THE NOBEL PRIZE – AWARDING GREAT MINDS
Every year in early October, the world turns its gaze towards Sweden and Norway as the Nobel Laureates are announced in Stockholm and Oslo. The Nobel Prize, which has been awarded for discoveries such as radioactivity and penicillin, is arguably the world’s most prestigious award.
Each year, King Carl XVI Gustaf personally presents a diploma to the winners during a stately ceremony in the Stockholm Concert Hall.
Photo: Dan Hansson/TT
The prestigious award that captures the world’s attention
The Nobel Prize is considered the most prestigious award in the world. Prize-winning discoveries include X-rays, radioactivity and penicillin. Peace Laureates include Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. Nobel Laureates in Literature, including Rudyard Kipling and Doris Lessing, have thrilled readers with works such as The Jungle Book and The Grass is Singing.
Every year in early October, the world turns its gaze towards Sweden and Norway as the Nobel Laureates are announced in Stockholm and Oslo. Millions of people visit the Nobel Foundation’s website during this time.
The Nobel Prize has been awarded to people and organisations every year since 1901 (with a few exceptions such as during World War II) for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.
Nobel Day is 10 December. For the prize winners, it is the climax of a week of speeches, conferences and receptions. At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm that day, the Laureates in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature receive a medal from the King of Sweden, as well as a diploma and a cash award. The ceremony is followed by a gala banquet. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo on the same day.
Prize in Economic Sciences
In 1968, Sweden’s central bank (Sveriges Riksbank) established the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The prize is based on a donation received by the Nobel Foundation in 1968 from Sveriges Riksbank on the occasion of the bank’s 300th anniversary. The Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, following the same principles as for the Nobel Prizes.
Legacy of Alfred Nobel
The Nobel Prize is the legacy of Sweden’s Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). Prizes are awarded to ‘those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.’ When he signed his last will in 1895, Nobel declared that the bulk of his estate should be converted into a fund and invested in safe securities. The four institutions in Sweden and Norway (the two countries were united between 1814 and 1905) conferring the prizes were to be ‘the Swedish Academy of Sciences, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the Academy in Stockholm’ and ‘a committee of five persons to be elected by the Storting (the Norwegian parliament).’
The Nobel Foundation
In 1900, the four institutions awarding the prizes agreed to create the Nobel Foundation, a private institution based on the will of Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Foundation would administer Alfred Nobel’s willed assets, totaling SEK 31 million (EUR 3.4 million, USD 4.4 million), make public announcements and arrange the prize ceremonies. The total amount awarded each year is based on the most recent return on investment. The capital is currently worth around SEK 3.1 billion (EUR 354 million, USD 474 million,), almost double the amount of the original estate when adjusted for inflation.
The Nobel Prize in each category is currently SEK 8 million (EUR 0.9 million, USD 1.2 million) There can be up to three recipients for each prize.
Organisations affiliated with the Prize
The Nobel Prize is affiliated with several organisations and institutions entrusted with different tasks related to the prize. The Nobel Foundation Rights Association was established in 1999 to provide information through a variety of media about the Nobel Laureates and their achievements.
This non-profit association serves as an umbrella organisation for the following three entities:
*Nobel Media AB, which manages and develops media rights for the Nobel Prize in connection with TV and web production, distribution, publishing and events.
*The Nobel Museum AB, housed in the Old Stock Exchange Building (Börshuset) in Stockholm’s Old Town, which depicts a century of creativity through the Nobel Prize and the achievements of the Nobel Laureates.
*The Nobel Peace Center, at Rådhusplassen in Oslo, Norway, which presents the Nobel Peace Prize and the work of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
Alfred Nobel – the father of dynamite.
Photo: Nobelmuseet
The father of dynamite
Alfred Nobel was a chemist, engineer, inventor and entrepreneur. He was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm and died on 10 December 1896 in San Remo, Italy. He was devoted to the study of explosives, and his inventions include a blasting cap, dynamite and smokeless gunpowder. Nobel became famous across the world when the St. Gotthard Tunnel was completed in 1881 and dynamite was used for the first time on a large scale.
At the time of his death, Nobel held 355 patents in different countries. There were Nobel parent companies in some 20 countries and explosives of all kinds were being manufactured under his patents in around 100 factories worldwide. Nobel lived and worked in many countries, including Sweden, Russia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. He spoke five languages, had a passionate interest in literature and wrote poetry and drama. He could never have imagined how important his prize would become, or how much media attention future Nobel Laureates would attract.
Prize-winning discoveries (clockwise from left):
X-rays. Photo: Shutterstock;
AGA lighthouse, a type of automatic lighthouse that runs on acetylene gas.
Photo: Melker Dahlstrand/imagebank.sweden.se;
the molecular structure of DNA – the double helix. Photo: Getty Images;
Penicillin. Photo: Shutterstock.
X-rays. Photo: Shutterstock;
AGA lighthouse, a type of automatic lighthouse that runs on acetylene gas.
Photo: Melker Dahlstrand/imagebank.sweden.se;
the molecular structure of DNA – the double helix. Photo: Getty Images;
Penicillin. Photo: Shutterstock.
Nobel Prizes since 1901
Between 1901, when the first Nobel Prize was awarded, and 2013, a total of 876 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to individuals and organisations. Together, they represent a major contribution to the cultural and scientific history of the world.
There have been 851 prizes awarded to individuals and 25 to organisations. Only a few recipients have been honoured more than once, which means that a total of 847 individuals and 22 organisations have received prizes to date.
The first Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1901, went to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen for his discovery of X-rays, used every day by health care providers around the world.
In 1903, Marie Curie became the first female Laureate when she was named a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics for her research into radioactivity. She received her second prize in 1911 – this time in chemistry – for isolating and studying the new element radium.
In 1905, Austrian baroness and author Bertha von Suttner became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of her work with the pacifist movements in Germany and Austria. She was also widely seen as helping inspire Alfred Nobel, with whom she corresponded, to create the Peace Prize.
In 1912, Swedish inventor and industrialist Gustaf Dalén won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to lighthouse technology. In the early 1900s, he invented the AGA lighthouse, a type of automatic lighthouse that ran on acetylene gas. The gas supply was controlled by a sun valve that shut off the gas in daylight, and a revolving light apparatus that allowed the beacon to flash by switching the gas supply off and on at brief, regular intervals. The two innovations made it possible to reduce gas consumption by 90 per cent compared with earlier constructions.
In the fall of 1945, the Nobel Assembly of professors at Karolinska Institutet gathered to select a Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. They chose three Laureates, including Alexander Fleming, for their discovery of penicillin, which saved millions of lives in the second half of the 20th century.
In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore. Gore has made a significant contribution in pushing climate change to the top of the international political agenda, primarily as a result of his book and film An Inconvenient Truth. Other Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who have influenced the world are Martin Luther King (1964), Nelson Mandela (1993) and Barack Obama (2009).
Nobel Laureates in Literature include Ernest Hemingway (1954), Toni Morrison (1993), Dario Fo (1997) and Harold Pinter (2005). The oldest Laureate in literature is Doris Lessing, who won the prize in 2007 at the age of 87.
The Nobel Prize calendar
The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm is held on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. On the same day, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
Several other activities take place the same week, with receptions and dinners are held by the institutions awarding prizes, the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish royal family. The Laureates deliver lectures and talk about their work, and panel discussions and other public appearances are usually arranged. Traditionally, the Laureates and their spouses sit with the royal family at the Nobel Banquet. They are also invited to a more intimate dinner at the Royal Palace, where they meet the royal family again. Visiting the Nobel Foundation is a great symbolic event.
The Laureates receive a document confirming the prize amount and sign their names in a guestbook, thereby joining hundreds of famous predecessors.
Nobel week in Stockholm
5 DecemberThe Laureates (except for the Nobel Peace Laureate) arrive in Stockholm.
6-8 DecemberThe Laureates deliver their lectures. The institutions awarding the prizes arrange press conferences, receptions and dinners.
9 DecemberThe Nobel Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences host a joint reception for all the Laureates at the Nordic Museum.
10 DecemberThe Nobel Prize Award Ceremony is held in the Stockholm Concert Hall, where the King of Sweden presents each Laureate with a Nobel Prize Medal and a Nobel Prize Diploma. A televised banquet is then held at Stockholm City Hall.
11 DecemberThe festivities conclude with dinner at the Royal Palace.
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