First Nobel Prizes were awarded on this day in 1901; Know more about Alfred Nobel
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace on this day, i.e., December 10, in 1901.
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace on this day, i.e., December 10, in 1901. The Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards given for intellectual achievements in the world. They are awarded annually, however, the first ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, who was the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives.
Alfred Nobel’s interest in science, culture and society is evident in his will. Back in 1985, he declared that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be "annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”. Even though the Swedish inventor offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is still widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war.
The prizes as established by his 1985 will are the Nobel Prize for Physics, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Nobel Prize for Peace. It was after Alfred Nobel’s death that the Nobel Foundation was set up to carry out the provisions of his will and to administer his funds. In his will, Nobel had stipulated that four different institutions, including Swedish and Norwegian, should award the prizes.
The Nobel Foundation
The Nobel Foundation was founded as a private organisation on June 29, 1900. From Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics, chemistry and economics, the Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee based in Oslo confers the prize for peace.
Further, the Nobel Foundation is the legal owner and functional administrator of the funds and serves as the joint administrative body of the prize-awarding institutions, but it is not concerned with the prize deliberations or decisions, which rest exclusively with the four institutions.
From 1902 to 2010, the Nobel Prize medals were minted by Myntverket, which is Swedish’s oldest company. In 2011, the Mint of Norway then started making the medals. Each prize features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse. The medals for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death. Nobel's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Peace Prize medal and the medal for the Economics Prize, but with a slightly different design.
All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23-carat gold, however, since then, they have been struck in 18-carat green gold plated with 24-carat gold. The weight of each medal varies with the value of gold but averages about 175 grams for each medal. The diameter is 66 millimetres (2.6 in) and the thickness varies between 5.2 millimetres and 2.4 millimetres.
Published By : Bhavya Sukheja
Published On: 10 December 2020 at 19:07 IST