DOMINANT ANGLE
Berlin is first to reap the reward of a fundamental research project born out of a green algae, led by two German researchers from Humboldt and Wurtzbourg.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Peter Hegemann (Humboldt, Berlin) and Georg Nagel (Wurtzbourg) share the Nobel with Karl Deisseroth; the award of 12 million Swedish crowns is worth about one million euros (DW).
- 02
Nagel demonstrated in Xenopus oocytes that channelrhodopsine-2 is an ion channel opened by blue light (Tagesschau).
- 03
Hegemann puts this into perspective: the human brain "is largely dark" and optogenetic lighting only covers one to five square millimeters (tagesthemen).
ANALYSIS
Berlin, October 6, 2026. The Nobel Prize in Medicine, announced on Monday, October 5, in Stockholm, is presented by the German press as a prize "for two Germans and one American" (DW, FAZ). Peter Hegemann, 71, works at Berlin's Humboldt University, Georg Nagel, 73, at Würzburg University; the American Karl Deisseroth, 54, is at Stanford.
The Tagesschau recounts the genesis as a story of fundamental research: Hegemann wanted to understand how the algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii orients itself so quickly towards light. Around 2000, new genetic sequences of the algae became public and his team identified genes close to light-sensitive proteins. Nagel, then at the Max-Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt, introduced these proteins into Xenopus oocytes and showed that one of them, channelrhodopsin-2, is an ion channel directly controlled by light: under blue light, it opens and creates an electrical signal. Deisseroth then transferred the gene into rat neurons, according to DW.
The jury, cited by the FAZ, estimates that the method shows "how nerve cells in the brain form memories, feelings, and behaviors" and that it is used "in laboratories around the world". Abdel El-Manira, from the Karolinska, mentions possible applications for blindness, depression, addiction, or dementia.
In the tagesthemen interview, Hegemann tempers: one can illuminate the brain of a fly or a zebrafish, but the human brain "is largely dark"; a light conductor would need to be placed there, for a volume of one to five square millimeters. The same interview announces that he demands "more courage from politics".
The political and local aspect dominates the ZEIT dispatches: Berlin's mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) sees a distinction for Berlin science, and Science Senator Ina Czyborra (SPD) says that Berlin is proud of its new laureate and that the prize shows the value of persistent fundamental research for medicine. A dpa anecdote completes the picture: Hegemann initially ignored the Nobel Committee's message, before recognizing the Swedish dial tone thanks to his sailing memories.
DW and FAZ finally recall the context: the endowment increased to 12 million Swedish kronor (approximately one million euros) for the 125th anniversary of the prize, shared among three; the first Nobel Prize in Medicine, in 1901, went to the German Emil von Behring.
SOURCES (4)
- ZEIT OnlineMEDIUM
- FAZMEDIUM
