STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - The Nobel Committee of 2035 presented the world with their first recipient born in the 21st century - or, perhaps, its first thousand recipients. Randall Hapitha was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for identifying, in theory and practice, the upper limitations of dihydrogen monoxide crystallyne formations. As a graduate student at Cal Polytech, he first presented his calculations that posited that the forms of isolated ice crystals were, in fact, finite. He was surprised by the controversy that his theory generated, and set upon constructing a means to prove it - by harnessing the power of citizen science. He co-created a game and website that began comparing the presumably infinite quantity of snowflake shapes in the upper northwest Minnesota region to snowflake samplings found in Siberia. It took three weeks for the first matches to be positively identified.
Critics argued that his research only served to make the world a 'smaller, less wonderful place,' but Hapithha insisted that recognizing the variety of crystalline structures - and the most common among them - could lead to the development of new alloys and materials of unanticipated properties. Enough people agreed to award him the Nobel Prize, which he accepted on behalf of the nearly 1.2 million game players that provided the proof to his theorum. After leaving the ceremony, he was bludgeoned to death by snowballs by protesters.
inspired by Discover Magazine article, "Science For the People, By the People"
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