He was a lecturer at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine when he became the first Briton to win a Nobel Prize.

BBC: Sir Ronald Ross building opens at Liverpool University

China celebrated another achievement last week, as Mo Yan became the first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel Prize for literature.

FORBES: China's Pyramid Of Power

If Dr Lipton is correct, the race has now begun to see whether the first artificial scientist to win a Nobel prize is based on silicon or biological material.

ECONOMIST: Computing and biology: Arresting developments | The

Mantel's win also makes her the first person in Man Booker history to win the prize for a direct sequel.

BBC: Man Booker Prize won by Hilary Mantel's Bring up the Bodies

Thayil is the first Indian to win the prize, awarded annually to a work of fiction "inspired by the South Asian region, people, culture and diaspora".

BBC: Booker nominee wins Asian literary prize

Zaha Hadid, the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize, has been called the Lady Gaga of architecture, a wild woman who makes wild things.

NEWYORKER: Lady Zaha

American Idol sets off with its contestants on a Quest to survive elimination and win first the Golden Ticket to Hollywood and then, of course, the top prize, becoming the Idol.

FORBES: What's Wrong With 'American Idol' Is What's Right with 'The Hunger Games'