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Nobel
Prizes
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Annual
monetary awards granted to individuals or institutions for outstanding
contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine,
literature, international peace, and economic sciences. The Nobel prizes are
internationally recognized as the most prestigious awards in each of these
fields. The prizes were established by Swedish inventor and industrialist
Alfred
Bernhard Nobel, who set up a fund for them in his will. The first Nobel
prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel's
death.
In his
will, Nobel directed that most of his fortune 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 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 of five different fields. In addition to 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."
Nobel also specified certain institutions that would select the prizewinners.
The will indicated that "no consideration whatever shall be given to the
nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the
prize."
In 1968
the Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden, created an economics prize to
commemorate the bank's 300th anniversary. This prize, called the Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Science, was first awarded in 1969. The bank provides a cash
award equal to the other Nobel prizes.
Nobel,
Alfred Bernhard
(1833-96), Swedish chemist, inventor, and philanthropist, born in Stockholm.
After receiving an education in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in the United
States, where he studied mechanical engineering, he returned to St. Petersburg
to work under his father, developing mines, torpedoes, and other explosives. In
a family-owned factory in Heleneborg, Sweden, he sought to develop a safe way to
handle nitroglycerin, after a factory explosion in 1864 killed his younger
brother and four other people. In 1867 Nobel achieved his goal; by using an
organic packing material to reduce the volatility of the nitroglycerin, he
produced what he called dynamite. He later produced ballistite, one of the first
smokeless powders. At the time of his death he controlled factories for the
manufacture of explosives in many parts of the world. His will provided that the
major portion of his $9 million estate be set up as a fund to establish yearly
prizes for merit in physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology, literature, and
world peace. (A prize in economics has been awarded since 1969.)
Refer the following for more......
http://www.nobel.se/
Searchable database of winners of
the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Physics and Medicine.
http://www.nobelchannel.com/
Experience the history of the
Nobel laureates and the Nobel prizes, from Alfred Nobel to the present day.
http://www.nobelprizes.com/
Archive for all info pertaining to
the illustrious prizes including that for literature. Provides a complete list
of winners from this century.
http://www.it-kompetens.com/swedish/nobel.html
This site maintains information
about the winners of the Nobel Prize. Press releases and background
information on the winners are included.
http://www.chemie.fu-berlin.de/diverse/bib/nobelpreise_e.html
This site has a list of Nobel
Prize winners in chemistry, physics, medicine, literature, peace and
economics.
( Courtesy: Encarta )
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