list is in the descending order of search volume. It is not surprising that the fame of early scientists a century back, still continues unabated to this day.

You may also be interested in reading about Nobel prize winners 2010.

The great scientist got Nobel Prize in Physics during 1921 for his work on theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.

His famous work includes special theory of relativity which deviates from the well established Newton laws when applied to electro magnetic fields. This work not only made him famous, helped physics to take a leap in to quantum physics.

In later years, he worked general theory of relativity and unified field theory. In the history of Science, Albert Einstein was established as a rare genius.

Madame Marie Sklodowska Curie, got Nobel Prize in 1911 for Chemistry for her discovery of two new elements at that time Radium and Polonium. She was working as professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Paris during that time.

Earlier to that, she already got a Nobel Prize jointly with two other scientists - Henri Becquerel and Pierre Curie (her husband) during 1903 in Physics for their work on radioactive properties of Uranium and Thorium.

While continuing on the above work, she discovered the two new radioactive elements which are named as Polonium, after the name of her birth country Poland and Radium.

She is the only Nobel Laureate who got awards for both Physics and Chemistry.

Martin Luther King Jr, was born in 1929 in USA. From his childhood, he had seen racial discrimination and worked peacefully to achieve equality of all human beings. He led the first great Negro non-violent demonstration and the bus boycott during 1955, which lasted for most than a year. Due to his work, in 1956, Supreme Court of the United States had declared the laws requiring segregation on buses unconstitutional and subsequently people belonging to all races rode the buses as equals.

He was awarded with Nobel peace prize in 1964 for his work on human rights. At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize and he donated the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

Barack H Obama, President of United States was awarded Nobel Prize in 2009 for his 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples'.

The committee has attached special importance to his vision of world without nuclear weapons. With Obama's vision, more efforts started in the direction of strengthening the human rights and democracy across the world, addressing the climatic challenges and in disarmament negotiations with various countries.

Though the effort initiated by Barack Obama received great support, the decision of Noble Peace Prize to him invited criticism. The general opinion was - normally Nobel Prize is given to established and proven work in various areas, where as in case of Obama, his work, though highly promising, has just started and the impact is yet to be seen.

Nelson Mandela was born in South Africa in 1918. From his early years, he challenged the South African ruling party's apartheid policies. Mandela formed the military wing of the African National Congress to fight this cause. He was in jail for 18 years, and finally he was released in 1990. Subsequent to his coming out of jail, he was elected president of the ANC in 1991 and became the first democratically elected President of South Africa in 1994.

Nelson Mandela received 1993 Nobel peace prize jointly along with Frederik Willem de Klerk, president of South Africa at that time, for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the new foundations for a new democratic South Africa.