Find out everything about the Nobel Prize, which is in its 122nd edition – 10/01/2023 – Science

One of the main global awards for recognizing people who carry out work, actions and research for the benefit of humanity in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics and to promote peace, the Nobel Prize reaches its 122nd edition this year.

Created by the Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman and philanthropist Alfred Nobel (1833 – 1896), the award began in 1901 and since then has distributed a cash value to recipients in different areas. However, most important is the recognition of these scientists, writers and peace activists each year.

Check out these and other stories related to the Nobel Prize below.

How did the Nobel Prize come about?

Inventor of nitroglycerin, dynamite and a detonator that made the use of these explosives safer, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel (1833 – 1896) made a fortune in the 19th century taking his creations around the world to be used in mining and construction.

In 1888, however, he was shocked when he saw a newspaper headline in Paris (FRA): “The merchant of death is dead!” In fact, the one who had died was his brother, Ludvig, which caused confusion in the publication. The way it was described, however, made Alfred start to think about how he would like to be known in the future. So, he had the idea of ​​creating an award named after him.

He left in his will that 94% of his fortune (around R$1.3 billion in current values) would have to be used to reward, annually, “whoever has made the most important discovery” in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine , literature and to promote peace.

Inspired by Nobel’s initiative, Sweden’s central bank created, in 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences, which came to be called the Nobel Prize in Economics, adding to the other awards.

Who administers the prize?

Created in 1900, the Alfred Nobel Foundation is the institution that manages and supervises the awarding of prizes. The foundation’s main mission is “to manage Alfred Nobel’s fortune in a way that ensures a secure financial position for the Nobel Prize in the long term and guarantees the independence of the institutions that award the prize in their work to select the laureates.”

Who decides the winners?

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is responsible for selecting laureates in Physics, Chemistry and Economics; nominees for Medicine or Physiology are defined by the Karolinska Institute; and the Swedish Academy, the great works of Literature. The Nobel Peace Prize is decided by five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, chosen by the Norwegian parliament.

Why is the Nobel Peace Prize decided in Norway?

In his will, Alfred Nobel determined that the Peace Prize should be decided by a Norwegian committee. This is because, at that time, Norway and Sweden were united in a monarchy, which lasted until 1905, when Norway became an independent kingdom. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, by the King of Norway, and the others, in Stockholm, by the King of Sweden.

When will the 2023 awards be announced?

The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is the first of this year’s awards and will be announced on October 2, followed by Physics, Chemistry, Literature and Peace in the following days, respectively. The awards ceremony will take place on December 10th, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

How much does each winner receive?

In addition to an 18-carat recycled gold medal, weighing 175 g (185 g, for Economics), and a diploma, the winner receives 11 million Swedish kronor, a value equivalent to R$4.95 million.

Can a prize be split between two works?

Yes. In the statutes of the Nobel Foundation it says: “A prize amount may be equally divided between two works, each of which is considered worthy of a prize. If a work being rewarded was produced by two or three people , the prize will be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three people.”

Who are the most famous award winners?

Normally, the best known to the general public are the Nobel Peace and Literature winners. However, some scientists also enjoy this prestige, such as the German Albert Einstein (Physics prize in 1921), the British Alexander Fleming (Physiology or Medicine prize in 1945) and the Polish Marie Curie (winner in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry , in 1911).

In literature, the German Thomas Mann (1929), the Americans William Faulkner (1949) and Ernest Hemingway (1954), the Portuguese José Saramago (1998), the Colombian Gabriel-García Márquez (1982) and the British Winston Churchill stand out. (1953), best known for being British Prime Minister during World War II.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has an extensive list of famous people: the American activist Martin Luther King Jr. (1964); American presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1906) and Barack Obama (2009); the South African bishops Desmond Tutu (1984) and Nelson Mandela (1993); the Tibetan Dalai Lama (1989); the Polish Lech Walesa (1983); the Indian Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1979); and Pakistani Malala Yousafzai (2014).

Has anyone ever won the Nobel Prize more than once?

Yes. The first person to win two awards was Polish Marie Sklodowska Curie, who was also the first female laureate. The first prize, in Physics, in 1903, was for research into radiation, shared with her husband, Pierre Curie, and physicist Henri Becquerel. The second, in Chemistry, was given in 1911 for the discovery of the elements polonium and radium, which revolutionized the treatment of cancer (radiotherapy).

The American quantum chemist and biochemist Linus Pauling also received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954, for his research on chemical bonds, and another for Peace in 1962, for the fight against the nuclear arms race between East and West during the Cold War.

American John Bardeen won two Physics awards. The first, in 1956, for his contribution to the invention of the transistor, and the second in 1972, for the development of the quantum theory of superconductivity.

English biochemist Frederick Sanger also won two Chemistry prizes. In 1958, he received the award for his work on the structure of proteins. The second, in 1980, for the development of a DNA sequencing technique that is still used today.

Karl Barry Sharpless, 81, is an American chemist who won two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, in 2001 and 2022, for what he called ‘click chemistry’, a technique widely used today in the development of pharmaceutical products.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, however, is the biggest winner of Nobel Prizes. He won the Peace Prize in 1917 and 1944, for his work during the First and Second World Wars, and again in 1963, in honor of the organization’s 100th anniversary.

The UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) was awarded in 1954 and 1981.

Who was the youngest and oldest winner?

The youngest laureate was Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, who shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Kailash Satyarthi “for the fight against the oppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”. At the time, Malala was just 17 years old.

When the Islamic Taliban movement took control of the valley where he lived in 2008, the girls’ schools were burned down. Malala kept a diary of the events, which was published in 2009 by BBC Urdu. In her diary, she spoke out against the terrorist regime. An American documentary made Malala famous internationally.

The oldest winner was chemist John Goodenough, aged 97, in 2019. Born in Germany but with American citizenship, he developed, in 1980, lithium-ion batteries, which are currently used in cell phones and electric cars.

Has any Brazilian ever been awarded an award?

It depends on the criteria. Peter Medawar, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1960 for the discovery of immunological tolerance, was born in Petrópolis (RJ), but had his higher education and work in the United Kingdom.

No one who has lived most of their life in the country won the award, but several names were nominated, such as physicist Cesar Lattes, co-discoverer of the pi meson particle.

In the literature, some of those mentioned were Jorge Amado from Bahia, Carlos Drummond de Andrade and Guimarães Rosa from Minas Gerais and João Cabral de Melo Neto from Pernambuco.

For the Nobel Peace Prize, Herbert de Souza, Betinho, Sister Dulce, and the indigenous brothers Orlando and Cláudio Villas-Boas were on the list. Recently, chief Raoni Metuktire was among the favorites to win the award — he is even one of the names being considered in 2023.

In Medicine, Carlos Chagas, Vital Brasil, Adolfo Lutz, Oswaldo Cruz and Manuel de Abreu received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Has anyone ever refused to receive the Nobel Prize?

Yes, two nominees. The first was the French philosopher, writer and intellectual Jean-Paul Sartre. He rejected the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature, just as he had previously rejected other distinctions. Even so, he is recognized by the Nobel Foundation as that year’s winner.

Same case as Vietnam’s military leader Le Duc Tho, awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize together with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. They received the award for negotiating the peace agreement in the Vietnam War, but Le Duc Tho stated that he was not in a position to accept the award, citing the situation in Vietnam as the reason.

Have any winners been forced to give up the Nobel?

Four laureates were forced by the authorities to refuse the Nobel Prize. Adolf Hitler banned three Germans — Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk — from accepting the award. All of them were later able to receive the diploma and medal, but not the cash value. Another was the writer Boris Pasternak, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. He initially accepted, but was later coerced by the authorities of the then Soviet Union to refuse the Nobel Prize.

How many awards have been awarded to date?

Between 1901 and 2022, the Nobel Prizes and the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded 615 times to 989 people and organizations. With some receiving the award more than once, this totals 954 individuals and 27 organizations.

Is the award mandatory every year?

No. Since the beginning in 1901, there have been years in which Nobel Prizes were not awarded, a total of 49 times. Most of them during the First (1914-1918) and Second World Wars (1939-1945). According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, if none of the works under analysis are considered of indicated importance, the value of the prize will be reserved until the following year. If the award still cannot be awarded, the amount will be added to the foundation’s restricted funds.