The Start of Nobel Prize Season: Fall has Arrived in Scandinavia
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It's that time of year again! Fall has arrived in Scandinavia, and with it, the start of Nobel Prize season. Every October, the Nobel committees from Stockholm and Oslo gather to announce the winners of the prestigious awards, and this year is no different. From the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology to the Nobel Prize in Economics, here's what you need to know about this year's Nobel Prizes and the history behind them.
A Brief History of the Nobel Prizes
The Nobel Prizes were created by Alfred Nobel, a 19th-century businessman and chemist from Sweden. He held more than 300 patents, but his claim to fame before the Nobel Prizes was inventing dynamite by mixing nitroglycerine with a compound that made the explosive more stable. Dynamite soon became popular in construction and mining as well as in the weapons industry, making Nobel a very wealthy man.
Perhaps it was this wealth that made Nobel think about his legacy, because toward the end of his life he decided to use his vast fortune to fund annual prizes "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." The first Nobel Prizes were presented in 1901, five years after Nobel's death. In 1968, a sixth prize was created, for economics, by Sweden's central bank. Though Nobel purists stress that the economics prize is technically not a Nobel Prize, it's always presented together with the others.
Why the Peace Prize is Awarded in Norway
For reasons that are not entirely clear, Nobel decided that the peace prize should be awarded in Norway and the other prizes in Sweden. Nobel historians suspect Sweden's history of militarism may have been a factor. During Nobel's lifetime, Sweden and Norway were in a union, which the Norwegians reluctantly joined after the Swedes invaded their country in 1814. It's possible that Nobel thought Norway would be a more suitable location for a prize meant to encourage "fellowship among nations."
To this day, the Nobel Peace Prize is a completely Norwegian affair, with the winners selected and announced by a Norwegian committee. The peace prize even has its own ceremony in the Norwegian capital of Oslo on Dec. 10—the anniversary of Nobel's death—while the other prizes are presented in Stockholm.
The Prize Money and Criticisms
The Nobel Prizes project an aura of being above the political fray, focused solely on the benefit of humanity. But the peace and literature awards, in particular, are sometimes accused of being politicized. Critics question whether winners are selected because their work is truly outstanding or because it aligns with the political preferences of the judges.
The Nobel Foundation, which administers the awards, raised the prize money by 10% this year to 11 million kronor (about $1 million). In addition to the money, the winners receive an 18-carat gold medal and diploma when they collect their Nobel Prizes at the award ceremonies in December.
Most winners are proud and humbled by joining the pantheon of Nobel laureates, from Albert Einstein to Mother Teresa. But two winners refused their Nobel Prizes: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, who turned down the literature prize in 1964, and Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho, who declined the peace prize that he was meant to share with U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger in 1973.
The Lack of Diversity Among Winners
Historically, the vast majority of Nobel Prize winners have been white men. Though that's started to change, there is still little diversity among Nobel winners, particularly in the science categories. To date, 60 women have won Nobel Prizes, including 25 in the scientific categories. Only four women have won the Nobel Prize in physics and just two have won the economics prize.
In the early days of the Nobel Prizes, the lack of diversity among winners could be explained by the lack of diversity among scientists in general. But today critics say the judges need to do a better job at highlighting discoveries made by women and scientists outside Europe and North America.
The Nobel committees say their decisions are based on scientific merit, not gender, nationality or race. However, they are not deaf to the criticism. Five years ago, the head of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it had started to ask nominating bodies to make sure they don't overlook "women or people of other ethnicities or nationalities in their nominations."
As Nobel Prize season kicks off, it's worth taking a moment to reflect on the history of the awards and the need for greater diversity in the scientific community. With luck, this year's Nobel Prize winners will be a step in the right direction.
