Nobel prizes are announced annually in early October. The award recognizes those who have made significant contributions to humankind, whether that is for their works in social views or an intellect that led to a new discovery, according to nobelprize.org.

Nobel Peace Prize

Maria Corina Machado is a Democratic rights activist in Venezuela. Her works include building Atenea Foundation for children on the streets, as well as being one of the founding members of Susmate, which helps those who do not have access to voting rights be able to. The people nominated her because of their belief that democracy includes the rights to express one’s opinion, according to nobleprize.org.

Nobel Physics Prize

John Clarke, Michael H. Devoret and John M. Martinis worked together to discover the macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantization in an electric circuit, according to nature.com.

The breakthrough proved that it is possible to engineer and control quantum phenomena like tunneling, where particles of atoms pass through the barriers of certain energy, is not just a theory, but fact. Their work will help in the development of AI and building the superconducting components used in modern quantum machines, according to royalsociety.org.

Nobel Chemistry Prize

This was awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi after creating a class of materials called metal-organic frameworks, which are very small crystalline structures. They can be thought of as LEGO blocks for a simpler understanding, snapping together to create bonds. These are used to trap or temporarily hold gasses or chemicals, like those that cause air pollution or collecting water from the atmosphere, according to royalsociety.org.

Nobel Physiology/Medicine Prize

The winners, Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered “peacekeeping cells,” or regulatory T-cells that fight misplaced attacks around the body, according to nobelprize.org.

Sakaguchi first identified these cells that actively search the body to suppress immune responses that could lead to potential autoimmune diseases. With this knowledge, pharmaceutical physicians can now find remedies to boost the cells to help conditioning of type one diabetes and cancer, according to isbscience.org.

Nobel Literature Prize

László Krasznahorkai is an author of 17 novels, with his first published being in 1985. His works are known for their honest and philosophically profound ideas, often writing long sentences that force one to think of a deeper meaning. Stories like “Satantango” and “The Melancholy Resistance” are his most recognizable for the reasoning behind his award because of his ability to correspond the unsatisfactory world with the beauty of human life, according to nobelprize.org.