Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize, any of the prizes (five in number until 1969, when a sixth was added) that are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel.
⇒ The first distribution of the prizes took place on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel’s death. An additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969. 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.
⇒ After Nobel’s death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to carry out the provisions of his will and to administer his funds. In his will, he had stipulated that four different institutions-three Swedish and one. Norwegianshould award the prizes. From Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics, chemistry and economics, the Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo confers the prize for peace.
⇒ The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner and functional administrator of the funds and serves as the joint administrative body of the prize-awarding institutions, but it is not concerned with the prize deliberations or decisions, which rest exclusively with the four institutions.
⇒ The Selection Process Although the winners are announced in October and November, the selection process begins in the early autumn of the preceding year, when the prize-awarding institutions invite more than 6,000 individuals to propose, or nominate, candidates for the prizes.
⇒ During September and early October the Nobel Committees accomplish their work and submit their recommendations to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the other prize-awarding institutions. Though the final decision by the awarders must be made by November 15, the prizes are distributed every year on 10th December, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel. Prizes may be given only to individuals, except the Peace Prize, which may also be conferred upon an institution.
⇒ An individual may not be nominated posthumously, but a winner who dies before receiving the prize may be awarded it posthumously, as with Dag Hammarskjöld (for peace; 1961), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (for literature; 1931), and Ralph M. Steinman (for physiology or medicine; 2011).
Some Important Facts
⇒ On 27 November 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace – the Nobel Prizes. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) established. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
⇒ Between 1901 and 2021, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 609 times.
Years without Nobel Prizes
⇒ Since the start, in 1901, there are some years when the Nobel Prizes have not been awarded. The total number of times are 49. Most of them during World War I (1914-1918) and II (1939-1945). In the statutes of the Nobel Foundation it says: “If none of the works under consideration is found to be of the importance indicated in the first paragraph, the prize money shall be reserved until the following year. If, even then, the prize cannot be awarded, the amount shall be added to the Foundation’s restricted funds.”.
⇒ Between 1901 and 2021 the Nobel Prize and Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded 58 times to women.
⇒ June is the month when most Nobel Laureates celebrate a birthday.
The Oldest Nobel laureates
⇒ Jean-Paul Sartre, awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature, declined the prize because he had consistently en declined all official honours.
⇒ Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They were awarded the Prize for negotiating the Vietnam peace Insbaccord. Le Duc Tho said that he was not in a position bns to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, citing the situation in o Vietnam as his reason.
⇒ Four Nobel Laureates have been forced by authorities to decline the Nobel Prize. Adolf Hitler forbade three German Nobel Laureates, Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk, from accepting the Nobel Prize. All of them could later receive the Nobel Prize Diploma and Medal, but not the prize amount.
⇒ Boris Pasternak, the 1958 Nobel Laureate in Literature, initially accepted the Nobel Prize but was later coerced by the authorities of the Soviet Union, his native country, to decline the Nobel Prize.
⇒ Three Nobel Laureates were under arrest at the time of the award of the Nobel Prize, all of them Nobel Peace Prize Laureates:
German pacifist and journalist Carl von Ossietzky
Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi
Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo
⇒ The work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been honoured by a Nobel Peace Prize three times. Besides, the founder of the ICRC, Henry Dunant, was awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.
⇒ Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes – the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.
Posthumous Nobel Prizes
⇒ From 1974, the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation stipulate that a Prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement of the Nobel Prize. Before 1974, the Nobel Prize has only been awarded posthumously twice: to Dag Hammarskjöld(Nobel Peace Prize 1961) and Erik Axel Karlfeldt(Nobel Prize in Literature 1931).
⇒ Following the 2011 announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, it was discovered that one of the Medicine Laureates, Ralph Steinman, had passed away three days earlier. The Board of the Nobel Foundation examined the statutes, and an interpretation of the purpose of the rule above led to the conclusion that Ralph Steinman should continue to remain a Nobel Laureate, as the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet had announced the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine without knowing of his death.
The Nobel Prize Insignias
⇒ At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies on 10th December the Nobel Laureates receive three things: a Nobel Diploma, a Nobel Medal and a document confirming the Nobel Prize amount. Each Nobel Diploma is a unique work of art, created by foremost Swedish and Norwegian artists and calligraphers. The Nobel Medals are handmade with careful precision and in 18 carat recycled gold.
⇒ The Nobel Medals in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are identical on the face: it shows the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death (1833-1896). Nobel’s portrait also appears on the Nobel Peace Prize Medal and the Medal for the Prize in Economic Sciences, but with a slightly different design. The image on the reverse varies according to the institution awarding the prize.
The Nobel Prize Amount
⇒ Alfred Nobel left most of his estate, more than SEK 31 million (today approximately SEK 1,702 million) to be converted into a fund and invested in “safe securities.” The income from the investments was to be “distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.”
⇒ The Nobel Prize amount for 2021 is set at Swedish kronor (SEK) 10 million per full Nobel Prize.
Why are the individuals and organisations awarded a Nobel Prize called Nobel Laureates ?
⇒ The word “Laureate” refers to being signified by the laurel wreath. In Greek mythology, the God Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. A laurel wreath is a circular crown made of branches and leaves of the bay laurel (in Latin: Laurus nobilis). In Ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors as a sign of honour – both in athletic competitions and in poetic meets.
Nobel Laureates of India/Indian Origin
Rabindra Nath Tagore: In 1910 British poet W.B. Yeats translated Tagor’s ‘Geetanjali’ into English (and also wrote its preface), on which Tagore was awarded Nobel Prize (Literature) in 1913.
C.V. Raman: He got Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for his discovery of ‘Raman effect.
Hargobind Khorana: He got Nobel Prize of Medicines in 1968 for his interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis
Mother Teresa : She was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work with the poor.
S.Chandrasekhar: He got Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983 for his theoretical studies of the physical process of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars. The prize was divided equally between S. Chandrasekhar and William Alfred Fowler (U.S.A).
Amartya Sen: He was awarded the ‘Sveriges Riksbank Prize 1998’ in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel for “his contribution to welfare economics”.
V.S. Naipaul: Sir Vidiadhar Suraj Prasad Naipaul got Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001 for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories.
Venkatarman Ramakrishnan: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009 was awarded jointly to V. Ramakrishnan (India), Thomas A. Steitze (U.S.A) and Ada. E. Yonath (Israel) for “studies of the structure and function of the ribosome”.
Kailash Satyarthi: The Nobel Peace Prize 2014 was awarded jointly to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for “their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”
Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee Mumbai-born economist Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee won the Nobel Prize in Economic Scienses in 2019. He shared the award with his economist wife, Esther Duflo and another US-based economist, Michael Kremer for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
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