Nobel Prize for Medicine Awarded for Study of Cell Development

Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka will share the award

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded Monday to Sir John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for work that revolutionized the understanding of how cells and organisms develop.

The Nobel Assembly's announcement at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm is the first for what will be a series of prizes announced this week. The Norwegian Nobel committee will announce the most anticipated of the annual honors—the Nobel Peace Prize—on Friday in Oslo.