Stockholm (AFP)

Secrets of the cosmos or quantum physics of the infinitely small?

The Nobel season continues Tuesday with the physics prize, after three discoverers of hepatitis C in medicine were crowned on Monday.

The prestigious award, presented for the 114th time, is due at 11:45 am (09:45 GMT) in Stockholm.

The image had toured the world in April 2019: the first directly immortalized "black hole", produced by the Event Horizon Telescope project.

Its director, the American astrophysicist Shep Doeleman, as well as the German Heino Falcke, could be rewarded for their work on the subject.

According to the specialized institute Clarivate, which each year forecasts possible winners, the Nobel in physics could also go to a trio of other space experts.

The Mexican-British Carlos Frenk, the Argentinian Julio Navarro and the German-British Simon White are approached for their research on the formation and evolution of galaxies, the cosmic structure and the halos of dark matter.

In 2019, the Nobel Prize in physics distinguished three cosmologists, the Canadian-American James Peebles, who followed in those of Albert Einstein to shed light on the origins of the universe, and the Swiss Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz who, first, revealed the existence of a planet outside the solar system.

According to experts, the Nobel could also leave space for another area of ​​strong progress in science, this time in the infinitely small: quantum physics and computing, using surprising properties of matter at scale. of the infinitely small.

The American Peter Shor, who paved the way for current research on quantum computers, could thus win the prize, according to Swedish public radio SR.

Alain Aspect, known worldwide for having first demonstrated in 1982 quantum entanglement - a fundamental property of the discipline - could also be rewarded.

Which would bring a fifteenth Nobel Prize in physics to France.

Only three women have won the Nobel in physics since 1901, compared to 209 men.

- Almost a million euros -

If the Nobel Prizes will be announced as planned this week, the coronavirus has led to the cancellation of the physical award ceremony on December 10 in Stockholm.

The winners, who share nearly one million euros for each discipline, will receive their prize in their country of residence.

On Monday, the Medicine Prize confirmed the overwhelming domination of Americans in the list of Nobel scientists by awarding Harvey Alter and Charles Rice, alongside Briton Michael Houghton, for their role in the discovery of the virus responsible for hepatitis C.

Chemistry will follow on Wednesday, where a major biomedical discovery could be rewarded: the "Crispr scissors", allowing the cutting of a precise gene, developed by the Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Charpentier and the American Jennifer Doudna.

Another pioneer of gene sequencing, the American Leroy Hood, could be dedicated, according to Swedish radio SR.

Other nobelisables: nanocrystals, as well as the work of the Americans Harry Gray, Richard Holm and Stephen Lippard on the role of metal ions in biology.

The literature prize, the most anticipated event for the general public with peace on Friday in Oslo, will be announced Thursday by the Swedish Academy.

Critics interviewed by AFP mentioned about fifteen nobelisables, with profiles ranging from the American-Caribbean Jamaica Kincaid to the Albanian Ismaïl Kadaré via the Canadian Anne Carson or the French Michel Houellebecq.

The only reward not provided for in the famous will of the Swedish inventor, the economics prize "in memory of Alfred Nobel", created in 1968, will close the season next Monday.

© 2020 AFP