Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize
Awarded for	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.
Presented by	Swedish Academy Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Karolinska Institutet Norwegian Nobel Committee
Country	Sweden, (Norway)
First awarded	1901
Official Website	http://nobelprize.org

The Nobel Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) is an annual, international award originating in Sweden. The award was established in 1895 by the Swedish chemist and inventor of dynamite Alfred Bernhard Nobel.^[1][2] It was first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. An associated prize, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, was instituted by Sweden's central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.^[3] Although the Nobel Prize in Economics is not technically a Nobel Prize, its winners are announced with the Nobel Prize recipients and it is presented at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. The Nobel Prizes in the specific disciplines (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature) and the Prize in Economics are widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive in those fields.^[3]

A recipient of the Nobel Prize (called a laureate) earns a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation and a sum of money.^[4][5] The amount of money awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year. In 2009, the amount was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million) per prize.^[6] If a prize is awarded to more than one laureate, the money is either split evenly among them or, for three laureates, it may be divided into a half and two quarters.^[7]

The prizes are awarded by different associations. The Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly at (the) Karolinska Institutet; and the Nobel Prize in Literature is granted by the Swedish Academy.^[8][9] The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded by a Swedish organisation, but rather by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.^[8][9]

The Nobel Prize has been criticised for not always choosing the best candidates, the lack of a Nobel Peace prize for Mahatma Gandhi being a prime example.^[10] Also controversial is the strict rule against a prize being awarded to more than three people at once. This inevitably means one or more people will not be recognised if a notable achievement is accomplished by a team of collaborators.^[11] Similarly, the prohibition of posthumous awards fails to recognise achievements by a collaborator who happens to die before the prize is awarded.^{[12][13][14][15]}

History

Portrait of Alfred Nobel by Gösta Florman

Alfred Nobel ( listen (help·info)) was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden into a family of engineers.^[16] He was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. In 1895 he purchased the Bofors iron and steel mill, which he converted into a major armaments manufacturer.^[17] Nobel amassed a sizeable personal fortune during his lifetime, most of it from his 355 different inventions, with dynamite being the most famous.^[17][18] In 1888 Alfred had the unpleasant surprise of discovering and reading his own obituary, titled ‘The merchant of death is dead’, in a Swedish newspaper.^[19] The obituary was eight years premature and it was actually Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died.^[19] Nevertheless, Alfred was disappointed with what he read and with how he would be remembered, inspiring him to change his will.^[19] On the 10th of December 1896 Alfred Nobel died at the age of sixty-three after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage.^[20][21] in his villa in San Remo, Italy, where he had lived out the last years of his life.^{[17][22][23][24]}

To the surprise of many,^[23] Nobel requested in his last will and testament that his money 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.^[24][25] Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895.^[26][27] Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, 31 million Swedish kronor (US$186 million in 2008), to establish and endow the five Nobel Prizes.^[28] Due to the level of scepticism surrounding the will it was not until April 26, 1897 that it was approved by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament).^[1][29] The executors of his will were Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, who formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's fortune and organize the prizes.^[30]

The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that were to award the Peace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. The prize-awarding organizations followed: the Karolinska Institutet on June 7, the Swedish Academy on June 9, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on June 11.^[31][32] The Nobel Foundation then reached an agreement on guidelines for how the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly created statutes were promulgated by King Oscar II.^[23][29][30] In 1905, the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved, which meant the responsibility for awarding Nobel Prizes was split between the two countries.^[29] Norway's Nobel Committee became responsible for awarding the Peace Prize, leaving Sweden with the other prizes.^[1][29][30]

Alexander Fleming receiving the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine from King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden.

The Nobel Foundation

The offices of the Nobel Foundation are located at Sturegatan 14 in Stockholm.

The Nobel Foundation was founded as a private organisation on 29 June 1900, specifically to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes.^[34][35] In accordance with Nobel's will, the primary task of the Nobel Foundation is to manage the fortune Nobel left.^[22][30] Another important task of the Nobel Foundation is to market the Nobel Prize internationally and to oversee informal administration related to the Prizes. The Nobel Foundation is not involved in any way in the process of selecting the Nobel laureates.^[30][36] 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).^[37] Since the 1980s, the Foundation's investments have become more profitable and as of December 31, 2007, the assets controlled by the Nobel Foundation amounted to 3.628 billion Swedish kronor (approx. US$560 million).^{[1][22][38][39]}

According to the statutes, the Foundation should consist of a board of five men, with its seat in Stockholm. The Chairman of the Board should be appointed by the King in Council,^[40] with the other four members appointed by the trustees of the prize-awarding institutions. An Executive Director is then chosen from among the board members, a Deputy Director is appointed by the King in Council, and two deputies 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.^[40] 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.^[1][40]

Nobel Prize during World War II

In 1938 and 1939, Adolf Hitler forbade some laureates from Germany (Richard Kuhn, Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk) from accepting their prizes.^[41] Even though Sweden was officially neutral during World War II, the Prizes were awarded irregularly during this period. In 1939 the Peace Prize was not awarded and between 1940 and 1942 no Nobel Prize was awarded in any category. The subsequent year, all prizes were awarded except those for Literature and Peace.^[42]

The reason no prizes were awarded during this period was due to the occupation of Norway by Germany on 9 April 1940.^[43][44] During the occupation three members of the Nobel Committee's fled the country into exile. The remaining members escaped persecution from the Nazis due to the Nobel Foundation stating that the Nobel Committee building in Oslo was Swedish property and thus a safe haven from the German Military who was not at war with Sweden. These members kept the work of the Committee going but did not award any prizes.^[45] 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.^[44][45]

Prize in Economic Sciences

The Sveriges Riksbank (Bank of Sweden) celebrated its 300th anniversary in 1968 by donating a very large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation.^[46][47] 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 a laureate for this prize.^[46] 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.^[46][48][49] Subsequently, the Board of the Nobel Foundation decided that after this addition, it would allow no further new prizes.^[46]

Recent Laureates

In 2008 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was shared between two French virologists who discovered HIV and a third German virologist who discovered that a virus causes cervical cancer.^[50] Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, together share half the prize for their discovery in 1983, which was that the virus now known as HIV causes AIDS.^[50][51] Harald zur Hausen also shared this prize for discovering that the human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer.^[50][52] The Nobel prize in Chemistry for that year was shared between three biologists.^[53] Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien isolated and developed a green fluorescent protein (GFP) from a jellyfish.^[54][55] The GFP has a vast number of applications, from searching for a cure for deafness to developing treatments for Huntington's disease.^[56][57] Martti Ahtisaari received the Peace Prize "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".^[58][59] The Prize in Physics was awarded to Yoichiro Nambu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics.^[60][61] 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 civilization".^[62][63] The Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to Paul Krugman for his work on international trade and economic geography.^[64][65]

In 2009 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz, and Ada Yonath, for creating detailed structures of the ribosome.^[66] 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 possible inventions such as the digital camera.^[67][68] Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson were awarded the prize in Economics for "their work in economic governance, especially the commons".^[69][70] Elinor was the first woman to win the prize in Economics. The Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider, and Jack W. Szostak for their research on telomers.^[71] 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".^[72][73] 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".^[74][75]

Frank Wilczek (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2004) with Yoichiro Nambu (Nobel Prize in Physics, 2008)

Herta Müller, (Nobel Prize for Literature, 2009)

Laureates of the 2009 Medicine Prize Carol Greider (left) and Elizabeth Blackburn (right)

The Award Process

The award process is similar for each Nobel Prize, the main difference being the choice of individuals responsible for the nominations for a particular prize.^[76][77][78]

Nominations

First, nomination forms are sent out by the Nobel Committee to about 3000 qualified individuals, usually in September the year before the prize is awarded.^[79][80] These individuals are often professors working in the same area as the prize they provide nominations for.^[79][80] For the Peace Prize, inquiries are sent to various nominating bodies, including: governments, members of international courts, professors and rectors, former Peace Prize laureates and current or former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.^[79][80] The deadline for the return of the nomination forms is 31 January of the year the prize is to be awarded.^[79][80] The Nobel Committee looks at the forms and selects preliminary candidates. The Nobel Committee may also add additional names and often about 300 potential laureates are nominated.^[79][81] The names of the nominees are never publicly announced, and neither are they told that they have been considered for the Prize. All nomination records for a prize are sealed for 50 years from the awarding of that prize.^[79]

The Dalai Lama & Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winners. Photo by Carey Linde, 2004.

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 different prize awarding institutions: the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish Academy, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee.^[82] The prize-awarding institutions meet to consider the lists and vote on who will become the laureate or laureates in each field. This is done through a majority vote and their decision is final and not subject to appeal.^[78] The names of the Nobel Laureates are announced immediately after the vote.^[82] 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.^[83]

Posthumous nominations

While posthumous nominations are not permitted, individuals who died in the months between their nomination and the decision of the prize committee were originally still 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. This changed in 1974 and now laureates must be alive at the time of the October announcement. There has been one laureate, William Vickrey (1996, Economics), who died after the prize was announced but before it could be presented.^[83]

Recognition time lag

The committee room of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Nobel's will provides for prizes to be awarded in recognition of discoveries made "during the preceding year" and during the early years of the awards the discoveries recognised were consistently recent. However, some awards were made for discoveries that were later discredited.^[84] Taking the discrediting of a recognised discovery as an embarrassment, the awards committees began to recognise scientific discoveries that had withstood the test of time.

The interval between the accomplishment of the achievement being recognised and the awarding of the Nobel Prize varies from discipline to discipline. The prizes in Literature are typically awarded to recognise a cumulative lifetime body of work rather than a single achievement.^[85][86] In this case the notion of "lag" does not directly apply. The prizes in Peace can also be awarded for a lifetime body of work, for example 2008 winner Martti Ahtisaari won it "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts".^[87][88] However, they can also be awarded for specific events. In this case, they are generally awarded within a few years of the event, sometimes within the one-year timeframe.^[89] For instance, Kofi Annan was awarded the 2001 Peace Prize just four years after becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations;^[90] Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres received the 1994 award, about a year after they successfully concluded the Oslo Accords.^[91]

Awards in the scientific disciplines of physics, chemistry, and medicine require that the significance of the achievement being recognised is "tested by time." In practice, this means that the lag between the discovery and the award is typically 20 or more years. For example, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on stellar structure and evolution from the 1930s.^[92][93] Not all scientists live long enough for their work to be recognised. Some important scientific discoveries can never be considered for a Prize if the discoverers have died by the time the impact of their work is realised.^[94][95][96]

Award ceremonies

Melvin Calvin receiving the Nobel Prize at the Stockholm concert hall in 1961.

The Nobel Prizes, with the exception of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Prize in Economics, are presented in Stockholm, Sweden, at the annual Prize Award Ceremony on the 10th of December, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The recipients' lectures are held in the days prior to the award ceremony. The Nobel Peace Prize and its recipients' lectures are presented at the annual Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, also on the 10th of December. The award ceremonies and the associated banquets are typically major international events.^[97][98][99]

A set table on the 2005 Nobel Prize Banquet with the menu next to the plate.

Giovanni Jona-Lasinio presenting Yoichiro Nambu's Nobel Lecture at Aula Magna, Stockholm in 2008

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 most recently at Oslo City Hall(1990-).^[99][100]

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 His Majesty 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. The Nobel Laureate receives three things: a diploma, a medal, and a document confirming the prize amount.^[99][101]

Since 1902, the King of Sweden has presented all the prizes 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.^[102]

Nobel Banquet

After the award ceremonies banquets are held at the Stockholm City Hall and the Grand Hotel in Oslo. Around 1,300 guests attend the Swedish banquet, which features a three-course dinner (four courses during the 90th anniversary of the prize^[103]), entertainment and dancing. The banquet is attended by the Swedish Royal Family and is extensively covered by local and international media.^{[99][104][105]} Before 1930, the banquet was held in the ballroom of Stockholm’s Grand Hotel.^[106]

The 250 guests at the Peace Prize banquet in Norway enjoy a five-course meal. As well as the winner, other notable guests include the President of the Storting, the Prime Minister and (since 2006) the King and Queen of Norway.^[107][108] For the first time in its history, the Nobel banquet was canceled in Oslo in 1979 because Mother Teresa refused to attend saying the money would be better spent on the poor.^[109] 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.^[110][111]

At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies in both Stockholm and Oslo the dress-code is formal, with gentlemen required to wear a dark suit and ladies required to wear dresses. The Nobel Banquet that follows in Stockholm is a strictly formal affair and gentlemen are required to wear a white tie and tailcoat, while ladies should be clad in an evening gown.^[112] Wearing one's national costume is an alternative to tailcoat or evening gown.^[112] If one is invited to both gatherings, the most strictly formal attire applies.^{[98][101][105][112]}

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.^{[113][114][115]} All of the lectures occur during Nobel Week, before the award ceremony.^[116] The lectures are organised by the same association who selected the laureates.^[117][118]

Prizes

Front side (obverse) of one of the Nobel Prize medals in Physiology or Medicine awarded in 1950 to researchers at the Mayo Clinic.

A Nobel Prize laureate, earns a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money.^[119] The amount of money awarded depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation that year.^[6] If a prize is awarded jointly to two or more laureates the money is split among them.^[7]

Nobel Prize Medals

The Nobel Prize medals, minted by Myntverket^[120] in Sweden and the Mint of Norway since 1902, are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. Each medal feature an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse (front side of the medal). The Nobel Prize 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 (1833–1896). Nobel's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Nobel Peace Prize medal and the Medal for the Prize in Economics, but with a slightly different design.^[121][122] The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize. The reverse sides of the Nobel Prize medals for Chemistry and Physics share the same design.^[123]

All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold. Now, they are made from 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.^[122][124] Due to the high value of their gold content and tendency to be on public display, Nobel medals are subject to medal theft.^{[125][126][127]} During World War II, the medals of German scientists Max von Laue and James Franck were (illegally) 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.^[128]

Nobel Prize Diplomas

Marie Curie's Diploma.

Nobel laureates receive a Diploma directly from the hands of the King of Sweden. Each Diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureate that receives it.^[129] The Diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize. No Nobel Peace Prize has ever had a citation on its diplomas.^[129]

Award Money

The laureate is also given a sum of money when they receive the Nobel Prize, in the form of a document confirming the amount awarded; in 2009 the monetary award was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million).^[6] 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 (approximately 2.6 million SEK or US$350 000 today).^[6][7][130] 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. It is not uncommon for recipients to donate prize money to benefit scientific, cultural, or humanitarian causes.^{[7][131][132][133]}

Controversies and criticisms

Since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, the proceedings, nominations, awards, and exclusions have generated criticism and engendered much controversy. The Prizes in Literature and Peace have tended to generate the most criticism, while the other Prizes have generally received less.^[134]

Overlooked achievements

Mahatma Gandhi, one of the more controversial omissions from the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937, 1938, 1939, 1947 and, finally, a few days before he was murdered in January 1948.^[135] The omission has been publicly regretted by later members of the Nobel Committee.^[136] In 1948, the year of Gandhi's death, the Nobel Committee declined to award a prize on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year.^[136][137] 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".^[138] Over the years there have been other notable omissions to the Nobel Peace Prize. High profile individuals with widely recognised contributions to peace have been missed out. As well as Gandhi, Foreign Policy magazine 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".^[139] Other notable omissions that have drawn criticism include Abdul Sattar Edhi,^[140] Irena Sendler,^[141] Pope John Paul II^[142] and Dorothy Day.^[143]

Along with the Peace Prize, the Prize in Literature has some of the most controversial omissions. Marjorie Kehe has suggested that many notable writers have missed out on the award for political or extra-literary reasons.^[144] The heavy focus on European authors, and authors from Sweden in particular, has been a subject of criticism.^[145][146] The Eurocentric nature of the award was acknowledged by Peter Englund, the 2009 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.^[147] Other notable writers that have been overlooked for the Nobel Prize in Literature include; Henrik Ibsen, Émile Zola, André Malraux, Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Proust, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Vladimir Nabokov, August Strindberg, John Updike, Arthur Miller and Mark Twain.^[148]

The strict rule against a prize being awarded to more than three people at once is also a cause for controversy. When a prize is awarded to recognise an achievement by a team of more than three collaborators, inevitably one or more will miss out. For example, in 2002, a Prize was awarded to Koichi Tanaka and John Fenn for the development of mass spectrometry in protein chemistry, an award that failed to recognise the achievements of Franz Hillenkamp and Michael Karas of the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt.^{[11][149][150]} Similarly, the prohibition of posthumous awards fails to recognise achievements by an individual or collaborator who happens to die before the prize is awarded. Rosalind Franklin, who was a key contributor in the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953, died of ovarian cancer in 1958, four years before the achievement was recognised by awarding Francis Crick, James D. Watson, and Maurice Wilkins the Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1962.^[13] In some cases, awards have arguably omitted similar discoveries made earlier. For example, the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery and development of conductive organic polymers" in 1977 ignored the much earlier discovery of highly conductive charge transfer complex polymers by Donald Weiss.^[151][152]

Lack of a Nobel Prize in Mathematics

There is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics, which has led to speculation about why Alfred Nobel omitted it.^[153][154] An early theory was that Alfred Nobel was jealous of the mathematician Gösta Mittag-Leffler and did not want to institute a prize that Mittag-Leffler might receive.^[155][156] This has been refuted by Lars Garding and Lars Hörmander because of timing inaccuracies; they suggest that the reason for the lack of Nobel Prize in mathematics is that Nobel did not consider mathematics as a "practical" enough discipline.^[157][158] Several prizes in mathematics have similarities to the Nobel Prize, with both the Fields Medal and the Abel Prize being described as the "Nobel Prize of mathematics".^[159][160]

Emphasis on discoveries over inventions

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". One part, he stated, 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 Nobel prizes in physics 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 in the preceding year.^[161][162]

Specially distinguished laureates

A photographic portrait of Maria Skłodowska-Curie.

Multiple laureates

Since the establishment of the Nobel Prize, four people have received two Nobel Prizes.^[163] Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for the discovery of radioactivity and in 1911 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the isolation of pure radium.^{[164][165][166]} Linus Pauling won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances. Pauling also won the Peace Prize in 1962 for his anti-nuclear activism. He is the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes.^[167] John Bardeen received the Physics Prize twice: the first time for the invention of the transistor in 1956^[168] and the second time in 1972 for the theory of superconductivity.^[169][170] Frederick Sanger received the prize twice in chemistry: in 1958 for the structure of the insulin molecule and in 1980 for virus nucleotide sequencing.^[171]

There have been two organisations which have received the Peace Prize several times. As a group, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received the Nobel Peace Prize three times: in 1917, 1944, and 1963. The first two prizes were specifically in recognition of the group's work during the world wars, and the third was awarded during the year of its 100-Year Anniversary.^[172] The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has won the Peace Prize twice: in 1954 and 1981 for assisting refugees.^[173][174]

Family laureates

There have been multiple laureates who belonged to the same family. The family which has received the most prizes is the Curie family, with five Nobel Prizes. Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the prizes in Physics (1903) and Chemistry (1911). Her husband, Pierre Curie, shared the 1903 Physics prize with her.^[175][176] Their daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935 together with her husband Frederic Joliot-Curie.^[177] 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.^[178]

Many families have received two laureates. Gunnar Myrdal received the prize in Economics 1974 and his wife received the Peace Prize in 1982.^[179] J. J. Thomson was awarded the Nobel prize for Physics in 1906.^[180] His son, George Paget Thomson, received the same prize in 1937.^[181] William Henry Bragg and his son, William Lawrence Bragg, shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915.^[182] Niels Bohr won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1922, and his son, Aage Bohr, won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1975.^[183][184] Manne Siegbahn, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1924, was the father of Kai Siegbahn, who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981.^[185] Hans von Euler-Chelpin, who received the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1929, was the father of Ulf von Euler, who was awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970.^[186] C.V. Raman won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1930 and was the uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1983.^[187] Arthur Kornberg received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1959. Kornberg's son, Roger later received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006.^[188][189] Jan Tinbergen, who won the first Nobel Prize for Economics in 1969, was the brother of Nikolaas Tinbergen, who received the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[190]

Refusals and constraints

A picture of Richard Kuhn who was forced to decline his Nobel Prize in Chemistry

There have been two laureates who voluntarily declined the Nobel Prize. Jean Paul Sartre was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature 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."^[191][192] The second person who has refused to accept the prize is Lê Đức Thọ, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 for his role in the Paris Peace Accords. He declined, claiming there was no actual peace in Vietnam.^[191][193]

During the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler forbade Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk from accepting their Nobel Prizes. Kuhn was awarded his diploma and gold medal after World War II.^{[191][193][194]} In 1958, Boris Pasternak declined his prize in literature due to fear of what the Soviet Union government would do if he travelled to Stockholm to accept his prize.^[195][196] In return the Swedish Academy, who had awarded Pasternak the prize, refused his refusal, saying "this refusal, of course, in no way alters the validity of the award".^[191] The Academy announced with regret that the presentation of the Literature Prize could not take place that year, holding it until 1989 when Boris Pasternak's son accepted the prize on behalf of his father.^{[193][195][196][197]}

See also

• Alternative Nobel Prize
• List of Nobel laureates
• List of Nobel laureates by country
• List of female Nobel laureates
• List of prizes, medals, and awards
• Nobel Conference
• Nobel laureates by university affiliation
• Nobel laureates per capita
• Nobel Library
• Nobel Museum
• Nobel Peace Center
• Norwegian Nobel Committee

References

Bibliography

• Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin. Nils Ringertz. ed. The Nobel Prize: The First 100 Years (First ed.). 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE: © 2001 Imperial College Press and World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.. ISBN 981-02-4664-1. 
• Liljestrand, Göran, and Carl Gustaf Bernhard. "The Prize in Physiology or Medicine". 139–278 of Nobel: The Man and His Prizes. 1950. Ed. Nobel Foundation and Wilhelm Odelberg (Coordinating Ed.). 3rd ed. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., 1972. ISBN 0444001174.
• Maddox, B. Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA (2002). Harper Collins ISBN 0-00-655211-0.
• Nobel Prize (1962). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1962, for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material, Nobelprize.org
• Odelberg, Wilhelm. "Foreword: Alfred Nobel: The Man and His Prizes". The Who's Who of Nobel Prize Winners: 1901–2000. Ed. Louise S. Sherby. 4th ed. Westport, CT: Oryx Press, 2002. ISBN 1573564141 (10). ISBN 9781573564144 (13).
• Politzer, H. David (1973). "Reliable Perturbative Results for Strong Interactions?". Physical Review Letters 30 (26): 1346–1349. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.30.1346. 
• Schück, Henrik, Ragnar Sohlman, Anders Österling, Carl Gustaf Bernhard, the Nobel Foundation, and Wilhelm Odelberg, eds. Nobel: The Man and His Prizes. 1950. 3rd ed. Coordinating Ed., Wilhelm Odelberg. New York: American Elsevier Publishing Company, Inc., 1972. ISBN 0444001174 (10). ISBN 9780444001177 (13). (Originally published in Swedish as Nobelprisen 50 år: forskare, diktare, fredskämpar.)
• Smoot, George; Keay Davidson (1994). Wrinkles in Time. William Morrow & Company. ISBN 0-380-72044-2. 
• Teresa Kaczorowska, Córka mazowieckich równin, czyli Maria Skłodowska–Curie z Mazowsza (Daughter of the Mazovian Plains: Maria Skłodowska–Curie of Mazowsze), Ciechanów, 2007.
• Sohlman, Ragnar. The Legacy of Alfred Nobel - The Story Behind the Nobel Prizes (Originally published in Swedish as ‘Ett Testamente’ in 1950 ed.). © 1983 The Nobel Foundation. ISBN 0-370-30990-I. 

Notes

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