Awards and Honours
International
NOBEL PRIZE
Background of Nobel Foundation
Alfred Bernhard Nobel: Nobel was born on October 21,
1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel, who invented dynamite, endowed a $9 million
fund in his will. The interest on this endowment was to be used as awards for
people whose work most benefited humanity. He wanted the profit from his
invention to be used to reward human ingenuity. First awarded in 1901, the Nobel
Prize, is still the most honoured in the world.
In 1842, Nobel’s family moved to St. Petesburg, Russia, where
he obtained his education. He travelled widely as a young man, becoming fluent
in five languages. Nobel was interested in literature and wrote novels, poetry
and plays in his spare time. In the 1860s, he began experiments with
nitroglycerin in his father’s factory. He tried many ways to stabilise this
highly volatile material. Nobel discovered that a mix of nitroglycerin and fine
porous powder called kieselguhr was most effective. He named this mixture as
dynamite and received a patent in 1867.
Background and Establishment of the Nobel Foundation : Alfred
Nobel died on December 10, 1896. The provisions of his will and their unusual
purpose, as well as their partly incomplete form, attracted great attention and
soon led to skepticism and criticism, also aimed at the testator due to his
international spirit. Only after several years of negotiations and often rather
bitter conflicts and after various obstacles had been circumvented or overcome,
could the fundamental concepts presented in the will assume solid form with the
establishment of the Nobel Foundation.
On June, 1900, after series of alterations, suggestions,
modifications, the statues of the newly created legatee, the Nobel Foundation,
and special regulations for the Swedish Prize-Awarding Institutions were
promulgated by the King in Council (Oscar II). The same year as the political
union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, special regulations were
adopted on April 10, 1905, by the Nobel Committee of the Storting (known since
January 1, 1977 as the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the awarder of the Nobel
Peace Prize.
Premises: To create a worthy framework around the
prizes, the board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building
in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and
banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected
as the architect. He presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which
generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. On December
19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan, 14 was bought for this purpose. After years
of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at
Norrlandsgatan, 6 in 1926, and moved to Sturegatan, 14, where the Foundation has
been housed ever since.
Objectives of the Foundation : The Nobel Foundation is
a private institution. It is entrusted with protecting the common interests of
the Prize Awarding Institutions named in the will, as well as representing the
Nobel institutions externally. This includes informational activities as well as
arrangements related to the presentation of the Nobel Prizes. The Foundation is
not, however, involved in the selection process and the final choice of the
Laureates (as Nobel Prize winners are also called). In this work, the
Prize-awarding Institutions are not only entirely independent of all government
agencies and organisations, but also of the Nobel Foundation. Their autonomy is
of crucial importance to the objectivity and quality of their prize decisions.
One vital task of the Foundation is to manage its assets in such a way as to
safeguard the financial base of the prizes themselves and of the prize selection
process.
- Year of Institution : 1901
- Founder : Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–96)
- Number of Awards : Six
- Physics
- Chemistry
- Physiology or Medicine
- Literature Peace
- Economics (Established in 1967)
-
Date on which it is awarded : December 10
Anyone proposing himself for Nobel Prize is ruled out of consideration. The
recommendations have to come from outside. The Noble Prizes are presented
annually, December 10, the death anniversary of the founder and the festival day
of the Foundation. Originally it was awarded for works in five disciplines. The
prize for Economics was instituted in 1967, by Sverigs Riksbank, Swedish Bank,
in celebration of its 300th anniversary and was awarded for the first time in
1969, it is called Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
Nobel Foundation’s Prize Awarding Bodies
- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, awards the Nobel Prize in Physics and
Chemistry.
- The Nobel Assembly of Karolinska Chirugical Institute, Sweden, awards the Nobel
Prize in Medicine and Physiology.
- The Swedish Academy awards the Prize in Literature.
- The Committee of the Norwegian Parliament awards the Prize for
Peace.
- The Bank of Sweden Awards the Nobel Prize in Economics.
Value of the Nobel Prize : The amount of each prize varies with the
income from the fund. The value of nobel prize was 150,782 Swedish Crown in
1901. Now the value of nobel prize has increased to 10,000,000 Swedish Crown in
2004 as compared to 9,000,000 Swedish Crown in 2000. No Nobel Prize was awarded
for 1940, 1941 and 1942; Prizes for Literature were not awarded for 1914, 1918
and 1943.
Maximum Nobel Prizes : US citizens have won outright as well as shared
the maximum number of Nobel Prizes. Individually, the only person to have two
Nobel Prizes: Dr Linus Carl Pauling, Professor of Chemistry at California. He
received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1954 and the Peace Prize in 1962
First Couple to Receive the Nobel Prize : Madame Marie Curie
shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with her husband Pierre Curie, she later
won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1911,
Three Nobel Prizes : The International Committee of the Red Cross was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace three times: 1917, 1944 and 1963.
