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. 2021 Dec;110(12):1861-1870.
doi: 10.1007/s00392-021-01813-2. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

Who is who in cardiovascular research? What a review of Nobel Prize nominations reveals about scientific trends

Marie Drobietz  1 , Adrian Loerbroks  2 , Nils Hansson  3
Affiliations

Who is who in cardiovascular research? What a review of Nobel Prize nominations reveals about scientific trends

Marie Drobietz et al. Clin Res Cardiol. 2021 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Since 1901, at least 15 scholars who contributed to cardiovascular research have received a Nobel prize in physiology or medicine.

Methods: Using the Nobel nomination database (nobelprize.org), which contains 5950 nominations in the accessible period from 1901 to 1953 in physiology or medicine, we listed all international nominees who contributed to cardiovascular research. We subsequently collected nomination letters and jury reports of the prime candidates from the archive of the Nobel Committee in Sweden to identify shortlisted candidates.

Results: The five most frequently nominated researchers with cardiovascular connections from 1901 to 1953 were, in descending order, the surgeon René Leriche (1879-1955) (FR) with a total of 79 nominations, the physiologist and 1924 Nobel laureate Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) (NL) (31 nominations), the surgeon Alfred Blalock (1899-1964) (US) (29 nominations), the pharmacologist and 1936 Nobel laureate Otto Loewi (1873-1961) (DE, AT, US) (27 nominations) and the paediatric cardiologist Helen Taussig (1898-1986) (US) (24 nominations). The research of these scholars merely hints at the width of topics brought up by nominators ranging from the physiological and pathological basics to the diagnosis and (surgical) interventions of diseases such as heart malformation or hypertension.

Conclusion: We argue that an analysis of Nobel Prize nominations can reconstruct important scientific trends within cardiovascular research during the first half of the twentieth century.

Keywords: Cardiac surgery; Cardiology; Excellence in cardiovascular research; Helen B. Taussig; Nobel Prize.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Picture 1
Picture 1
Richard Thoma (Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, CC BY-SA 4.0 < https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0 > , via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 2
Picture 2
Étienne-Jules Marey (Photograph by Nadar, CC BY 4.0 < https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 > , via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 3
Picture 3
René Leriche 1915 (Unkown Author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 4
Picture 4
Archive of the Nobel Committee, Nomination for Helen Taussig and Alfred Blalock, written by A.St.G. Huggett. December 17, 1953
Picture 5
Picture 5
Willem Einthoven 1906 (Unkown Author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 6
Picture 6
Alexis Carrel (Bain News Service, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 7
Picture 7
Werner Forssmann (Unkown Author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 8
Picture 8
James Black (Unknown author, CC BY 4.0 < https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 > , via Wikimedia Commons)
Picture 9
Picture 9
George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion (Unknown author, CC BY 4.0 < https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 > , via Wikimedia Commons)
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