Nobel finished his will with a list of his assets, including his properties in Paris and San Remo, an endless list of activities in banks and other credit institutions, and the income from his patents, whose registers he stated were guarded in his safe. The immense fortune was calculated at the time to be worth about 31 million Swedish Krona, and interest with careful management by the Foundation has been swelling the coffers for more than a century.
The Prize
The idea of creating prizes to award individual artists and scientists for their efforts is rooted in the French Revolution. Throughout the 19th century there were plenty of awards given to academies, clubs and administrations, but it wasn’t until the second half of the century that private foundations began to bestow their own prizes.
What is it, however, that makes the Nobel Prize different from others and grants it the recognition and support it has today? First of all, as is very clear in Alfred Nobel’s will and contrary to other contemporary examples, it is a universal award, and there was no intention of benefiting a specific nation. Also to be noted is that Nobel did not create one prize but five (the sixth, for Economic Sciences, was only created in 1968.) The recognition offered by the prizes is, therefore, more complete, bringing together a diverse group of talents from fields that usually have little interaction. The most important point that distinguished the Nobel Prize from other awards, however, was the large sum given to the laureates. In addition to the prize money, a diploma and medal were also presented, which was not specified in Nobel’s will.
Although there is great importance in a scientist, writer or pacifist seeing their work published in consequence of being given an award, the Nobel means much more. For the first time there existed a prize with which scientists could continue their investigations without traditional economic limitations, writers could avoid commercial temptations and follow their more creative desires, and pacifists could, against powerful forces, maintain campaigns that could only be kept alive with financial support.
The first people to receive the Nobel Prize took home approximately 150,000 Swedish Krona. In 1923, as a result of an increase in taxes, smaller quantities were awarded, and each laureate received 115,000 Swedish Krona. In 1946 the Nobel Foundation was finally guaranteed an exemption from taxes, which led to the prizes increasing in worth. In 2006 each of the six laureates was given the highest amounts ever: 10 million Swedish Krona, equivalent to about US$1 million.
On December 10th of every year, to coincide with the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death, the award ceremonies for five of the six Nobel prizes are held in Stockholm, Sweden; the exception is the Nobel Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo, Norway. The laureates present Nobel lectures several days before the ceremonies in Stockholm and on the day of the event in Oslo. These ceremonies are attended by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Sweden and Norway, respectively, in addition to the laureates, their families and other distinguished guests. Lavish banquets follow the event.
The honors are conferred in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and economics, unless no laureate has been chosen in a given field. As with almost any event, the work that takes place beforehand is of vital importance. The selection process for the people, or institutions, as is sometimes the case with the Nobel Peace Prize, to be awarded are meticulous and performed with a great sense of responsibility since the world will scrutinize every decision.
Candidate selection is carried out by four Nobel Committees that are based within the institutions Nobel’s will made responsible for attributing the awards. Each of these committees is composed of five elected members, the majority of whom are of Swedish origin, with the exception of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Every year the six committees send invitations to hundreds of scientists, academy members and university professors from around the world to nominate an individual for a Nobel Prize; former laureates are also encouraged to put forward a name. There are differences in the rules regarding nomination for the individual prizes, but they are accentuated with the Nobel Peace Prize, which can be recommended by members of national assemblies, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Hague Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Law Institutes and governments themselves. According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, however, no one prize can be attributed to more than three people in the same year. Additionally, no scientific community, academic institution or organization may receive a prize on their own, except in the case of the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1974, a Nobel Prize cannot be attributed posthumously.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
During the first half of the 18th century a remarkable group of Swedish scientists were active in the country, and in 1739 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was established to help advance their work. Based on the Royal Society in London and the Académie Royale des Sciences (Royal Academy for Sciences) in Paris, it first began to encourage research in the areas of mathematics and the natural sciences. Among its founders were the renowned naturalist Carl Linnaeus, the mercantilist Jonas Alströmer, the mechanical engineer Mårten Triewald and the politician Anders Johan von Höpken, who was the first permanent secretary of the organization.
Although it had modest beginnings, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences soon began to develop important contacts with other scientific institutions across Europe. It developed a major program to publish scientific findings and began promoting more applied fields, including agriculture, ship building and mining. At the beginning of the 19th century the chemist Jacob Berzelius was appointed secretary-general. He reorganized the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, making it an institution with strictly scientific objectives.
The academy continued developing, and, at the beginning of the 20th century, it took on an important role in relation to the Nobel Foundation. Physics and chemistry were two subjects that Alfred Nobel knew well and expected much from in the coming years. He specified in his will that a prize should be awarded in both fields, and he chose the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to attribute the awards.
In 1968 the society was made responsible for attributing the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic in Memory of Alfred Nobel, commonly known as the Nobel Prize in Economics. It was awarded for the first time the following year. Economics is the only prize not referred to in the will of Alfred Nobel but the Bank of Sweden, on its 300th anniversary, established a considerable financial commitment to the Nobel Foundation in perpetuity. This commitment has allowed those who have made contributions to mathematic formulation, financial economics, game theories and macroeconomics to be recognized. Some have challenged whether the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic in Memory of Alfred Nobel fairly mirrors current tendencies in economic analysis, but most accept that decisions are stimulated by the multidimensional nature of economic investigation.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has approximately 350 native members and half that number again from foreign countries. Each member is part of one of the following 10 divisions: mathematics, astronomy and space sciences, physics, chemistry, geosciences, biological sciences, medical sciences, engineering sciences, social and economic sciences and the humanities. These members work within their divisions and permanent committees, contributing to their respective fields of research and presenting conferences and seminars.
Current social and environmental issues are also monitored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It continues to promote innovative studies, and the Environmental Committee is dedicated to questions regarding sustainable development, natural resource use and maintaining biological diversity. The society’s journal Ambio is recognized as a leading forum for environmental issues. Two other committees in the society are those for Science Education and Human Rights, demonstrating the diverse nature of its work. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences also runs the Observatory and Berzelius museums, which have impressive collections of scientific artifacts and other resources.
The Karolinska