Nobel Prizes

The Alfred B. Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious
awards given for intellectual achievement. They are awarded annually from a fund bequeathed for that purpose by the Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel and administered by the Nobel Foundation. Nobel’s 1895 will established five of the six prizes: those for physics, chemistry, literature, physiology or medicine, and peace. The prize for economic sciences was added in 1969. Each year thousands of invitations are sent out to members of scholarly academies, scientists, university professors, previous Nobel laureates, members of parliaments and other assemblies, and others, requesting nominations for the
various prizes. The country given is the citizenship of the recipient at the time that the award was made. Prizes may be withheld or not awarded in years when no worthy recipient can be found or when the world situation (e.g., World Wars I and II) prevents the gathering of information needed to reach a decision. Prizes are announced in mid-October and awarded in December in Stockholm and Oslo. A cash award of SEK 10 million (about US$1,323,000), a personal diploma, and a commemorative medal are given for each prize category.