Nobel Prizes 2017: Facts About the Secretive Process and Peculiar Past
Nobel Prizes 2017: Facts About the Secretive Process and Peculiar Past
These revered awards have a complicated history.
By Michelle Z. Donahue
PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2, 2017
The mere mention of the Nobel Prize conjures images of inspired scientists, exemplars of peace, and meditative writers. Though the prizes are well respected, a rich tangle of lore has grown around them during the 116 years they have been awarded, driven in part by the secrecy inherent in the selection process.
Intended to recognize scientists, artists, and diplomats who work to improve life for all humanity, the prizes were established in 1895 at the bequest of Swedish inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel. Though Nobel carried his rationale for each prize category into the grave, in life, he had a keen interest in physics, chemistry, medicine, and literature—four of the five original prize disciplines.
The fifth, for peace, is thought to have been inspired by his deep friendship with Austrian pacifist Bertha von Suttner. A sixth prize, for economics, was created by the Swedish National Bank in 1968 and named in Nobel’s honor. (Read about 10 huge discoveries that should've been Nobel Prize winners.)
MYSTERIOUS DECISION-MAKING
The committees responsible for choosing prize recipients do so under strict rules of secrecy, and originally the proceedings were meant to be kept private forever, says Gustav Källstrand, curator of the Nobel Museum in Stockholm and a Nobel history expert. Now, details of the process for each round of consideration are kept secret for only 50 years.
Strict adherence to the official rules has created some tricky situations over the years. For instance, despite the Nobel Foundation’s requirement that prizes be awarded only to living recipients, Canadian immunologist Ralph M. Steinman was awarded a 2011 Nobel for medicine posthumously.
The selection committee had known he was dying of pancreatic cancer, but because the deliberations had to be kept secret, “they couldn’t keep calling to check in on how he was doing,” Källstrand clarifies.
The honor was announced on a Tuesday; unbeknownst to the committee, Steadman had died just three days prior. But because he had been alive when the prize was decided, the decision was allowed to stand.
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http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/nobel-prize-facts-secrets-history-science
