The Nobel Prize | |
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Description | Outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, identified with the Nobel Prize, is awarded for outstanding contributions in Economics. |
Country | Sweden, Norway |
Presented by | Swedish Academy Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Karolinska Institutet Norwegian Nobel Committee |
First awarded | 1901 |
Website | http://nobelprize.org |
The Nobel Prizes (Template:SingularPlural-sv) are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees for cultural and scientific advances. They were established in 1895 by the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was instituted by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969. Although this is not technically a Nobel Prize, its announcements and presentations are made along with the other prizes. Each Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award in its field.[1]
Each prize recipient (laureate) is presented with a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money which depends on the Nobel Foundation's income that year. In 2009, each prize was worth 10 million SEK (c. US$1.4 million).
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the Swedish Academy grants the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded by a Swedish organisation but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Critics of the Nobel Prize awarding bodies note the failure to award the Peace Prize to Mahatma Gandhi and other high-profile candidates; the application of a strict rule against a prize being shared among more than three people; and the prohibition of posthumous awards, which prevents recognition of a collaborator who dies before the prize is awarded.
History
![A black and white photo of a bearded man in his fifties sitting in a chair.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/AlfredNobel_adjusted.jpg/170px-AlfredNobel_adjusted.jpg)
![A paper with stylish handwriting on it with the title "Testament"](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f7/Alfred_Nobels_will-November_25th%2C_1895.jpg/220px-Alfred_Nobels_will-November_25th%2C_1895.jpg)
Alfred Nobel ( ) was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden, into a family of engineers.[2] He was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. In 1895 Nobel purchased the Bofors iron and steel mill, which he converted into a major armaments manufacturer. Nobel amassed a fortune during his lifetime, most of it from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous.[3] In 1888, Alfred had the unpleasant surprise of reading his own obituary, titled ‘The merchant of death is dead’, in a French newspaper. As it was Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. Alfred was disappointed with what he read and concerned with how he would be remembered. This inspired him to change his will.[4] On 10 December 1896 Alfred Nobel died in his villa in San Remo, Italy, at the age of 63 from a cerebral haemorrhage.[5]
To the surprise of many, Nobel requested in his last will that his fortune be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature.[6] Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895.[7][8] Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, 31 million SEK (c. US$186 million in 2008), to establish the five Nobel Prizes.[9] Because of the level of scepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that it was approved by the Storting in Norway.[10] The executors of his will were Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, who formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's fortune and organise the prizes.[11]
The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. The other prize-awarding organisations followed: the Karolinska Institutet on 7 June, the Swedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June.[12] The Nobel Foundation reached an agreement on guidelines for how the prizes should be awarded. In 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly created statutes were promulgated by King Oscar II.[6] In 1905, the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved, which meant the responsibility for awarding Nobel Prizes was split between the two countries. Norway's Nobel Committee became responsible for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and Sweden became responsible for the other prizes.[10]
Nobel Foundation
The Nobel Foundation was founded as a private organisation on 29 June 1900, to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes.[13] In accordance with Nobel's will, the primary task of the Nobel Foundation is to manage the fortune Nobel left. Another important task of the Nobel Foundation is to market the prizes internationally and to oversee informal administration related to the prizes. The Nobel Foundation is not involved in the process of selecting the Nobel laureates.[14][15] In many ways the Nobel Foundation is similar to an investment company, in that it invests Nobel's money to create a solid funding base for the prize and the administrative activities. The Nobel Foundation is exempt from all taxes in Sweden (since 1946) and from investment taxes in the United States (since 1953).[16] Since the 1980s, the Foundation's investments have become more profitable and as of 31 December 2007, the assets controlled by the Nobel Foundation amounted to 3.628 billion Swedish kronor (c. US$560 million).[17]
![A high white building in a city. A couple of parked cars are also seen.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Sturegatan_14_2008.jpg/170px-Sturegatan_14_2008.jpg)
According to the statutes, the Foundation consists of a board of five Swedish or Norwegian citizens, with its seat in Stockholm. The Chairman of the Board is appointed by the King in Council, with the other four members appointed by the trustees of the prize-awarding institutions. An Executive Director is chosen from among the board members, a Deputy Director is appointed by the King in Council, and two deputies are appointed by the trustees. However, since 1995 all the members of the board have been chosen by the trustees, and the Executive Director and the Deputy Director appointed by the board itself. As well as the board, the Nobel Foundation is made up of the prize-awarding institutions (the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly, the Swedish Academy, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the trustees of these institutions, and auditors.[17]
Nobel Prize during World War II
In 1938 and 1939, Adolf Hitler's Third Reich forbade three laureates from Germany (Richard Kuhn, Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk) from accepting their prizes.[18] Each man was later able to receive the diploma and medal.[19] Even though Sweden was officially neutral during World War II, the prizes were awarded irregularly. In 1939 the Peace Prize was not awarded and 1940–42 no prize was awarded in any category, due to the occupation of Norway by Germany from 9 April 1940. In the subsequent year, all prizes were awarded except those for literature and peace.[20]
During the occupation of Norway, three members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee fled into exile. The remaining members escaped persecution from the Nazis due to the Nobel Foundation stating that the Committee building in Oslo was Swedish property and thus a safe haven from the German Military which was not at war with Sweden.[21] These members kept the work of the Committee going but did not award any prizes. In 1944 the Nobel Foundation, together with the three members in exile, made sure that nominations were submitted for the Peace Prize and that the prize could be awarded once again.[18]
Prize in Economic Sciences
Sveriges Riksbank celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1968 by donating large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation. The following year, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded for the first time. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences became responsible for selecting laureates. Although not technically a Nobel Prize, it is identified with the award; its winners are announced with the Nobel Prize recipients, and the Prize in Economic Sciences is presented at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.[22] The Board of the Nobel Foundation decided that after this addition, it would allow no further new prizes.[23]
Recent laureates
In 2008 the Physiology or Medicine Prize was shared among three virologists. French team Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi together shared half the prize for discovering that the virus now known as HIV causes AIDS.[24] Harald zur Hausen shared the prize for his discovery that the human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer.[25][26] The Chemistry Prize was shared among three biologists;[27] Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien isolated and developed a green fluorescent protein from a jellyfish.[28] The GFP has a number of applications, from searching for a cure for deafness to developing treatments for Huntington's disease.[29][30] Martti Ahtisaari received the Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts."[31][32] The Physics Prize was awarded to Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.[33][34] Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio received the Literature Prize with the motivation: "author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy, explorer of a humanity beyond and below the reigning civilisation."[35][36] The Economics Prize was awarded to Paul Krugman for his work on international trade and economic geography.[37][38]
In 2009 the Chemistry Prize was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz, and Ada Yonath, for creating detailed structures of the ribosome.[39] The Physics Prize was awarded to Charles K. Kao for his research on how to transmit light through glass fibre and to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for inventing a sensor that turns light into electrical signals, thus making inventions such as the digital camera possible.[40][41] Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson were awarded the Economics Prize for "their work in economic governance, especially the commons."[42][43] Elinor was the first woman to receive the Economics Prize. The Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak for their research on telomeres.[44] The Literature Prize was awarded to Herta Müller "who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed."[45][46] The President of the United States, Barack Obama, was awarded the Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."[47][48]
Award process
The award process is similar for each Nobel Prize, the main difference being the individuals who can make nominations for each prize.[49]
Nominations
First, nomination forms are sent out by the Nobel Committee to about 3000 individuals, usually in September the year before the prize is awarded. These individuals are often academics working in a relevant area. For the Peace Prize, inquiries are sent to governments, members of international courts, professors and rectors, former Peace Prize laureates and current or former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The deadline for the return of the nomination forms is 31 January of the year of the award.[49][50] The Nobel Committee nominates about 300 potential laureates from these forms and additional names.[51] The nominees are not publicly named, nor are they told that they are being considered for the prize. All nomination records for a prize are sealed for 50 years from the awarding of that prize.[15][52]
Selection
The Nobel Committee then consults experts in the relevant fields about the list of preliminary candidates. Using advice from the experts the Nobel Committee then writes a report, which along with the list is signed and then submitted to the prize awarding institutions.[53] The prize-awarding institutions meet to consider the lists and vote on who will become the next laureate or laureates in each field. This is done through a majority vote and their decision is final and not subject to appeal. The names of the laureates are announced immediately after the vote.[54] A maximum of three laureates and two different works may be selected per award. Except for the Peace Prize, which can be awarded to institutions, the awards can only be given to individuals.[55] If the Peace Prize is not awarded, the money is split among the scientific prizes. This has happened 19 times so far.[56]
Posthumous nominations
Whilst posthumous nominations are not permitted, individuals who died in the months between their nomination and the decision of the prize committee were originally eligible to receive the prize. This occurred twice: the 1931 Literature Prize awarded to Erik Axel Karlfeldt, and the 1961 Peace Prize awarded to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. Since 1974, laureates must be alive at the time of the October announcement. There has been one laureate, William Vickrey, who died after the prize was announced but before it could be presented.[57]
Recognition time lag
Nobel's will provides for prizes to be awarded in recognition of discoveries made "during the preceding year". During the early years, the awards usually recognised recent discoveries.[58] However, some of these early discoveries were later discredited.[a 1] To avoid this embarrassment, the awards increasingly recognised scientific discoveries that had withstood the test of time.[59][60][61] According to Ralf Pettersson, former chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology or Medicine, "the criterion ‘the previous year’ is interpreted by the Nobel Assembly as the year when the full impact of the discovery has become evident."[60]
![A room with pictures on the walls. In the middle of the room there is a wooden table with chairs around it.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Nobelinstituttet_20080913-01.jpg/220px-Nobelinstituttet_20080913-01.jpg)
The interval between the award and the accomplishment it recognises varies from discipline to discipline. The Literature Prize is typically awarded to recognise a cumulative lifetime body of work rather than a single achievement.[62][63] The Peace Prize can also be awarded for a lifetime body of work. For example 2008 winner Martti Ahtisaari was awarded for his work to resolve international conflicts.[64][65] However, they can also be awarded for specific recent events.[66] For instance, Kofi Annan was awarded the 2001 Peace Prize just four years after becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations.[67] Similarly Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres received the 1994 award, about a year after they successfully concluded the Oslo Accords.[68]
Awards for physics, chemistry, and medicine require that the significance of the achievement is "tested by time." In practice, the lag between the discovery and the award is typically 20 or more years. For example, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Physics Prize for his 1930s work on stellar structure and evolution.[69][70] Not all scientists live long enough for their work to be recognised. Some discoveries can never be considered for a prize if their impact is realised after the discoverers have died.[71][72][73]
Award ceremonies
The Nobel Prizes, with the exception of the Peace Prize, are presented in Stockholm, Sweden, at the annual Prize Award Ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The recipients' lectures are normally held in the days prior to the award ceremony. The Peace Prize and its recipients' lectures are presented at the annual Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, usually on 10 December. The award ceremonies and the associated banquets are typically major international events.[74][75] The Prizes awarded in Sweden's ceremonies' are held at the Stockholm Concert Hall, with the Nobel banquet following immediately at Stockholm City Hall. The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony has been held at the Norwegian Nobel Institute (1905–1946); at the auditorium of the University of Oslo (1947–1989); and at Oslo City Hall (1990–).[76]
The highlight of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm occurs when each Nobel Laureate steps forward to receive the prize from the hands of the King of Sweden. In Oslo, the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee presents the Nobel Peace Prize in the presence of the King of Norway.[75][77]
Since 1902, the King of Sweden has presented all the prizes, except the Peace Prize, in Stockholm. At first King Oscar II did not approve of awarding grand prizes to foreigners, but is said to have changed his mind once his attention had been drawn to the publicity value of the prizes for Sweden.[78]
Nobel banquet
![A set table with a white table cloth. There are many plates and glasses plus a menu visible on the table.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Nobel-banquet-table.jpg/220px-Nobel-banquet-table.jpg)
After the award ceremony in Sweden a banquet at the Stockholm City Hall is attended by the Swedish Royal Family and around 1,300 guests. The banquet features a three-course dinner, entertainment and dancing and is extensively covered by local and international media.[75] Before 1930, the banquet in Sweden was held in the ballroom of Stockholm’s Grand Hotel.[76]
The Nobel Peace Prize banquet is held in Oslo at the Grand Hotel after the award ceremony. As well as the laureate, other guests include the President of the Storting, the Prime Minister and (since 2006) the King and Queen of Norway.[79] For the first time in its history, the banquet was cancelled in Oslo in 1979 because the laureate Mother Teresa refused to attend, saying the money would be better spent on the poor. Mother Teresa used the US$7,000 that was to be spent on the banquet to hold a dinner for 2,000 homeless people on Christmas Day.[80][81]
Nobel lectures
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, each laureate is required to hold a public lecture on a subject related to the topic for which they will be awarded the Nobel Prize.[82][83] These lectures normally occur during Nobel Week[a 2] before the award ceremony, but this is not mandatory. The laureate is only obliged to hold the lecture within six months of receiving the prize. Some have happened even later. For example, Theodore Roosevelt won the Peace Prize in 1906 and gave the lecture in 1910 after finishing his presidency.[84] The lectures are organised by the same association who selected the laureates.[85]
Prizes
A Nobel Prize laureate earns a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money.[86] The amount of money awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year.[87] If a prize is awarded jointly to two or more laureates, the money is split among them.[88]
Medals
The Nobel Prize medals, minted by Myntverket in Sweden and the Mint of Norway since 1902, are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation.[89] Each medal features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse. The medals for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death. Nobel's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Peace Prize medal and the medal for the Economics Prize, but with a slightly different design. For instance, the laureate's name is engraved on the rim of the Economics medal.[86] The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize. The reverse sides of the medals for chemistry and physics share the same design.[90]
All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold. Since then they have been struck in 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. The weight of each medal varies with the value of gold, but averages about 175 g for each medal. The diameter is 66 mm and the thickness varies between 5.2 and 2.4 mm.[91] Because of the high value of their gold content and tendency to be on public display, Nobel medals are subject to medal theft.[92][93][94] During World War II, the medals of German scientists Max von Laue and James Franck were sent to Copenhagen for safekeeping. When Germany invaded Denmark, chemist George de Hevesy dissolved them in aqua regia, to prevent confiscation by Nazi Germany and to prevent legal problems for the holders. After the war, the gold was recovered from solution, and the medals re-cast.[95]
Diplomas
Nobel laureates receive a diploma directly from the hands of the King of Sweden or the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureate that receives it.[86] The diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize. None of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates has ever had a citation on their diplomas.[96][97]
Award money
The laureate is given a sum of money when they receive the prize, in the form of a document confirming the amount awarded.[86] The amount of prize money may differ depending on how much money the Nobel Foundation can award that year. The purse has increased since the 1980s, when the prize money was 880 000 SEK (c. 2.6 million SEK or US$350 000 today). In 2009 the monetary award was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million).[87][98] If there are two winners in a particular category, the award grant is divided equally between the recipients. If there are three, the awarding committee has the option of dividing the grant equally, or awarding one-half to one recipient and one-quarter to each of the others.[88][99][100] It is not uncommon for recipients to donate prize money to benefit scientific, cultural, or humanitarian causes.[101][102]
Controversies and criticisms
Since the first prize was awarded in 1901, the proceedings, nominations, awards, and exclusions have generated criticism and controversy. The Literature and Peace Prizes have tended to generate the most criticism, while the other prizes have generally received less.[103]
Controversial recipients
Criticisms of the Nobel Prizes include cases where they have been accused of a political agenda, or of missing out more deserving candidates. They have also been accused of Eurocentrism, especially the Literature Prize.[104][105]
![A portrait picture of a bearded man in a suit; holding a pencil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/48/Paul_Krugman-press_conference_Dec_07th%2C_2008-8.jpg/170px-Paul_Krugman-press_conference_Dec_07th%2C_2008-8.jpg)
One of the most controversial Peace Prizes was the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Barack Obama.[106] Nominations had closed only eleven days after Obama took office as President.[56] Obama himself stated that he did not feel he deserved the award,[107][108] and that he did not feel worthy of the company the award would place him in.[109] Past winners of the Peace Prize were divided, some saying that Obama deserved the award, and others saying he had not yet earned it.[110] Obama's award, along with the previous Peace Prizes for Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, prompted accusations of a left-wing bias.[110] The same allegations were made when Paul Krugman, a major critic of George W. Bush, won the 2008 Prize in Economic Sciences.[111]
Among the most controversial Nobel Peace Prizes was the one awarded to Henry Kissinger and Lê Ðức Thọ, who later declined the prize.[112] This led to two Norwegian Nobel Committee members resigning. Kissinger and Ðức Thọ were awarded the prize for negotiating a ceasefire between North Vietnam and the United States in January 1973. However, when the award was announced hostilities still occurred.[113] Many critics were of the opinion that Kissinger was not a peace-maker but the opposite; responsible for widening the war.[15][114]
The award of the 2004 Literature Prize to Elfriede Jelinek drew a protest from a member of the Swedish Academy, Knut Ahnlund. Ahnlund resigned, alleging that selecting Jelinek had caused "irreparable damage" to the reputation of the award.[115][116] The 2009 Literature Prize to Herta Müller also generated criticism. According to The Washington Post many US literary critics and professors had never heard of her before.[117] This made many feel that the prizes are too Eurocentric.[118]
In 1949 the Portuguese neurologist Antonio Egas Moniz received the Medicine or Physiology Prize for his development of the prefrontal leucotomy. The previous year Dr. Walter Freeman had developed a version of the procedure (the transorbital lobotomy) which was faster and easier to carry out. Due in part to the publicity surrounding the original procedure, Freeman's procedure was prescribed without due consideration or regard for modern medical ethics. Endorsed by such influential publications as The New England Journal of Medicine, lobotomy became so popular that about 5,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States in the three years immediately following Moniz's awarding of the Prize.[119][120]
Overlooked achievements
The Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Peace Prize in 1937-39, 1947 and a few days before he was murdered in January 1948.[121] Later members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed regret that he was not given the prize.[122] In 1948, the year of Gandhi's death, the Nobel Committee declined to award a prize on the Norwegian grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year.[122][123] Later, when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi."[124] Other high profile individuals with widely recognised contributions to peace have been missed out. As well as Gandhi, Foreign Policy lists Eleanor Roosevelt, Václav Havel, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Sari Nusseibeh, Corazon Aquino and Liu Xiaobo as people who "never won the prize, but should have."[125]
The Literature Prize also has criticised omissions. Marjorie Kehe has suggested that many notable writers have missed out on the award for political or extra-literary reasons.[126] The heavy focus on European and Swedish authors has been a subject of criticism.[127][128] The Eurocentric nature of the award was acknowledged by Peter Englund, the 2009 Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, as a problem with the award and was attributed to the tendency for the academy to relate more to European authors.[129] Other notable writers that have been overlooked for the Literature Prize include; Émile Zola, Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Proust, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, August Strindberg, John Updike, Arthur Miller, Graham Greene and Mark Twain.[130][131][132]
The strict rule against a prize being awarded to more than three people at once is also a cause for controversy.[133] When a prize is awarded to recognise an achievement by a team of more than three collaborators one or more will miss out. For example, in 2002, the prize was awarded to Koichi Tanaka and John Fenn for the development of mass spectrometry in protein chemistry, an award that did not recognise the achievements of Franz Hillenkamp and Michael Karas of the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt.[134][135] Similarly, the prohibition of posthumous awards fails to recognise achievements by an individual or collaborator who dies before the prize is awarded. In 1962, Francis Crick, James D. Watson, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Medicine or Physiology Prize for discovering the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin, a key contributor in that discovery, had died of ovarian cancer four years earlier.[136]
Emphasis on discoveries over inventions and theories
Alfred Nobel left his fortune to finance annual prizes to be awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." He stated that the Nobel Prizes in Physics should be given "to the person who shall have made the most important 'discovery' or 'invention' within the field of physics." Nobel did not emphasise discoveries, but they have historically been held in higher respect by the Nobel Prize Committee than inventions: 77% of the Physics Prizes have been given to discoveries, compared with only 23% to inventions. Christoph Bartneck and Matthias Rauterberg, in papers published in Nature and Technoetic Arts, have argued this emphasis on discoveries has moved the Nobel Prize away from its original intention of rewarding the greatest contribution to society.[137][138]
An example where discovery has been preferred over theory is Albert Einstein's prize. His 1921 Physics prize recognised his discovery of the photoelectric effect rather than his Special Theory of Relativity.[139][140][141] Historian Robert Friedman proposes that this may be due to the Nobel Prize Committee's discrimination against theoretical science.[142]
Specially distinguished laureates
![A black and white portrait of a woman in profile.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/38/Marie_Curie.jpg/170px-Marie_Curie.jpg)
Multiple laureates
Four people have received two Nobel Prizes. Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the Physics Prize in 1903 for the discovery of radioactivity and the Chemistry Prize in 1911 for the isolation of pure radium.[143] Linus Pauling won the 1954 Chemistry Prize for his research into the chemical bond and its application to the structure of complex substances. Pauling also won the Peace Prize in 1962 for his anti-nuclear activism, making him the only winner of two unshared prizes. John Bardeen received the Physics Prize twice: in 1956 for the invention of the transistor and in 1972 for the theory of superconductivity.[144] Frederick Sanger received the prize twice in Chemistry: in 1958 for determining the structure of the insulin molecule and in 1980 for inventing a method of determining base sequences in DNA.[145][146]
Two organisations have received the Peace Prize multiple times. The International Committee of the Red Cross received it three times: in 1917 and 1944 for its work during the world wars, and in 1963 during the year of its centenary.[147][148][149] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has won the Peace Prize twice for assisting refugees: in 1954 and 1981.[150]
Family laureates
The family which has received the most prizes is the Curie family, with five. Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the prizes in Physics (in 1903) and Chemistry (in 1911). Her husband, Pierre Curie, shared the 1903 Physics prize with her.[151] Their daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, received the Chemistry Prize in 1935 together with her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie. In addition, the husband of Maria Curie's second daughter, Henry Labouisse, was the director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.[152]
Although no family matches the Curie family's record, there have been several with two laureates. Gunnar Myrdal received the Economics Prize in 1974 and his wife, Alva Myrdal, received the Peace Prize in 1982.[153] J. J. Thomson was awarded the Physics Prize in 1906 for showing that electrons are particles. His son, George Paget Thomson, received the same prize in 1937 for showing that they also have the properties of waves.[154] William Henry Bragg together with his son, William Lawrence Bragg, shared the Physics Prize in 1915. Niels Bohr won the Physics prize in 1922, and his son, Aage Bohr, won the same prize in 1975.[155] Manne Siegbahn, who received the Physics Prize in 1924, was the father of Kai Siegbahn, who received the Physics Prize in 1981.[156] Hans von Euler-Chelpin, who received the Chemistry Prize in 1929, was the father of Ulf von Euler, who was awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1970. C.V. Raman won the Physics Prize in 1930 and was the uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the same prize in 1983.[157][158] Arthur Kornberg received the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1959. Kornberg's son, Roger later received the Chemistry Prize in 2006.[159] Jan Tinbergen, who won the first Economics Prize in 1969, was the brother of Nikolaas Tinbergen, who received the 1973 Physiology or Medicine Prize.[152]
Refusals and constraints
![A black and white portrait of a man in a suit and tie. Half of his face is in a shadow.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Richard_Kuhn_ETH-Bib_Dia_248-065.jpg/170px-Richard_Kuhn_ETH-Bib_Dia_248-065.jpg)
Two laureates have voluntarily declined the Nobel Prize. Jean Paul Sartre was awarded the Literature Prize in 1964 but refused, stating, "A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honourable form."[160] The other is Lê Ðức Thọ, chosen for the 1973 Peace Prize for his role in the Paris Peace Accords. He declined, claiming there was no actual peace in Vietnam.[161]
During the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler forbade Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk from accepting their prizes. All of them were awarded their diploma and gold medal after World War II. In 1958, Boris Pasternak declined his prize for literature due to fear of what the Soviet Union government would do if he travelled to Stockholm to accept his prize. In return the Swedish Academy refused his refusal, saying "this refusal, of course, in no way alters the validity of the award."[161] The Academy announced with regret that the presentation of the Literature Prize could not take place that year, holding it until 1989 when Pasternak's son accepted the prize on his behalf.[162][163]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ E.g., Johannes Fibiger was awarded the 1926 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his purported discovery of a parasite that caused cancer. (Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin: 2001, Page 125)
- ^ Nobel Week is the week leading up to the award ceremony and banquet. It begins with the laureates arriving in Stockholm and normally ends with the Nobel banquet. During the week the prize-awarding institutions arrange various events for the laureates.
References
Notes
- ^ Shalev, Baruch Aba (2005). p. 8.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin: 2001, Page 5
- ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin: 2001, Page 11
- ^ Frederic Golden (16 October 2000). "The Worst And The Brightest". Time Magazine. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
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(help) - ^ Sohlman, Ragnar: 1983, Page 13
- ^ a b AFP, "Alfred Nobel's last will and testament", The Local(5 October 2009): accessed 20 January 2010.
- ^ Sohlman, Ragnar: 1983, Page 7
- ^ von Euler, U.S. (6 June 1981). "The Nobel Foundation and its Role for Modern Day Science" (PDF). Die Naturwissenschaften. Springer-Verlag. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). p. 7.
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(help) - ^ a b Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin: 2001, Page 13-25
- ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). pp. 7–8.
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(help) - ^ Crawford, Elizabeth T: 1984, Page 1
- ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). p. 14.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). p. 15.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 16.
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: Missing or empty|title=
(help) Cite error: The named reference "Feldman16" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). pp. 17–18.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). pp. 15–17.
{{cite book}}
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). p. 23.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Wilhelm, Peter: 1983, Page 85
- ^ "All Nobel Laureates". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
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(help) - ^ "Nobel Prize in Economic Science Awarded to Oliver E. Williamson". Carnegie Mellon University. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
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(help) - ^ a b USA (2001). "The Noble Prizes in the new century". EMBO Reports. 2 (2): 83. doi:10.1093/embo-reports/kve034.
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(help) - ^ Vishveshwara, S. (2000). "Leaves from an unwritten diary: S. Chandrasekhar, Reminiscences and Reflections" (PDF). Current Science. 78 (8): 1025–1033. Retrieved 27 February 2008.
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- ^ a b Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). pp. 21–23.
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- ^ "Alfred Nobel's last will and testament". The Local. 5 December 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2010.
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(help) - ^ Jones, Brenn (2003). p. 27.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - ^ Lea, Richard (8 December 2008). "Le Clézio uses Nobel lecture to attack information poverty | Books | guardian.co.uk". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 2.
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- ^ a b Abrams, Irwin (2001). pp. 8–10.
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(help) - ^ "Medalj – ett traditionellt hantverk" (in Swedish). Myntverket. Retrieved 15 December 2007.
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(help) - ^ Lemmel, Birgitta (2009). "The Nobel Prize Diplomas". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
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(help) - ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 65.
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(help) - ^ "Who deserves Nobel prize? Judges don't agree". Associated Press. 11 October 2005. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
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- ^ "NOBEL PRIZE WINNER: Herta Muller". The Huffington Post. 8 October 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). pp. 286–289.
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(help) - ^ Elizabeth Day (12 January 2008). "He was bad, so they put an ice pick in his brain... | Science | The Observer". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). pp. 181–186.
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(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b Tønnesson, Øyvind (1 December 1999). "Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 17 October 2007.
- ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). pp. 147–148.
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(help) - ^ Presentation Speech by Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee
- ^ Kenner, David. (2009, Oct. 7). "Nobel Peace Prize Also-Rans". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
- ^ Marjorie Kehe, "Are US Writers Unworthy of the Nobel Prize?" Christian Science Monitor, Chapter & Verse Blog. Web. The Christian Science Monitor, 2 October 2008. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
- ^ Kirsch, Adam (3 October 2008). "The Nobel Committee has no clue about American literature. - By Adam Kirsch - Slate Magazine". Slate. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Fristorp, Mimmi (8 October 2008). "Akademien väljer helst en europé" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved 2010-04-02.
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- ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). pp. 56–57.
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(help) - ^ "No jokes please, we're the Nobel Prize Committee". The Local. 27 March 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Hochman, David (4 April 1991). "Graham Greene News - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
- ^ Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin: 2001, Page 61
- ^ Spinney, Laura (2002). ""News Analysis: Nobel Prize Controversy"". The Scientist. Retrieved 28 October 2006..
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(help) - ^ Nicholas Dawidoff, "The Civil Heretic ", The New York Times(25 March 2009 ): accessed 15 January 2009.
- ^ Fredholm, Lotta (2003). "The Discovery of the Molecular Structure of DNA – The Double Helix". Nobelprize.org. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
- ^ Bartneck, Christoph; Rauterberg, Matthias (2007). "Physics Nobels should favour inventions". Nature. 448: 644. doi:10.1038/448644c.
- ^ Bartneck, Christoph; Rauterberg, Matthias (2008). "The asymmetry between discoveries and inventions in the Nobel Prize in Physics". Technoetic Arts: a Journal of Speculative Research. 6: 73. doi:10.1386/tear.6.1.73_1.
- ^ Wilhelm, Peter: 1983, Page 86
- ^ Pais, Abraham: 1983, Page 503, original text reads:
On November 10, 1922, a telegram was delivered to the Einstein residence in Berlin. It read, ‘Nobelpreis für Physik ihnen zuerkannt näheres brieflich [signed] Aurivillius.’*On that same day, a telegram with the identical text must have been received by Bohr in Copenhagen. Also on that day, Professor Christopher Aurivillius, secretary of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, wrote to Einstein: 'As I have already informed you by telegram, in its meeting held yesterday the Royal Academy of Sciences decided to award you last year’s [1921] Nobel Prize for physics, in consideration of your work on theoretical physics and in particular for your discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect, but without taking into account the value which will be accorded your relativity and gravitation theories after these are confirmed in the future.’
- ^ "Nobel Prize in Physics 1921". slac.stanford.edu. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ Hughes, Virginia. "Einstein vs. the Nobel Prize". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- ^ "Marie Curie voted greatest female scientist". London: The Daily Telegraph. 2 July 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
- ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 180.
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: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Shalev, Baruch Aba (2005). p. 78.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 222.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). p. 84.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). p. 149.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Abrams, Irwin (2001). pp. 199–200.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 313.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ "Marie Curie (1867–1934)". BBC. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ a b Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 405.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Abrams, Irwin: 2001, Page 250
- ^ Gribbin, John (1985). p. 91.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Professor Aage Bohr: Nobel prize-winning physicist". The Times. London: News International. 11 September 2009. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
- ^ Maugh, Thomas H., II (8 August 2007). "Kai Siegbahn, 89; Nobel-winning physicist invented electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
{{cite news}}
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- ^ Feldman, Burton (2001). p. 406.
{{cite book}}
: Missing or empty|title=
(help) - ^ Conger, Krista (4 October 2006). "Roger Kornberg wins the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry". Stanford Report. Stanford University. Retrieved 24 January 2010.
- ^ Holt, Jim (22 September 2003). "Exit, Pursued by a Lobster". Slate. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ a b English, Jason (6 October 2009). "Odd facts about Nobel Prize winners". CNN. Time Warner. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ Franchetti, Mark (14 January 2007). "How the CIA won Zhivago a Nobel". The Times. London: News International. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ Finn, Peter (27 January 2007). "The Plot Thickens". The Washington Post. The Washington Post Company. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
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- Feldman, Burton (2001). The Nobel prize: a history of genius, controversy, and prestige. Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1559705922.
- Gribbin, John (1985). In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. London: Corgi. ISBN 0-552-12555-5.
- Jones, Brenn (2003). Learning about love from the life of Mother Teresa. PowerKids Press. ISBN 0823957772.
- Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin (2001). Nils Ringertz (ed.). The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years (First ed.). 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE: Imperial College Press and World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 981-02-4664-1. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
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- Shalev, Baruch Aba (2005). 100 years of Nobel prizes. The Americas Group. ISBN 9780935047370. Retrieved 15 February 2010.
- Sohlman, Ragnar (1983). The Legacy of Alfred Nobel – The Story Behind the Nobel Prizes (Originally published in Swedish as ‘Ett Testamente’ in 1950 ed.). The Nobel Foundation. ISBN 0-370-30990-I.
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