Do You Know About The Origin Of Nobel Prize? ---- From an Online Math Tutor

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Front Side of Nobel Back Side of Physics Prize Medal or Chemistry Medal

Back Side of Literature Back Side of Medicine Medal or Physiology Medal

Back Side of Peace Medal Back Side of Economic Studies Medal

Nobel Prize Diploma awarded to Octavio Paz for Literature in 1990

The Nobel Prize is a set of international awards given annually for outstanding contributions in the areas of Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace and Medicine or Physiology, by the Nobel Committee of Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm and the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The Nobel Prize winners of this year, 2017, was announced recently.

But how did it start?

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. His father was Immanuel Nobel and his mother was Andriette Ahlsell Nobel. In 1837, the family moved to Russia.

Education

At the age of 17, Alfred Nobel could speak and write in Swedish, Russian, French, English and German.

Alfred Nobel was given a first class education by private tutors in the fields of Natural Sciences, Languages and Literature. Gradually, he developed an interest in Physics, Chemistry and Literature.

Further Studies

His father wanted his sons to join his business of supplying equipment to the Russian army. So, he decided to send Alfred Nobel to Paris to study and become a chemical engineer. In Paris, Alfred Nobel met a young Italian chemist, Ascanio Sobrero, who had invented nitroglycerine, a highly explosive liquid. Alfred Nobel became interested in nitroglycerine and how it could be used in construction work.

After completing his studies in Paris, he returned back to Russia and worked with his father to develop nitroglycerine as a commercially and technically useful explosive.

Research

After the Crimean war, Nobel’s family returned to Sweden in 1863. Alfred continued experimenting with nitroglycerine. But sadly, the initial experiments resulted in accidents that killed several people. The government banned these experiments within the Stockholm city limits.

But Alfred did not give up and continued with his experiments on a boat on a lake. In 1866, he found that on mixing nitroglycerine with a fine sand called Kieselguhr, turned the liquid to a paste which could be shaped into rods. These rods could then be inserted into drilled holes. Alfred Nobel got a patent on this material next year and named it dynamite. He also invented a detonator or blasting cap.

Research Results used to benefit Mankind

Together, these inventions helped reduce the cost of many construction works like drilling tunnels, building bridges, etc. Because of their huge demand in the construction industry, Alfred Nobel was able to put up factories in different countries.

He also experimented in making synthetic rubber, leather and artificial silk. By the time of his death on December 10, 1896, he had 355 patents. He never married and lived most of his life in France and Italy. He was described as “Europe’s richest vagabond”.

Last Will

In his last will, Alfred Nobel wrote that his remaining fortune should be converted into a fund, the annual interest of which should be divided into five equal parts. These should be given to those who, during the preceding year, conferred the greatest benefit to the mankind.

The prizes for Physics and Chemistry should be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, that for Physiology or Medicine by the Karolinska Institute of Stockholm, that for Literature by the academy in Stockholm and that for peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. He also stated that the most worthy should receive the prize irrespective of whatever nationality.

Not everybody was pleased by this will. His relatives objected. It took four years to implement the will. The Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.

Nobel Prize for Economics Added

In 1968, Swedish National Bank celebrated its 300th anniversary by donating a large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation to be used to set up a prize in honour of Alfred Nobel. 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 laureates.

Nobel Laureates Selection Procedure

Nomination forms are sent by the Nobel Committee to about 3,000 individuals, who are generally prominent academics working in a relevant area, usually in September, the year before the prizes are awarded. The deadline for the return of the nomination forms is January 31 of the year of the award.

The Nobel Committee nominates about 300 potential laureates from these forms and additional names. The nominees are not publicly named, nor are they told that they are being considered for the prize. The Nobel Committee then submits all relevant information to the prize awarding institutions.

The institutions meet to choose the laureate or laureates in each field by a majority vote. A maximum of three laureates and two different works may be selected per award. Except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which can be awarded to institutions, the awards can only be given to individuals.

The winners’ names are declared in the month of October.

The Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize includes a heavily decorated diploma, a gold medal and the prize money.

Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize awarding institutions for the Nobel Laureates that receive them. It contains a picture, the name of the laureate and a citation of why they received the prize, written in Swedish. Though, none of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates has ever received a citation on their diplomas.

The Nobel Prize medals are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. The medals for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are essentially identical in shape and contents, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the year of his birth and death. Alfred Nobel’s portrait also appears on the obverse of the Peace Prize medal and the Economics Prize medal, but they have a slightly different design. The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize.

Before 1980, every medal was made of 23 carat gold. Now, it is made of 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. The weight of each medal is about 175 grams with a diameter of 2.6 inches.

The amount of prize money depends upon how much money the Nobel foundation can award each year. In 2017, the prize money for each Nobel Prize is 9.0 million SEK (about US$ 1.1 million). If there are two laureates in a particular category, the amount is divided equally between the recipients. If there are three, the award is either divided equally into three parts or one of the recipients gets one-half of the amount and the other two recipients each gets one-quarter of the whole amount.

It is common for recipients to donate the prize money for the benefit of scientific, cultural and humanitarian causes.

Award Ceremonies

Except for the Peace Prize, the Nobel Prizes are presented to the laureates by the King of Sweden in Stockholm, at the Award Ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

In Oslo, the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee presents the Nobel Peace Prize in the presence of the King of Norway on December 10.

Information taken from ------

1. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/biographical/articles/life-work/gradeschool.html

2. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/

3. https://www.nobelprize.org/educational/nobelprize_info/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize#Prizes

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