If you are one amongst many people who are under the impression that only the best of the best gets Nobel Prize awarded and might also be aware that the Nobel Prizes are never given out posthumously, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
The Swedish industrialist, Alfred Nobel left a heap of fortune to endow the Nobel prize in order to honour the work of people in five areas : physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace and literature. A sixth award, Economics, is added by the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) in the memory of Alfred Nobel.
Here are some interesting facts about this exquisiteness, which will make you think hard.
1. The Great Split
Malala Yousafzai split the 2015 Nobel Prize with Kailash Satyarthi for their work against suppression of children and for the basic human rights. Malala came into the lime-light after she was shot in the face by the Talibans in 2012.
Source: cnn.com, Image: cnn.com
2. Posthumous Awards
Nominations for the Prize can only be made for living persons. However, if a person die after their nomination, they can still get awarded. This occurrence has been recorded two times, most recently in 1961 when Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, who died in a plane crash in Africa.
Source: stampsofdistinction.com, Image: wikipedia
3. Anyone Can be Nominated
Surprisingly, anyone can be nominated for the Nobel Prize provided they are alive. Adolf Hitler, Stalin and Benito Mussolini have been nominated for this prize.
Source: stampsofdistinction.com, Image: getthatimage.com
4. The Cost
Leon Lederman, who won the Nobel in 1988 for his co-discovery of the muon neutrino, sold his Nobel to cover medical care expenses. The unidentified buyer paid $765,000 for it. Only two Nobels have ever been sold during a winner’s life till now.
Source: scientificamerican.com, Image: wikipedia
5. Troublesome Security
Ever thought that the prominent Nobel Prize can cause security issues? Well, Brian Schmidt won the 2011 Nobel Physics Prize for co-discovering dark energy but had trouble bringing his gold medal through airport security.
Source: scientificamerican.com, Image: wikipedia
6. Total Nobel Prizes
Between 19051 and 2015, the Nobel Prizes have been awarded 573 times, shared by two laureates 135 times and by three laureates 97 times.
Source: nobelprize.org, Image: nobelprize.org
7. Popular Genre
The most common fields for Physics Laureates is particle physics, for Chemistry Laureates it is biochemistry, for Medicine Laureates it is genetics and for Laureates in Economic Sciences it is macroeconomics. Most of the Literature Laureates write prose.
Source: nobelprize.org, Image: nobelprize.org
8. To Women
Nobel Prize has been awarded 49 times to women till date.
Source: nobelprize.org, Image: youtube
9. Most Desirable Person Who Did Not Receive the Award
Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi was nominated five times for the Nobel prize! Just two days before the nominations for the 1948 prize, he was assassinated and consequently, he was disqualified.
Although, The Nobel Peace Prize Committee considered selecting Gandhi for the award in spite of the rules, but because he left no legal heirs, they were not sure of who to award the prize to.
Source: stampsofdistinction.com, Image: wikipedia
10. About Alfred
Alfred Nobel had many talents since he worked as chemist, engineer and industrialist. Also, he could speak 5 languages fluently when he was just 17. He left 31 million Swedish kroner (265 million dollar) to fund the Nobel Prizes.
Source: wikipedia.com, Image: wikipedia
11. Award Ceremony
Though Nobel prizes are announced in advance but are awarded annually on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
Source: wikipedia, Image: nobelprize.org
12. Honour Declined
Jean-Paul Sartre declined this prominent award in 1964 because he was declining all the official honours.
Source: wikipedia, Image: cnn.com
13. Multiple Laureates
Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two unshared Nobel Prizes – the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.
Source: cnn.com, Image: wikimedia
14. Big Names Who Should Have Won but Never Did
Dmitri Mendeleev, Leo Tolstoy, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Mark Twain, Gertrude Stein, Henrik Ibsen, Joan Robinson, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Jules-Henri Poincaré, Raymond Damadian and Mahatma Gandhi.
Source: wikipedia, Image: literaturehistory.com
15. Turning Out to Be False
Johannes Fibiger won in 1926 after discovering the parasitic worms that cause cancer – something that turned out to be untrue.
Source: cnn.com, Image: wikipedia
16. Divorce Settlement
As a part of the divorce settlement, Einstein’s Nobel prize money went to his ex-wife Meliva Maric.
Source: zeenews.india.com, Image: wikipedia
17. What Does it Consists?
We have talked about everything without knowing what does the Nobel Prize actually consists of. It consists of a medal, personal diploma and cash worth 8 million Swedish kroner (roughly equal to $1.1 million US dollars).
Source: zeenews.india.com, Image: nobelprize.org