The 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to three scientists for improving images made of biological molecules.
Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson are sharing the prize.
They developed a technique called cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which simplifies the process for looking at the machinery of life.
The process made it possible for life’s molecular building blocks to be captured mid-movement and allowed scientists to visualise processes that had never before been seen.
Jacques Dubochet was born in Switzerland, Joachim Frank is German and Richard Henderson is from Edinburgh.
The Nobel committee said the work had “moved biochemistry into a new era”.
Committee Chair Sara Snogerup Linse explained: “Soon, there are no more secrets, now, we can see the intricate details of the biomolecules in every corner of our cells and every drop of our body fluids.
“We can understand how they are built and how they act and how they work together in large communities. We are facing a revolution in biochemistry.”
Cryo-electron microscopy has been used to capture Salmonella’s “injection needle” for attacking cells, proteins involved in antibiotic resistance and the molecular structures governing circadian rhythm – the subject of this year’s Nobel in medicine and physiology.