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League of extraordinary humans
By Times Wires
Published October 8, 2007
First presented in 1901, Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to people who have made valuable contributions to the good of humanity. Beginning today, this year's recipients will be announced, one per day, mostly in Stockholm, Sweden. Here is some background on the prizes. How did the Nobel Prize come about? In 1866, Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred B. Nobel (1833-1896) developed a more stable version of the explosive nitroglycerine he named dynamite. It helped reduce the cost of construction work and made him rich. Nobel was fluent in several languages, wrote poetry and drama, and was interested in social and pacifist issues. Childless and discontented, in 1895 he signed a will stipulating that most of his estate (in today's dollars, about $230-million) should be used to fund five annual prizes for those who "have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." Today, the prize is about $1.5-million per category. Who decided the categories? The five original prizes were designated in Nobel's will. The prize in economics, in memory of Nobel and funded by the Bank of Sweden, was created in 1968. How are people nominated? Candidates must be living and are nominated by someone who has received an invitation from the Nobel Committee (and they cannot nominate themselves). Qualifications vary by category. For example, the nominators for literature are members of the Swedish Academy and institutions similar to it, professors of literature and linguistics, previous Nobel laureates and presidents of national societies of authors. What is a laureate? A laureate is a person honored for high achievement in a particular field. A Nobel laureate is someone who is awarded a Nobel Prize. Where can I find a list of nominees? According to the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation, information about the nominations cannot be disclosed for 50 years. This also applies to the investigations and opinions in the awarding of a prize. Any idea who might get the peace prize this year? Environmentalists Al Gore and Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit, are considered strong contenders. Who chooses the winners? In his will, Nobel designated that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects for physics and chemistry; the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm for physiology or medicine; the Swedish Academy for literature; and a committee of five people selected by the Norwegian Parliament for the peace prize. The Academy of Sciences also selects the economics prize. Two or three people may share a prize. Sometimes prizes are not awarded. When are prizes awarded? On Dec. 10 (the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death) in Stockholm. The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is in Oslo, Norway. Why is the peace prize awarded in Oslo? Nobel left no explanation for choosing a Norwegian committee to award the peace prize. How many women have won Nobel Prizes? Thirty-three, compared to 733men. In 1903, only two years after the Nobel Foundation was established, the prize in physics was awarded to Marie Curie. The last woman was Kenyan environmentalist and human rights activist Wangari Muta Maathai in 2004 for the peace prize. Who was the youngest laureate? Lawrence Bragg, 25, won the physics prize in 1915. At 88, Raymond Davis Jr. became the oldest when he won for physics in 2002. How many prizes have been awarded since 1901? There have been 785 Nobel laureates: 766 individuals and 19 organizations. Any clinkers? Time sometimes puts some accomplishments in a different light. Johannes Fibiger collected the prize in 1926 for supposedly finding the cause of cancer, though that is only now becoming clear. Antonio Egas Moniz received a prize in 1949 for his discovery of "the therapeutic value" of the frontal lobotomy. It did remove the symptoms of mental illness but also the patient's sense of being. Four years after Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin shared a 1978 prize with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat for two agreements on Mideast peace, he ordered an invasion of southern Lebanon. Information from the Nobel Foundation, World Book Online, Daily Telegraph, Independent and Times wires was used in this report. Fast facts Winners revealed Today: physiology or medicine Tuesday: physics Wednesday: chemistry Thursday: literature Friday: Nobel Peace Prize (in Oslo, Norway) Oct. 15: economics
[Last modified October 8, 2007, 00:27:16]
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