Nobel Laureates Challenge Readers on Their Greatest Discoveries

New Scientist is celebrating 70 years of science journalism by enlisting some of the biggest names in modern research. Three Nobel laureates have created a special quiz to challenge readers on the very discoveries that changed science forever.

Meet the Question Setters

Barry Marshall from the University of Western Australia won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for something that seems almost obvious now: bacteria cause ulcers. Before his work, doctors insisted stress and spicy food were to blame. Marshall’s discovery of Helicobacter pylori’s role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease revolutionized how we treat digestive diseases and earned him one of science’s highest honors.

Jennifer Doudna, founder of the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley, represents the cutting edge of modern science. She won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing CRISPR gene editing, a tool so powerful it’s fundamentally changed how scientists approach genetic diseases. Her work moved gene editing from theoretical possibility to practical reality.

Saul Perlmutter rounds out the trio. The UC Berkeley physicist won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for measuring the expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae. His findings revealed something startling: the universe isn’t just expanding, it’s accelerating. This discovery suggested the existence of dark energy, one of physics’ greatest mysteries.

Why This Quiz Matters

These aren’t your typical trivia questions. When Nobel laureates set quizzes about their own work, something interesting happens. They tend to focus on the conceptual breakthroughs rather than memorized facts. What made their discoveries possible? What were the eureka moments? These are the kinds of questions that separate genuine understanding from superficial knowledge.

Testing yourself against Nobel Prize-winning work is humbling. Most people, even those who follow science closely, haven’t deeply considered how medicine actually works at the bacterial level or what it means for the universe to be accelerating apart. These quizzes offer a chance to bridge that gap.

The Broader Significance

New Scientist’s decision to mark its 70th anniversary this way reflects something important about science communication. Rather than just celebrating past achievements, the magazine is inviting readers to engage with the actual content of scientific breakthroughs. It’s recognition that science isn’t about collecting facts but about understanding how we know what we know.

Marshall’s bacteria discovery feels almost mundane now. We know antibiotics can cure ulcers. But when he first proposed this idea in the 1980s, the medical establishment rejected it. He famously infected himself with H. pylori to prove his point. That’s the kind of revolutionary thinking that quizzes like this help illuminate.

Doudna’s CRISPR work is more recent but equally transformative. Gene editing is no longer science fiction. It’s happening in labs and clinics worldwide, raising profound ethical questions about how far we should go in remaking our genetic code.

Perlmutter’s discovery of cosmic acceleration transformed our understanding of fundamental physics. Dark energy now dominates theories about the universe’s ultimate fate. These are the big questions that keep physicists awake at night.

The quiz format itself creates engagement. Rather than passive reading, participants become active learners. They make predictions, test their intuitions, and encounter the actual reasoning behind Nobel-caliber work. That’s where real understanding begins.

Source: New Scientist

What would our world look like if these three discoveries had never happened?