Nobel Prize

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Nobel Prizes,is an annual monetary awards, which is granted to individuals or institutions for outstanding contributions in the fields of

Physics
Chemistry
Physiology or Medicine
Literature and
International peace
Economic sciences.

Internationally the Nobel prizes are recognized as the most prestigious awards in each of the above mentioned fields. These prizes were established by the famous Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel,who according to his will has set up fund for this.On December 10, 1901, the first Nobel prizes were awarded on the fifth anniversary of Nobel’s death

According to his will, Nobel directed that , most of his fortune should be invested to form a fund, the interest of which was to be distributed annually

'in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.'

He also stipulated that the interest be divided into five equal parts, each to be awarded to the person who made the most important contribution in one the fields as mntioned above. Apart from the three scientific awards and the literature award, a prize would go to the person who had done

'the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.'

He also specified the certain institutions that would take the task of selecting the prizewinners. The will also indicated that

“no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize.”

The Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, created an additional prize for economics to commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary in 1968 . It was in 1969,This prize, called the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science were first distributed and the bank also provides a cash award equal to the other Nobel prizes.

NOBEL FOUNDATION

This Nobel Foundation was established mailnly to manage the fund and to administer the activities of the institutions charged with selecting winners and the fund is mainlycontrolled by a board of directors, which consists of 6 members and they will serve for 2 years and out of the six members, five will be elected by the trustees of the awarding bodies as mentioned in the will, and the sixth member will be appointed by the Swedish government. All the six members are either Swedish or Norwegian citizens.

According to his will, Nobel stated that the

#)Prizes for Physics and Chemistry would be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences

#)The prize for Physiology or medicine by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm

#)The Literature prize by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm

#)The peace prize will be given on the result given by a five-person committee elected by the Norwegian Storting (Parliament).

#)In 1968 Economics awards was created as mentioned above ,abd the Swedish Academy of Sciences has held the responsibility of selecting the winners of that award.

All the prize-awarding bodies have set up Nobel committees consisting of 3 to 5 people,and they will make recommendations in the selection process. Apart from this additional specialists with expertise in relevant fields assist the committees. First the Nobel committees will examine nominations and make recommendations to the prize-awarding institutions. After considering various opinions and recommendations, the prize-awarding bodies vote on the final selection, and finally they announce the winner. The deliberations and voting are secret, and prize decisions cannot be appealed

PRIZE MONEY

The prize for any feld can be given to a single person or divided equally between two people, or awarded jointly among two or three people. But according to the Nobel Foundation’s statutes, the prize money cannot be divided among more than three people, but can go for an institution.Even aA prize may go unawarded if no candidate is chosen for the year under consideration, but it should be awraded atleast once in 5 years.The prize money remains in the trust,if the Nobel Foundation does not award a prize in any given year and similarly if a prize is declined or not accepted before a specified date, again the Nobel Foundation retains the prize money in its trust.

The prize amounts are based on the annual yield of the fund capital and in 1948 Nobel prizes were about $32,000 eachand it was 1 million each in 1997. Apart from the cash award, each prize winner also receives a gold medal and also a diploma bearing the winner's name and field of achievement and the prizewinners are usually known as Nobel laureates.

AWARD CEREMONIES

The prizes are presented annually at ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden, and in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, to mark the anniversary of Nobel's death.

#)The King of Sweden presents the awards in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and economic sciences.

#)But the peace prize ceremony takes place at the University of Oslo in the presence of the King of Norway.

Usually after the ceremonies, the Nobel Prize winners give a lecture on a subject connected with their prize-winning work. The winner of the peace prize lectures in Oslo, the others in Stockholm. The lectures are thenprinted in the Nobel Foundation's annual publication, Les Prix Nobel (The Nobel Prizes).

Written by Raaghavan Krishnamurthy.
In category General Reference.
15 years ago.

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