Early next month, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences will hold its award ceremonies for the 2009 Nobel Prizes, the winners of which were announced in October. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2009 awards studies of one of life's core processes: the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life. The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for two scientific achievements. The first half of the prize goes to Charles K. Kao, a Chinese-British physicist who has played a major role in the development of modern fiber optic technology. The second part of the physics award goes to Willard S. Boyle and George K Smith (both Bell Laboratories) for inventing the first successful imaging technology using a digital sensor, a charge-coupled device.