America's Nobel laureates

Americans had a near sweep of this year's Nobel prizes, winning six out of seven.

The award of the Nobel Peace prize to President Obama aside, Americans have ample reason for pride in the number of Nobels awarded to our countrymen. In fact, the only Nobel we didn't win was the one for literature, which went to Herta Mueller of Romania, who once was persecuted in her native country for her writings.

But despite a near sweep by Americans of this year's Nobel prizes, the awards also made a strong case for the enormously valuable role that immigrants play in our nation's success and high standing in so many areas of the arts and sciences. Most of the U.S. winners this year are first-generation immigrants.

The Nobel Prize in physics was won by Americans Charles K. Kao for his studies in fiber optical communication, and Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for the invention of an imaging semiconductor circuit. Kao was born in China and Boyle in Canada.

The prize for medicine went to Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak, for their work with chromosomes. Blackburn was born in Australia and Szostak in England.

Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas A. Steitz shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Israeli scientist Ada E. Yonath for studies of the structure of the ribosome. Ramakrishnan was born in India.

The Nobel for economics went to Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson, both for separate analyses of economic governance. Both were born in the United States, but it is worth noting that Ostrom is the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics.

Obama, our peace prize winner, is expected to resurrect the congressional debate on immigration policy reform in the near future. When that contentious debate begins anew, we should recall the achievements of this year's Nobel laureates.

While some Americans focus almost exclusively on how to export non-native residents of this country, perhaps we should be seeking ways to keep them here, especially those who are tops in their respective fields.