The Royal Swedish Academy says the researchers' work has made possible great developments in those areas.

VOA: special.2009.12.08

Five hundred people who work for Royal Sun Alliance in Bristol have been told their jobs are to go by 2010.

BBC: UK jobs tracker

Mr Ball joined the armed services at 15 and spent 10 years in the Royal Navy before starting work for British Coal in 1964.

BBC: Asbestos fibres

The Queen's House (by Inigo Jones) was the first Palladian building in England and the park contains the Old Royal Observatory, the work of Christopher Wren and the scientist Robert Hooke.

UNESCO: World Heritage