Nobel Prize - Current Affairs Questions and Answers

1)   Who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2015 for his analysis of poverty, consumption and welfare on October 12th 2015?

a. Jean Tirole
b. Robert J. Shiller
c. Alvin Roth
d. Angus Deaton
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Angus Deaton

Explanation:
The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2015 was awarded to Angus Deaton of Princeton University for analysis of poverty, consumption and welfare. His research linked individual choices with aggregate outcomes, helping to transform the fields of development economics, microeconomics and macroeconomics.


2)   Nobel Prize 2015 for Literature went to which famous author?

a. Patrick Modiano
b. Svetlana Alexeivich
c. Orhan Pamuk
d. None of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Svetlana Alexeivich

Explanation:
The Nobel prize for literature went to 67 year old Belarus author Svetlana Alexievich for her polyphonic writings. She is the 14th woman literature laureate. She has chronicled the biggest tragedies of Soviet Union and its collapse, WW2, Soviet war in Afghanistan, Chernobyl disaster and communism initiated suicides. Alexievich, the daughter of two school teachers lives in Minsk and supports opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko.


3)   Which of the following scientists have won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on 7th October 2015?

a. Tomas Lindahl
b. Paul Modrich
c. Aziz Sancar
d. All of the above
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:
Swedish scientist Tomas Lindahl, American Paul Murdoch and Turkish American scientist Aizi Sancar won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for mechanistic studies of DNA repair. Their work has provided “fundamental knowledge of how a living cell functions,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy. Their findings have been used for the development of new cancer treatments, among other things, the academy also added. Lindahl is presently an emeritus group leader at Francis Crick Institute and Emeritus director of Cancer Research at Clare Hall Laboratory in the UK.
Modrich is an researcher at Howard Hughes Medical Institute and professor at Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC. Sandra is professor of University of North Carolina School of Medicine in NC. 8 million Swedish kronor award will be handed on December 10 which the anniversary of the founder of the prize Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.


4)   Who are the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics announced on 6th October 2015?

a. Takaaki Kajita
b. Arthur. B. McDonald
c. Stephen Hawking
d. Both a and b
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Both a and b

Explanation:
Japanese researcher Takaaki Kajita and Canadian physicist Arthur B. McDonald have won the Nobel prize in Physics 2015 for discovering neutron oscillations showing that neutrinos have mass. These are one of the fundamental particles making up the universe and subatomic particles are produced by decay of radioactive elements lacking electric charge. Researchers studying changes of identity among most abundant inhabitants in the universe have claimed this year’s prize. This discovery has solved a longstanding puzzle involving neutrinos whereby two thirds of the neutrino released in nuclear reactions was missing on earth as against the sun. As regards the whereabouts of the neutrino, neutrinos change identities and this has been suggested as a solution for the puzzle.


5)   On 13th Apr’15, the German Nobel laureate Guenter Grass passed away in Berlin. He received the Nobel Prize in which field?

a. Physics
b. Chemistry
c. Bio Medicals
d. Literature
Answer  Explanation 

ANSWER: Literature

Explanation:
He made his literary reputation with "The Tin Drum," published in 1959. Three decades after its release, in 1999, the Swedish Academy honored Grass with the Nobel Prize for literature, praising him for setting out to revive German literature after the Nazi era.