April 06, 2018

Media Contact:
Heather Thorstensen
Manager of Communications
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society
hthorstensen@sigmaxi.org or (919) 549-4691 ext. 216

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC—Six researchers who have made some of the most significant discoveries in recent history will be honored in Research Triangle Park (RTP). 

All six researchers have two things in common: they are Nobel Prize laureates and they are members of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. Sigma Xi is a community of scientists and engineers who have been inducted for their research achievements or potential and are committed to ethical research. The Society’s headquarters are in RTP.

Sigma Xi will host a reception at Research Triangle High School in RTP on April 20 from 3:00–4:00 p.m. to unveil the laureates’ names engraved in the Hall of Honor. The hall features the names of more than 200 Sigma Xi members who have won the Nobel Prize. One of the laureates, William E. Moerner of Stanford University, will give remarks virtually.

“We are adding to the Society’s 131-year history, honoring these members for their contributions to our understanding of the world, and showing Research Triangle High School’s students who attend the reception how far they could go in careers in science, technology, engineering, and math,” said Sigma Xi Executive Director and CEO Jamie Vernon. 

The six honored laureates are:

William E. Moerner, 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 
Developed a method that gives scientists a better view of processes occurring inside living cells

Tomas Lindahl, 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry 
Increased the understanding of how a living cell works, particularly related to how certain components of a cell repair damaged parts of DNA

William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura, 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Discovered a new therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites

Jeffrey C. Hall,  2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 
Discovered the inner workings of how plants, animals, and humans adapt their biological clocks with the rhythm of days and nights

Kip S. Thorne, 2017 Prize in Physics
Helped to lead a project that directly detected gravitational waves for the first time. This discovery will allow scientists to detect astronomical events that they couldn’t detect before.