SAN DIEGO — K. Barry Sharpless of La Jolla, California's Scripps Research on Wednesday won a second Nobel Prize in chemistry, this time for helping create a swift, efficient method for building molecules that has revolutionized drug development and aided in the mapping of DNA.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Sharpless, 81, will share this year's Nobel with Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford and Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sharpless becomes only the fifth person in history to win a Nobel twice. He was awarded the prize in 2001 for related research that has helped scientists produce chemical reactions that have improved everything from heart medications to agriculture.
