Nobel Prize
Overview
The Nobel Prize is an internationally prestigious award presented since 1901 in accordance with the will of Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur. It began with five categories—physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace—and with the addition of the economics prize established by Sveriges Riksbank in 1968, six categories are now awarded. Winners are announced in early October each year, and the award ceremony is held in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
Key Content
Background and History
Alfred Nobel accumulated enormous wealth by inventing explosives such as dynamite and smokeless gunpowder. It is widely known that in 1888, when a French newspaper mistakenly reported the death of his brother Ludvig and described Nobel as a "merchant of death," this incident greatly shocked him. On November 27, 1895, in Paris, Nobel wrote his final will, leaving instructions that about 94% of his estate—31 million Swedish kronor—be given as awards to people who had contributed to humanity. After legal disputes over the will, the Nobel Foundation was established in 1900, and the first award ceremony was held on December 10, 1901, the following year.
Award Categories
- Physics Prize: Selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- Chemistry Prize: Selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
- Physiology or Medicine Prize: Selected by the Nobel Committee at Karolinska Institutet.
- Literature Prize: Selected by the Swedish Academy.
- Peace Prize: Selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, and it is the only prize awarded in Oslo.
- Economics Prize: Established in 1968 to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of Sveriges Riksbank, and first awarded in 1969. Strictly speaking, it is not included in Nobel's will, but it is administered through the same procedures as the Nobel Prize.
Selection Process
Every September, requests for nominations are sent to thousands of scholars and institutions around the world, and nominations are accepted until January 31 of the following year. The committee for each category reviews the candidates and announces the winners in early October, with the award ceremony held about three months later. The list of nominators and review materials are, in principle, kept confidential for 50 years. Up to three people may share an award in one category, and the Peace Prize may be awarded to institutions as well as individuals.
Composition and Records
Winners receive an 18K gold medal, a diploma, and a cash award, with the prize money funded by returns from the Nobel Foundation's asset management. Marie Curie received the Nobel Prize twice, in Physics and Chemistry, and the International Committee of the Red Cross received the Peace Prize three times. The youngest laureate is Malala Yousafzai, who was 17 when she received the Peace Prize in 2014, and the oldest laureate is John Goodenough, who was 97 when he received the Chemistry Prize in 2019.
Korea and the Nobel Prize
In 2000, President Kim Dae-jung received the Peace Prize for his contributions to inter-Korean reconciliation, democratization, and human rights. In 2024, novelist Han Kang received the Literature Prize for "intense poetic prose that confronts historical trauma and exposes the fragility of human life," becoming the first Korean to win the Literature Prize.
Recent Trends
In the 2024 Nobel Prizes, the intersection with artificial intelligence stood out in the science categories. The Physics Prize went to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton, who laid the foundations of machine learning, while the Chemistry Prize went to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their contributions to protein structure prediction and design. That same year, the Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for discovering microRNA, and the Economics Prize to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson for analyzing the relationship between institutions and prosperity.
In 2025, the Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for elucidating peripheral immune tolerance; the Physics Prize to John Clarke, Michel Devoret, and John Martinis for demonstrating macroscopic quantum tunneling in circuits. The Chemistry Prize went to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi for pioneering metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and the Literature Prize to Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai. The Peace Prize went to Venezuelan democracy activist María Corina Machado, and the Economics Prize to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt for establishing theories of innovation and economic growth.
The trends of recent years can be summarized in three points. First, achievements in advanced technology fields such as artificial intelligence, gene editing, and mRNA vaccines are rapidly entering the list of awards. Second, efforts continue to increase the number of female laureates and laureates from non-Western backgrounds, but criticism remains that the imbalance is still large. Third, political controversies surrounding the Peace Prize and Literature Prize, demands for disclosure of candidate nomination information, and questions about the transparency of prize fund management are also being discussed.
Related Topics
- [[Alfred Nobel]]
- [[Han Kang]]
- [[Kim Dae-jung]]
- [[Machine learning]]
- [[International Committee of the Red Cross]]