The 10 people who marked science in 2024 according to Nature

The second personality is Anna Abalkinaresearcher at the Institute for Eastern European Studies at the Free University of Berlin, Germany. Abalkina is on the Russian state Roskomnadzor watch list, for his work in eradicating and exposing fraud in scientific publications, including plagiarism and the so-called “paper mill”a predatory practice consisting of the production of false manuscripts. They call her the “fraud hunter” specialized in Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, and more recently, in Iran and India.

Medicine, meteorology and atomic clocks

This year’s list also includes people who have made extraordinary scientific advances. Among them, Huji XuChinese doctor at Shanghai Naval Medical University: Using genetically modified, donor-derived T cells, he developed successful treatments for serious autoimmune diseases. This successful T cell-based outcome in cancer raises hopes that cutting-edge CAR-T therapies will be mass produced, helping patients defeat cancer cells in their body.

Huji Xu, Chinese specialist and “daring doctor.”

Photography: Qilai Shen; Nature

Another important personality is Ekkehard Peikphysicist at the German National Metrology Institute in Braumschweig (PTB), Germany. Nicknamed “father of time”, recorded the first tick of a clock tuned to the frequency of an atomic nucleus. An achievement that will one day lead us to a technology capable of surpassing the precision of current atomic clocks. Along the same lines is Remi LamGoogle DeepMind researcher in San Francisco, who has introduced artificial intelligence tools in weather predictionthus achieving faster and more accurate forecasts than conventional models.

Tim Cook wants Apple to literally save your life

As much as the CEO seems in awe of AI and his newly released Apple Intelligence, he is more convinced that the tech giant’s health apps (of all things) will define the company’s legacy.

Moon and Universe

As for space, the list saves a place for Li Chunlaia geologist with the China National Space Administration, who He was the first scientist to get his hands on samples from the far side of the Moon delivered to Earth by the Chang’e 6 mission. Likewise, the astronomer at the University of Chicago, Illinois, Wendy Freemanwho used the James Webb Special Telescope (JWST), This year, it presented results that could put an end to the long-standing debate about the speed at which our Universe is expanding.

Wendy Freedman, astronomer and “cosmic guardian.”

Photography: Laura McDermott; Nature

Climate change, salaries and students

This year’s list also includes experts who have supported important causes: University of Toronto PhD student Kaitlin Kharas He led a campaign to increase salaries for Canadian researchers in two decades. For her part, the Swiss lawyer Cordelia Bähr represents thousands of women in the landmark case over the classification of climate change as a human rights issue. Finally, the name of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, It also resonates among the top 10 places.

Cordelia Bähr, Swiss lawyer and “climate fighter.”

Photography: Gaetan Bally; Nature

Article originally published in WIRED Italy. Adapted by Alondra Flores.