Google DeepMind co-founder wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

British computer scientist Demis Hassabis has won part of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his “revolutionary” work on proteins, the building blocks of life.

Mr. Hassabis, 48, co-founded the artificial intelligence company that became Google DeepMind.

Professor John Jumper, who worked with Mr Hassabis on the breakthrough, shares the award along with US-based Professor David Baker.

Proteins are the building blocks of life and are found in every cell of the human body.

A better understanding of proteins has led to major breakthroughs in medicine.

Mr. Hassabis and Prof. Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structures of almost all known proteins and developed a tool called AlphaFold2.

The committee called it a “complete revolution” in chemistry, and the tool is now used on 200 million proteins worldwide.

Professor Baker used amino acids to develop a new protein, opening the door to the creation of new proteins used in medicines, vaccines and other tools.

Prof Baker told the committee shortly after the announcement that he was “very excited and very honoured”.

“I stood on the shoulders of giants,” he said when asked how he cracked the code to make proteins.

He said he was sleeping when the phone rang and when the announcement was made, his wife began “screaming really loudly” in excitement.

The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a press conference in Stockholm, Sweden.

The winners will share prize money worth 11 million Swedish krona (£810,000). Prof. Baker receives half of the prize, the remaining half goes to Mr. Hassabis and Mr. Jumper.