Nobel stamps of approval

The British Post Office has joined Sweden, the US, and other postal services in issuing a commemorative set of stamps to mark the centenary of the first award of the Nobel Prizes in 1901. Sweden and the US are, in fact, issuing a stamp carrying exactly the same design; a profile of Alfred Nobel together with his image on one side of the Nobel Prize medals. But the British Post Office has done something quite different; it has issued a series of stamps showing off a number of modern printing processes made possible by the developments in technology which would surely have endeared themselves to the chemist, Nobel. The set of stamps include thermosensitive inks that change colour when touched, microprinting of a complete poem by T.S. Eliot and a holographic image of a boron molecule. The stamp representing the prize for physiology or medicine is coated with a layer of microcapsules containing eucalyptus oil which release the oil's fragrance when scratched. It's fitting that Britain's special stamps should be launched in the year two UK researchers were among the three winners of the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine. Leland Hartwell of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle jointly won the prize with Paul Nurse and Tim Hunt of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London for work on key regulators of the cell cycle: the first UK winners of this prize for 13 years. This year's winners face a centennial week of activities in Stockholm and Oslo. Past laureates are set to deliver lectures in special Nobel Centennial Symposia and many other events are planned during early December. And the normally extravagant presentation ceremony has this year been made extra special: all living past laureates have been invited, promising one of the greatest ever gatherings of Nobel prize winners.