After Leak, The Names Of Nobel Prize Winners In Chemistry Announced

Hours after the names of Nobel Prize winners were leaked, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences officially revealed the distinguished laureates for this year's prestigious awards.

Moungi Bawendi from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brus from Columbia University, and Alexei Ekimov who works at Nanocrystals Technology have won the awards. They were awarded the prize for their groundbreaking work in the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.

Dagens Nyheter, a prominent newspaper in Sweden, along with Swedish Television and Swedish Radio, both public broadcasters, reported receiving a press release from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, according to a report by AFP.

Such leaks are very rare as various prize-awarding academies take great care to keep the winners' names confidential till the names are formally announced.

However, the academy refused to comment on the leaked names. "We can't comment on this until we know what has happened, we have to look into it," the news agency quoted Academy's press spokeswoman Eva Nevelius as saying.

Heiner Linke, a specialist in the Nobel Chemistry Committee at the Academy, conveyed his astonishment to Dagens Nyheter.

"Right now I'm just trying to understand what has happened. We haven't made a decision yet, so if a press release has gone out then it's definitely a mistake," Linke stated.

The nominations for each award are confidential and remain undisclosed for a period of 50 years.