As before, there were no Russian scientists at this "Nobel" week. Although Valery Fokin, a graduate of the University of Nizhny Novgorod and now a professor at the University of Southern California, was named among the potential candidates for the award in chemistry, in the end a million dollars will be awarded to a Briton and two Americans.
Another American and a Japanese will receive a prize in the field of medicine. In physics - American, French and Canadian.
The committee decided not to award the Literature Prize in 2018: not because no new Sholokhovs and Brodskys appeared in the last year, but because of the scandal surrounding the husband of one of the Nobel Committee members, the poetess Katarina Frostenson.
The short list of contenders for the Peace Prize will be announced today.
The actual presentation of the prizes (except for the Peace Prize) will take place in Stockholm on December 10 in a boring blue-gray building that looks like a factory House of Culture.
After the collapse of the USSR, only four scientists with Russian citizenship became Nobel laureates: Zhores Alferov (2000), Alexei Abrikosov and Vitaly Ginzburg (2003), and Konstantin Novoselov (2010). All of them received the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Three more scientists born in the USSR received the award in 2007, 2010 and 2015, but at the time of the awards they did not have Russian citizenship: these are Leonid Gurvich (USA, economics), Andrey Geim (Netherlands, physics) and Svetlana Aleksievich (Belarus). , literature).
We tried to figure out what is the reason for the absence of Russians in the Nobel lists: is it due to Russia's lagging behind in world scientific progress, or is it a matter of bias on the part of those who award this honorary prize.
live long
In order for a scientist to get to the top, which is the Nobel Prize, a huge number of factors must come together, says Valery Lunin, dean of the Faculty of Chemistry at Moscow State University.
The most important factor is life expectancy - for example, this year's laureate in physics, American Arthur Ashkin, is 96 years old! - he said half in jest, half in earnest.
American scientists are more likely than others to receive Nobel Prizes, of course, not because they live long. A much more important factor is the funding of science in the United States, continues Lunin.
That there are better laboratories in the USA than in Russia is no secret to anyone. At the same time, of course, we also have breakthrough research - for example, I myself nominated Professor Dmitriev and Academician Oganesyan for the synthesis of five superheavy elements of the periodic table. But the Nobel Committee chose other nominees, he says.
Today, this is perceived as a historical anecdote, but Dmitri Mendeleev himself never received the Nobel Prize, although he was also nominated for it. The greatest chemist in history lacked one vote in the Nobel Committee - which, however, did not in the least diminish his importance for world science.
The Nobel Committee consists of people who, like all people, can have a subjective, emotional approach to their likes and dislikes. The committee's decisions are quite politicized, so awarding a prize or refusing to award it does not necessarily clearly correlate with the significance of a particular scientific discovery, Lunin believes.
ten years later
Alexander Petrenko, the head of the laboratory at the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences, worked for 15 years in the team of the German Nobel laureate (2012) Thomas Südhof and observed from the inside how the scientist “grows up” to the scientific analogue of Olympic gold.
It is usually possible to understand that a person “goes” to the Nobel Prize ten years before he is nominated, and for five years a scientist usually goes “under the prize”, that is, he is included in the long list. That is, already today it is possible to more or less accurately predict who will receive the award in the mid-2020s,” he said.
In order to qualify for the highest scientific award, the researcher must, during these approximately ten years, create his “portfolio” in the form of articles in scientific journals - and not in any, but in those that the world scientific community recognizes as an indicator of quality. And not just publish the work, but that this work is then reprinted, cited, so that other scientists refer to it as an authoritative source.
This is very similar to how the citation index of an author or media is calculated in the Internet community - however, a Nobel degree in blogging is unlikely to ever be established (Alfred Nobel forgot to mention such a nomination in his will).
Goods face
The absence of Russians among Nobel laureates in recent years therefore suggests that domestic scientists have either not created anything that would interest their colleagues abroad, or are “modest” and do not try to promote their discoveries to the world stage.
After all, no one in these scientific journals begs researchers to send them their work for publication. The initiative must always come from the scientists themselves. This is an extremely competitive environment, and it is not enough for a scientist to make a discovery and present it to the judgment of colleagues. We still need to prove that it generally deserves their attention, says Petrenko.
To do this, he continues, a scientist must not only sit in the laboratory, but also actively “hang out” at various scientific conferences - so that they begin to “recognize him by sight”. After all, no one will invite a little-known scientist to lecture at leading universities.
And “trading in person” (sorry for such an inappropriate expression in a scientific context), in turn, costs money - participation in international conferences can be expensive, given the cost of the trip itself, and often the registration fees.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the most Nobel laureates are given by the country that does not skimp on funding science - the United States. The home-grown Skolkovo is clearly unable to compete with such monsters.
Although I have an assumption that in the next five to ten years we will see a couple of Russian scientists at a ceremony in Stockholm, says Petrenko.
For ethical reasons, he refused to name which of the Russians could claim the Nobel Prize in the 2020s.
During the Nobel Week, as usual, the attention to the history of this scientific award is sharpened, the great scientists who became its laureates, as well as those who for some reason did not receive it, are remembered. An interesting source of information in this regard may be the catalog of nominations available on the website of the Nobel Foundation, where information is published on all the nominees for the prizes and those who proposed each of the candidates. Information about the candidates remained a secret for 50 years, so now the catalogs contain data from 1901 to 1963. In particular, there is no data on the economics premium at all, since it has existed only since 1969.
© Wikimedia Commons
Those wishing to study the catalog should take into account some features. When classifying by country, domestic nominees are divided into two groups: “Russian Federation” and “USSR”, the option “Russian Empire” is not provided. The breakdown is pretty unpredictable. All applicants for the prize in physiology or medicine, for example, are considered representatives of the USSR, even Ivan Pavlov and Ilya Mechnikov. All those who were nominated for the Peace Prize were representatives of the Russian Federation, including, for example, Nicholas II, who in 1901 claimed the prize for the initiative to convene the 1899 Hague Conference on the Laws and Customs of War. Physicists and chemists are randomly distributed between the Russian Federation and the USSR.
We will present a brief overview of domestic scientists who could receive awards in the natural sciences.
Physics Prize
In 1905 and 1912, Pyotr Lebedev was nominated for the prize, famous for his experience in which he discovered the pressure of light. This outstanding experimental physicist would certainly have received a prize sooner or later, but in the same 1912, the 46-year-old scientist died of a heart attack.
In 1930, the list of nominees includes Leonid Mandelstam and Grigory Landsberg, nominated for the discovery of Raman scattering of light. This year's prize went to Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, who independently discovered the same phenomenon. The only difference is that Mandelstam and Landsberg observed the scattering effect on crystals, while Raman observed it in liquids and vapors. Perhaps the Nobel Committee felt that Raman was ahead of his Soviet colleagues. As a result, Raman scattering is called Raman scattering, and not Mandelstam-Landsberg scattering.
In 1935, a biologist, Alexander Gurvich, appeared on the list of nominees for a prize in physics, for the discovery of ultra-weak ultraviolet radiation from body tissues. Since Gurvich believed that this radiation stimulated cell division (mitosis), Gurvich called it "mitogenetic radiation". Commentators on Bulgakov's works call Gurvich one of the possible prototypes of Professor Persikov from the story Fatal Eggs.
Pyotr Kapitsa first appears on the list back in 1946. In the future, he was repeatedly nominated for the award, sometimes in one year at the same time by different nominees (1946-1950, 1953, 1955, 1956-1960). Among the scientists who proposed the candidacy of Kapitsa were Niels Bohr and Paul Dirac. He received the Nobel Prize only in 1977, 31 years after the first nomination.
The candidacy of Vladimir Veksler was proposed in 1947. In 1944, this scientist discovered the principle of autophasing, which is the basis for charged particle accelerators: synchrotrons and synchrophasotrons. Under the direction of Veksler, a synchrophasotron was built at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna. A year later, the principle of autophasing, independently of Wexler, was discovered by the American scientist Edwin Macmillan, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951 (together with Glenn Seaborg), though not for the principle of autophasing itself, but for studying the nuclei of transuranium elements at the accelerator. Vladimir Veksler was also nominated in 1948 and 1951 (together with Macmillan), 1956, 1957 and 1959, but he never received the prize.
In the same 1947, the Nobel Committee proposed the candidacy of Dmitry Skobeltsyn, who was engaged in cosmic ray physicists.
In 1952, Pavel Cherenkov was mentioned for the first time among those nominated for the prize in physics, who back in 1934, when he was a graduate student of Sergei Vavilov, studied luminescence in a liquid under the action of gamma radiation and discovered a bluish glow caused by fast electrons knocked out of atoms by gamma rays Open the phenomenon is known under the names "Cherenkov radiation" and "Vavilov-Cherenkov effect". Cherenkov was also nominated in 1955-1957 and received the prize in 1958 together with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm, who gave a theoretical explanation of the effect he discovered (Frank and Tamm's first nomination was a year earlier). In 1957 and 1958, Sergey Vavilov was also on the list of nominees, but he died in 1951, and they could no longer award him the prize.
The story of Lev Landau, in terms of the number of proposals for his candidacy and the high authority of the scientists who nominated him, is reminiscent of the story of Pyotr Kapitsa, but still he had to wait for recognition not so long, less than ten years. Landau was first nominated by the American physicist Robert Marshak in 1954. This is followed by continuous nominations from 1956 to 1960, and in 1962 Landau finally receives the award. Interestingly, in the following year, 1963, five scientists, including Niels Bohr, again proposed Landau's candidacy. Whether these proposals continued further is still unknown, because there is no information for subsequent years in the public domain.
Among the scientists nominated in 1957, in addition to Vladimir Veksler, there are two more Soviet scientists involved in the creation of charged particle accelerators: Alexei Naumov and Gersh Budker.
Another outstanding experimental physicist, Evgeny Zavoisky, has been repeatedly nominated for the award. This happened from 1958 to 1963, and possibly beyond (the scientist died in 1976). Zavoisky became famous for the discovery of electron paramagnetic resonance. This is indeed a major scientific achievement, undoubtedly worthy of the Nobel Prize.
In 1959, 1960 and 1963, the mathematician and physicist Nikolai Bogolyubov, the author of a number of discoveries in quantum physics, is mentioned. In his case, it is also very likely that offers of his candidacy continued after 1963. Nikolai Bogolyubov died in 1992.
Abram Ioffe was nominated in 1959. It is unlikely that the reason for the nomination was the experiment on the charge of the electron, which Ioffe produced in 1911 independently of Robert Millikan (in 1923 Millikan received the Nobel Prize). Most likely, Ioffe was nominated for his later work in solid state and semiconductor physics.
The creators of quantum generators, Nikolai Basov and Alexander Prokhorov, received the prize in 1964 together with their American colleague Charles Townes. Prior to that, they were nominated (together with the same Townes) from 1960, 1962 and 1963.
In 1962, the geochemist and crystallographer Nikolai Belov was nominated for the prize. It is most likely that he developed a theory of symmetry of the closest packings of atoms in crystals, which made it possible to study the structures of a large number of minerals.
Chemistry Prize
In the first couple of decades of the existence of the Nobel Prize, they still tried to more or less adhere to the words from the will of Alfred Nobel: “... those who for the previous year made the greatest contribution to the progress of mankind ... ". Later, this was reasonably abandoned altogether, but such an outstanding scientist as Dmitry Mendeleev never received the prize in chemistry, because he made his main main thing - the periodic law - back in 1869. Although he was put forward by many scientists in 1905 - 1907.
In 1914, Paul Walden, who worked at the University of Riga, was among the candidates. Coincidentally, this is the last year of the life of a scientist in the Russian Empire, with the outbreak of World War I, Walden emigrated to Germany. Note that here the nominees are still trying to comply with the "principle of the previous year", the most famous achievement of Walden occurred shortly before the nomination. He was the first to obtain an ionic liquid with a melting point below room temperature - ethylammonium nitrate.
Botanist and physiologist Mikhail Tsvet was nominated for the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his invention of chromatography, which played a significant role in the subsequent development of analytical chemistry. The next year the scientist died.
In 1921, the candidacy of the microbiologist Sergei Vinogradsky was proposed. He is known for discovering chemosynthesis - obtaining energy through the oxidation of inorganic compounds. Chemosynthesis is characteristic of a number of bacteria. Vinogradsky studied, in particular, iron bacteria, which oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron, and nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which oxidize ammonia and play a huge role in the natural nitrogen cycle. Before the discovery of Vinogradsky, only one type of autotrophic (capable of independently creating organic substances) organisms was known - plants that exist through photosynthesis.
One of the founders of electrochemistry, Alexander Frumkin, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1946, 1962, 1963 (probably later). He is best known for explaining surface phenomena on electrodes in solution and their relation to the rate of a chemical reaction (the kinetics of electrode processes).
The only domestic scientist who received the Nobel Prize for discoveries in the field of chemistry, Nikolai Semenov, was on the lists of candidates in 1946 - 1948, 1950, 1955 and received the 1956 prize. It is interesting that he is also among those nominated for the next prize in chemistry, 1957.
Alexander Braunstein is known for his work on the biochemistry of amino acids and enzymes, in particular the discovery of transamination reactions and the role of pyrodoxine (vitamin B6) in amino acid transformations. His candidacy was proposed in 1952.
It is interesting that Max Vollmer (1955) appears as a representative of Russia in the catalog of nominees, although he lived in the USSR only from 1946 to 1955. He worked first in Moscow at NII-9 on a method for the production of heavy water, then at "Plant No. 817" in Chelyabinsk-40 (now the Mayak Production Association in the city of Ozersk), where the tellurium-120 isotope was obtained. Volmer is known for his work in the field of electrochemistry. He discovered the phenomenon of "Volmer diffusion" in adsorbed molecules, and was also one of the co-authors of the "Butler-Volmer equation". In 1955 Vollmer moved to the GDR. He was nominated for the Chemistry Prize six more times already as a representative of Germany. His presence in the list of domestic scientists is a curiosity of the Nobel catalogue.
Organic chemist Alexander Arbuzov was among the candidates in 1956, 1961 and 1962. Moreover, in 1956 he was nominated together with his son and student Boris Arbuzov. He discovered many organoelement compounds and studied their properties. Alexander Arbuzov is especially famous for the study of organic derivatives of phosphorus acids.
Georgy Stadnikov is known for his work on the chemistry of hot shale, asphalt rocks, coal, peat and oil. He was nominated in 1957. It should be noted that just two years before this, the scientist was released from prison, where he spent 17 years, and fully rehabilitated “due to newly discovered circumstances” and “due to the lack of corpus delicti”.
In 1957 and 1962, the geochemist Alexander Vinogradov was nominated, the author of works on isotope geochemistry, the chemical evolution of the Earth and the mechanisms of formation of planetary shells, biogeochemistry, the isotope method in the study of plant photosynthesis, the chemical composition of meteorites, the soil of the Moon and Venus.
The two scientists we have already mentioned among the physicists were also nominated for the prize in chemistry. These are Evgeny Zavoisky (1958, 1960) and Nikolai Belov (1962).
Prize in Physiology and Medicine
In terms of the number of nominations in this area, domestic scientists outnumber physicists (114 versus 80), but it should be taken into account that 62 of these nominations refer to one person - Ivan Pavlov. Since the first year of the award's existence, a huge number of scientists have proposed his candidacy. In 1904, the prize was finally awarded "for his work on the physiology of digestion, which has expanded and changed the understanding of the vital aspects of this subject." However, Pavlov's subsequent work on the study of higher nervous activity no less deserved the Nobel Prize, so he was repeatedly nominated again in 1925, 1927, 1929 (ten nominations per year). But Ivan Petrovich still did not become a two-time Nobel Prize winner.
In the very first year of the existence of the award, the candidacy of Ilya Mechnikov was also proposed. In total, he was nominated 69 times in 1901-1909. He received the Mechnikov Prize in 1908 for his work on immunity, hence the four scientists who nominated him in 1909 considered him worthy of two prizes. Interestingly, in the catalog on the website of the Nobel Committee, Mechnikov's nominations are classified not as Russian, but as French. From 1887 until his death, he worked in Paris at the Pasteur Institute.
In 1904 Ernst von Bergmann was nominated. Although at that time he had already been working in Germany for a long time at the Universities of Würzburg and Berlin, he is worth mentioning. Until 1878, von Bergmann was a professor at Dorpat University, and in 1877, during the Russian-Turkish war, he was a military doctor in the Russian army. In science, von Bergmann is known for his works on military field surgery, asepsis, and most importantly, he is one of the founders of neurosurgery. His work "Surgical Treatment of Brain Diseases" became a classic.
In 1905, Sergey Chiriev, a professor at Kiev University, was nominated for the prize, author of the works “On the Coordination of Animal Movements”, “Physical Statics of Blood”, “Electromotive Properties of Muscles and Nerves”, “General Muscular and Nervous Physiology” and others.
Among the contenders for the Nobel Prize were Ivan Dogel and Alexander Dogel, uncle and nephew. Ivan Dogel, who worked at Kazan University, was nominated in 1907 and 1914. He was one of the founders of experimental pharmacology, and also studied the physiology of the organs of vision and hearing, the nervous system and blood circulation. For the first time, he experimentally proved the possibility of reflex cardiac arrest during irritation of the nerve endings of the nasal mucosa. In the catalog of the Nobel Committee, he is erroneously presented as two different people: Jean Dogiel (1907) and Ivan Dogiel (1914).
Alexander Dogel was a pioneer in neurohistology. He was the first to describe the nerve terminal apparatus in the tissues and organs of animals, laid the foundation for the study of the synapses of the autonomic nervous system. Alexander Dogel also developed a method for intravital staining of nerve elements with methylene blue. His candidacy was proposed in 1911.
Sergei Vinogradsky, whom we discussed in the section on chemistry, was also nominated in 1911 for a prize in physiology and medicine. Another scientist, also already mentioned, only among physicists, Alexander Gurvich, was nominated in 1929, 1932-1934.
In 1912, 1914 and in 1925 (in the latter case, eight times a year), Vladimir Bekhterev, an outstanding neuropathologist and psychiatrist, was nominated. Much attention to him in 1925 is apparently due to the fact that shortly before that his work "The General Foundations of Human Reflexology" was published.
Alexander Maksimov was nominated for the prize in 1918. Among the achievements of this histologist is the development of the method of tissue cultures, the study of the process of hematopoiesis. He described hemocytoblasts (hematopoietic stem cells) and was the first to propose the term "stem cell" ( Stammzelle in his work, published in German).
In 1934, Petr Lazarev was nominated. He graduated from both the medical and (external) faculties of physics and mathematics at Moscow University. Pyotr Lazarev made a significant contribution to biophysics by creating a physicochemical theory of excitation and investigating the effect of electric current on nerve tissue.
Léon Orbeli was nominated in 1934 and 1935. His main achievements relate to evolutionary physiology, the study of the functions of the sympathetic and autonomic nervous systems, and the mechanisms of higher nervous activity.
Immediately six scientists in 1936 proposed the candidacy of Alexei Speransky. He studied the role of the nervous system in pathological processes, as well as in compensation for impaired body functions. In 1930, his work "The nervous system in pathology" was published, and in 1936 - "Nervous trophism in the theory and practice of medicine."
Among the many achievements of the physiologist Nikolai Anichkov, the most important is the discovery of the role of cholesterol in the development of atherosclerosis. As the modern American biochemist Daniel Steinberg writes: “If the true significance of his findings had been appreciated in a timely manner, we would have saved more than 30 years of efforts to settle the cholesterol controversy, and Anichkov himself could have been awarded the Nobel Prize.” Anichkov's candidacy was proposed in 1937.
Efim London created the world's first work on radiobiology, Radium in Biology and Medicine (1911). He outlined his further research on the effects of ionizing radiation on living organisms in the book Radium and X-rays (1923). Another of his achievements is the technique of angiostomy, which made it possible to study the metabolism in the organs of a living animal. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1939.
In 1939, according to the Molotov-Ribentropp Pact, Soviet troops occupied western Ukraine, in particular the city of Lvov. It was this circumstance that caused Rudolf Weigl, the founder of the Lvov Institute for Epidemiological Research, to be mentioned among the Soviet scientists nominated for the Nobel Prize. His candidacy was proposed just in 1939. In science, Weigl is famous as the creator of the first effective vaccine against epidemic typhus. Until 1939, he was nominated several dozen times as a Polish scientist, but he never received the prize. Perhaps Weigl would have been a worthy candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. In his clinic, during the German occupation, he sheltered Jews and Poles, and also secretly smuggled the vaccine into the Warsaw and Lviv ghettos.
In 1946, two Soviet scientists were nominated for the prize. If the prize had been awarded to them, they would have added to the number of married couples among the winners. Biochemists Vladimir Engelhardt and Milica Lyubimova-Engelhardt proved that the protein myosin, of which most muscles are composed, has the properties of an enzyme. It breaks down adenosine triphosphoric acid, and the energy released ensures the contraction of muscle fibers.
Finally, in 1950, the famous physiologist and ophthalmologist Vladimir Filatov, who created the method of corneal transplantation, was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious and most famous prize in the world. It has been presented annually in Stockholm and Oslo since 1901 and has gathered a lot of unusual facts around it during this time.
1. THE AWARD WAS BORN TO TAKE EYES FROM NOBEL'S DISCOVERIES
The creator of the award, Alfred Nobel, was an avid pacifist, which did not stop him from making an impressive capital in the arms trade and the invention of dynamite. He believed that the very presence of dangerous weapons should intimidate the enemy, preventing wars, terrorist attacks and bloodshed. The insight was painful. When the newspapers buried Alfred Nobel ahead of time, confusing him with his brother Ludwig, who died in St. Petersburg, he was greatly surprised by the morning headlines: "Seller of Death", "Bloody Rich Man", "Dynamite King". In order not to go down in history as a blood millionaire, Alfred Nobel immediately called a lawyer and rewrote the will, which stated that after death all the multimillion-dollar property should be placed in a reliable bank and entrusted to a fund that would divide investment income into five equal parts and give them annually as a bonus . The idea was a success: now few people remember who invented dynamite, but even a child knows about the Nobel Prize.
2. ECONOMY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF PRIZES
Initially, the prize was awarded in five categories: chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peacekeeping achievements. Later, in 1969, the Swedish Bank added an economics prize to this list. Since the field of economics was not listed in the will, it is handed over not from the Nobel fund, but from the fund of the Swedish Bank, but at the Nobel Prize ceremony. The descendants of Nobel do not support the addition of the economic area to the prize. “First of all,” they say, “this is how the whole meaning of the award collapses. If it is named after Nobel, then it should be awarded only in those areas that Nobel himself listed in his will. Secondly, Nobel simply did not like economists and ignored them in his will not by chance.”
3. PREMIUM FALLS IN PRICE
In terms of the current exchange rate, when the Nobel's movable and immovable property was converted into cash equivalent, the fund received about 250 million dollars. Part of the capital was immediately invested in securities, and prizes were awarded to the laureates from the profits. The fund is currently worth $3 billion. Despite the growth of the capital of the Nobel Prize Fund, in 2012 it was decided to cut it by 20% (from 1.4 million to 1.1 million dollars). Such a move, according to the directors of the fund, will help create a reliable financial cushion and ensure a high monetary level of the premium for many years to come.
4. UNUSUAL WINNERS AND NOMINATES
The award was very rarely given to anyone a second time. For all the years of its existence, this happened only 4 times. Federick Segner received both Prizes in Chemistry, John Bardeen in Physics, Linus Pauling in Chemistry and the Peace Prize. Marie Skłodowska-Curie was the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes.
Maria Sklodowska-Curie
Stanley Williams, leader of the Crips crime group, was nominated for the Nobel Prize 9 times: as a writer and as a humanist. Initially, the Crips group opposed police lawlessness on the streets of Los Angeles, but when it grew, it turned out to have several police deaths and, for some reason, a bank robbery. Stanley Williams was arrested and sentenced to death. The books that Stanley wrote while incarcerated became bestsellers, and he even won the US President's Award. This still did not soften the hearts of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 2005 the leader of the Crips gang was executed.
5. PRIZE FOR MATH
Many people know that the Nobel Prize is not awarded in the field of mathematics. Also, many are sure that the reason for this is Nobel's beloved, who went to mathematics. Indeed, in the will, mathematics was originally included in the list of areas in which the prize is awarded, but later crossed out by Nobel himself. In fact, there is no evidence of a romantic story related to the refusal of the Nobel to give the prize to mathematicians. More likely is the fact that the main contender for the prize in mathematics before the death of Nobel was Mittag-Leffler, whom the founder of the prize had long disliked for importunately soliciting donations for Stockholm University. Deciding to be true to himself and not give Mittag-Leffler any money, Nobel crossed mathematics off the list and replaced it with the Peace Prize.
6. BANQUET AFTER THE AWARDS
The banquet is held immediately after the awards ceremony in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall. The chefs of the restaurant at the town hall and the best culinary specialists, who were awarded the title of “Chef of the Year” in the year of the award, are involved in the preparation of the gala dinner. Three months before the banquet, members of the Nobel Committee taste three varieties of the menu and decide which one is worthy of serving the guests at the banquet. For dessert, ice cream is traditionally served, but its variety is kept in the strictest confidence until the very evening of the ceremony.
The hall is decorated with more than 20,000 flowers from San Remo, and the movements of the waiters are rehearsed to the nearest second. Exactly at 7 pm, guests of honor, led by monarchs, descend into the Blue Hall. The Swedish king leads a Nobel laureate by the arm, and if there is none, then the wife of a physics laureate.
The banquet service has its own unique design: it is made in three colors of the Swedish Empire: blue, green and gold and consists of 6750 glasses, 9450 knives and forks, 9550 plates and one tea cup for Princess Liliana, who did not drink coffee. After the death of the princess, the cup began to be kept in a special mahogany box with the princess's monogram. The saucer from the cup was stolen not so long ago.
7. NOBEL IN SPACE
Most often, the name of Alfred Nobel is immortalized by astronauts. In 1970, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the Moon after Alfred Nobel, though on its dark side. And in 1983, asteroid number 6032 was named after him.
8. WHEN PRIZES ARE NOT AWARDED
If there are no worthy candidates for an award in any of the areas, it is simply not awarded. This has happened five times with the Medicine Prize, four times with the Physics Prize, and most of all with the Peace Prize. According to the rules that were adopted in 1974, the prize can only be awarded during the life of the laureate. The rule has only been broken once, in 2011, when medical award winner Ralph Steiman died of cancer two hours before the ceremony.
9. CASH EQUIVALENT OF THE PRIZE AND STRANGE WAYS TO SPEND IT
The cash equivalent of the premium is floating, but usually amounts to more than a million US dollars. Not every scientist spends such a sum on the development of his scientific research. Ivan Bunin, with all the scope of the Russian soul, spent money on parties. The poet Rene Francois Armand Sully-Prudhomme organized his own prize, which was not as successful as the Nobel, but lasted six years and was awarded to masters of poetry. Hungarian writer Irme Kertes gave his prize to his wife, thus appreciating her heroic loyalty to him in hardship and poverty. “Let her buy herself dresses and jewelry,” the writer commented on her decision, “she deserved it.”
Paul Greengard, who explored the interconnection between nerve cells that later led to the creation of antidepressants, used the award money to create his own Pearl Meister Greengard award. It is often presented as an analogue of the Nobel Prize for women, because in the scientific world, according to Greenard, there is a huge discrimination against women. The scientist dedicated the award to his mother, who died during childbirth.
10. PEACE PRIZE
The most controversial and politically charged of the six areas in which the prize is awarded is the Peace Prize. At different times, such unconditional villains as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin were nominated for the award.
Last year, 2014, Vladimir Putin was nominated for it. Seventeen-year-old Malala Yusufai from Pakistan, who took away the victory from Putin, became the youngest Nobel Prize winner. Her struggle for the education of girls in Islamic countries has led to worldwide recognition and a prestigious award. Radical Islamic groups declared a jihad (holy war) to the girl and immediately after the award was given, they tried to kill her, but Malala survived and continues to fight for women's rights to education.
Unlike all other areas, the Peace Prize is not awarded in Stockholm, but in Oslo.
The Nobel Prize (Swedish Nobelpriset, English Nobel Prize) is one of the most prestigious international prizes awarded annually for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or a major contribution to culture or society.
Story
On November 27, 1895, in Paris, Alfred Nobel signed the last version of his famous will, according to which most of his fortune should go to the creation of a foundation and the establishment of a prize to encourage pioneers in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, as well as writers and those who are more did everything for peace in the previous year, regardless of nationality. The prizes in the field of science and literature were supposed to be awarded in Sweden, and the peace prize - in Norway. From this will began the history of the Nobel Prize, the fund of which amounted to 31 million crowns.
Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually (since 1901) for outstanding work in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology, economics (since 1969), for literary works, and for efforts to strengthen peace.
The awarding of Nobel Prizes is entrusted to the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm (for physics, chemistry, economics), the Royal Karolinska Institute of Medicine and Surgery in Stockholm (for physiology or medicine) and the Swedish Academy in Stockholm (for literature); In Norway, the Nobel Committee of Parliament awards the Nobel Peace Prizes. Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.
The first Nobel Banquet took place on December 10, 1901, at the same time as the first award ceremony. Currently, the banquet is held in the Blue Hall of the City Hall. 1300-1400 people are invited to the banquet. Dress code - tailcoats and evening dresses. The chefs of the Town Hall Cellar (town hall restaurant) and chefs who have ever received the title of Chef of the Year are involved in the development of the menu. In September, three menu options are tasted by members of the Nobel Committee, who decide what will be served "at the Nobel table." Always known only dessert - ice cream. And then until the evening of December 10, no one, except for a narrow circle of initiates, knows what kind.
The Nobel Concert is one of the three components of the Nobel Week, along with the awarding of prizes and the Nobel Dinner. It is considered one of the main musical events of the year in Europe and the main musical event of the year in the Scandinavian countries. The most prominent classical musicians of our time take part in it. The Nobel Concert is broadcast on several international TV channels on December 31 every year. According to Nobel's will, the prize was to be awarded for discoveries, inventions and achievements made in the year of the award. This provision is de facto not respected.
Prize Rules
The main document regulating the rules for awarding the prize is the statute of the Nobel Foundation.
The Prize can only be awarded to individuals and not to institutions (other than Peace Prizes). The Peace Prize can be awarded both to individuals and to official and public organizations.
According to § 4 of the statute, one or two works can be promoted at the same time, but the total number of awardees should not exceed three. Although this rule was introduced only in 1968, it has always been de facto observed. At the same time, the monetary reward is divided among the laureates as follows: the prize is first divided equally between the works, and then equally between their authors. Thus, if two different discoveries are awarded, one of which was made by two, then the latter receive 1/4 of the monetary part of the prize. And if one discovery is awarded, which was made by two or three, everyone receives equally (1/2 or 1/3 of the prize, respectively).
It also states in § 4 that the prize cannot be awarded posthumously. However, if the applicant was alive at the time of the announcement of the award to him (usually in October), but died before the award ceremony (December 10 of the current year), then the award remains with him. This rule was adopted in 1974, and before that the prize had been awarded posthumously twice: to Erik Karlfeldt in 1931 and to Dag Hammarskjöld in 1961. However, in 2011, the rule was broken when, by decision of the Nobel Committee, Ralph Steinman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine posthumously, since at the time of the award, the Nobel Committee considered him alive.
According to § 5 of the statute, the prize may not be awarded to anyone at all if the members of the relevant committee have not found worthy works among those put forward for competition. In this case, the prize funds are kept until the next year. If the next year the prize was not awarded, the funds are transferred to the closed reserve of the Nobel Foundation.
What amount are we talking about?
At the time of Alfred Nobel's death, the prize was over SEK 31 million. At the moment, the capital of the Nobel Prize Fund is estimated at about 500 million US dollars.
Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
Mathematicians themselves believe that one cannot do without their science anywhere. Alfred Nobel forgot to mention the subject. I decided that along with physics and chemistry, it goes without saying.
The townsfolk have a different explanation for why the Nobel Prize in mathematics is not awarded. This is an abstract science that is not useful to everyone. What does humanity get from a new way of solving the most complex equation?.. Therefore, the subject was not included in the list of nominations.
In the press, jokes are “favorite” in which the decision of the founder of the Nobel Prize is explained by personal motives. Names of the proposed theories:
- Franco-American version. The Swedish mathematician Mittag-Leffler persistently courted the wife of Alfred Nobel. Moreover, the latter began to reciprocate the scientist, which offended the dignity of the inventor of dynamite. The founder of the award took revenge on his opponent by deleting “pseudo-science” from his will.
- Swedish version. There was a conflict between Nobel and Mittag-Leffler. And the reasons are not related to the betrayal of the testator's wife. The inventor understood that Leffler would get the prize in mathematics. After all, the latter is a leader in its field. Nobel did not allow this.
People also “love” the story about the theatre. A certain admirer allegedly kissed the hand of Nobel's wife Sophie so enthusiastically that he did not notice how he stepped on the unlucky spouse's foot. Later, Alfred found out that the suitor was a professor of mathematics.
Such versions in the scientific world are considered anecdotal. And there is official evidence of this. Alfred Nobel was not married. Mittag-Leffler existed. The Swedish mathematician sought to have a talented woman Sofya Kovalevskaya (in anecdotes - "wife") be admitted to Stockholm University for a professorship. And Nobel, as one of the sponsors, did not allow this.
Later, Leffler persuaded the inventor to leave part of the state to the university. The mathematician was overly persistent, which irritated Nobel. The scientist achieved nothing. It only angered the founder of the award: the latter deleted Stockholm University from his will.
Historians and scientists themselves have more plausible versions why the “Nobel for mathematicians” is not available:
- The founder of the award was engaged in life in chemistry, physics and medicine, was fond of literature. He fought for the strengthening of peace. Participated in anti-slavery societies. Therefore, these five areas were included in the list of nominations.
- Nobel established a prize only for experimental sciences for those achievements that have brought real benefits to people. Theoretical subjects were not included in the will. It is impossible to objectively evaluate their discoveries. Check the result experimentally - too.
Einstein's theory of relativity is of little use to mankind: the discovery is significant only for a certain circle of people. But his own theory of the photoelectric effect made a tangible contribution to the development of the whole society. Therefore, the scientist received a prestigious award for the latter.
What will comfort them?
Mathematicians themselves are not very offended that Nobel bypassed their science. The Nobel Prize is a socially significant award, with huge cash prizes and a magnificent ceremony. It is difficult to call it purely scientific. It is far from always that scientists who have made a tangible contribution to science rise to the podium. Their achievements are more important for society.
Mathematicians are awarded other prestigious prizes. And here the nominees are those who have made a huge contribution to mathematical science.
Fields Medal
The most prestigious award in the field of mathematics. The nominees receive a cash prize and a gold medal. Founder - John Fields, President of the VII International Mathematical Congress (1924). Awarded on a permanent basis since 1936 to 2-4 scientists.
Abel Prize
Formally (but not in meaning), the Abel Prize is closer to the Nobel Prize. Awarded since 2003 at the initiative of the Norwegian government. Named after Niels Henrik Abel.
The winner of the Abel award is a scientist who has made a significant contribution to the development of mathematics (without reference to age). The value of the award is comparable to the value of the "Nobel Prize" (more than 1 million US dollars). Awarded annually.
The Nobel Prize is not available to mathematicians. The real reasons are hardly related to the personal motives of its founder. Mathematical discoveries have no practical significance. And this is one of the important conditions for obtaining a Nobel Prize.
When were the first Nobel Prizes awarded?
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Nobel allocated 94% of his fortune to the prize fund. His will was contested by family members and was later approved by the Swedish government.
How many people have won the Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize has been awarded 567 times. However, on several occasions more than one nominee received it. In total, 860 people and 22 organizations became laureates.
Have there been years when the Nobel Prize was not awarded?
Were. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has not been awarded 49 times. Most of the prizes not awarded fall on the years of the First (1914-1918) and Second (1939-1945) World Wars. In addition, the statutes of the Nobel Prize Fund state that if “… none of the works are of sufficient importance, the prize money must be set aside until next year. If there are no worthy discoveries for the second year in a row, then the funds will go to the fund.”
In what areas are the most commonly awarded Nobel Prizes?
The Nobel Prizes in physics were most often awarded for discoveries in particle physics, in chemistry for discoveries in biochemistry, in medicine for discoveries in genetics, in economics for discoveries in macroeconomics, and in literature for discoveries in prose.
What countries have won the most Nobel laureates?
In first place is the United States of America with 257 laureates. On the second - Great Britain with 93, on the third - Germany with 80. Russia has 27 laureates. According to the rules of the Nobel Committee, this does not include people, for example, those born in Russia or the USSR, but who made discoveries in another country. Or writers who wrote in Russian, but who by that time were citizens of other countries, for example, Ivan Bunin in 1933 or Joseph Brodsky in 1987.
At what age do they become Nobel Prize winners?
In very different ways: Malala Yousafzai became the youngest laureate last year. She received the Peace Prize at the age of only 17. The oldest was 90-year-old Leonid Gurvich, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007.
Are there women among the winners?
Yes, although they are in the minority. In total, women received awards 47 times. And only one of them - Marie Curie - received it twice: once in physics, the other in chemistry. So in total, 46 women became Nobel Prize winners.
Was it so that the Nobel Prize was refused voluntarily?
Certainly. But only twice: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre refused the Literature Prize in 1964 because he did not recognize official awards at all. And the Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho refused the Peace Prize in 1973, saying that he did not consider it possible to accept it because of the situation in the country.
What about forced?
It was like that. Adolf Hitler banned three scientists: the chemist Richard Kuhn, the biochemist Adolf Butenandt and the bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk from accepting the prize. Later, they were able to receive medals and diplomas, but not prize money.
The Soviet poet and writer Boris Pasternak initially agreed to accept the Nobel Prize, but then, under pressure from the authorities, refused it.
And posthumously?
Yes and no. The status of the Nobel Foundation determines that the prize can only be awarded to a living person. However, if at the time of the announcement of the result he was still alive, but had already died by the time the prize was awarded, then he is still considered a Nobel laureate. In 2011, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Ralph Steinman. After the announcement of the result, it turned out that he had already died three days ago. After a meeting of the board of the Nobel Committee, it was decided to leave him on the list of laureates, because the Nobel Commission of the Royal Karolinska Institute did not know about his death at the time of the decision.
Were there family Nobel Prizes?
And how! And the greatest contribution to this small list was made by the Joliot-Curie family. The following family laureates came out of it: two married couples: Marie and Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot, mother and daughter: Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie, and father and daughter: Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot Curie.
On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist and engineer, inventor of dynamite, signed a will that said literally the following: “I want to dispose of the rest of my fortune as follows: the executors of my will should invest in safe securities. They will form a fund, the interest from which will be distributed as a bonus to those who during the previous year have made scientific discoveries that will bring the greatest benefit to mankind ... "
The inventor of dynamite, Nobel welcomed the ideas of pacifism all his life.
In 1888 Alfred's brother Ludwig died in Cannes. One French newspaper erroneously printed an obituary for the inventor himself under the heading Le marchand de la mort est mort - "The merchant of death is dead." Nobel was deeply shocked. He did not want to remain in the memory of mankind as the inventor of a deadly explosive.
What amount are we talking about?
At the time of Alfred Nobel's death, the prize was over SEK 31 million. At the moment, the capital of the Nobel Prize Fund is estimated at about 500 million US dollars.
When were the first Nobel Prizes awarded?
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Nobel allocated 94% of his fortune to the prize fund. His will was contested by family members and was later approved by the Swedish government.
How many people have won the Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize has been awarded 567 times. However, on several occasions more than one nominee received it. In total, 860 people and 22 organizations became laureates.
Have there been years when the Nobel Prize was not awarded?
Were. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has not been awarded 49 times. Most of the prizes not awarded fall on the years of the First (1914−1918) and Second (1939−1945) World Wars. In addition, the statutes of the Nobel Prize Fund state that if “… none of the works are of sufficient importance, the prize money must be set aside until next year. If there are no worthy discoveries for the second year in a row, then the funds will go to the fund.”
In what areas are the most commonly awarded Nobel Prizes?
The Nobel Prizes in physics were most often awarded for discoveries in particle physics, in chemistry for discoveries in biochemistry, in medicine for discoveries in genetics, in economics for discoveries in macroeconomics, and in literature for discoveries in prose.
What countries have won the most Nobel laureates?
In first place is the United States of America with 257 laureates. On the second - Great Britain with 93, on the third - Germany with 80. Russia has 27 laureates. According to the rules of the Nobel Committee, this does not include people, for example, those born in Russia or the USSR, but who made discoveries in another country. Or writers who wrote in Russian but were by that time citizens of other countries, such as Ivan Bunin in 1933 or Joseph Brodsky in 1987.
At what age do they become Nobel Prize winners?
In very different ways: she became the youngest laureate last year. She received the Peace Prize at the age of only 17. The oldest was 90 years old, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007.
Are there women among the winners?
Yes, although they are in the minority. In total, women received awards 47 times. And only one of them - Marie Curie - received it twice: once in physics, the other in chemistry. So in total, 46 women became Nobel Prize winners.
Was it so that the Nobel Prize was refused voluntarily?
Certainly. But only twice: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre refused the Literature Prize in 1964 because he did not recognize official awards at all. And the Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho refused the Peace Prize in 1973, saying that he did not consider it possible to accept it because of the situation in the country.
What about forced?
It was like that. Adolf Hitler banned three scientists: the chemist Richard Kuhn, the biochemist Adolf Butenandt and the bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk from accepting the prize. Later, they were able to receive medals and diplomas, but not prize money.
The Soviet poet and writer Boris Pasternak initially agreed to accept the Nobel Prize, but then, under pressure from the authorities, refused it.
And posthumously?
Yes and no. The status of the Nobel Foundation determines that the prize can only be awarded to a living person. However, if at the time of the announcement of the result he was still alive, but had already died by the time the prize was awarded, then he is still considered a Nobel laureate. In 2011, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Ralph Steinman. After the announcement of the result, it turned out that he had already died three days ago. After a meeting of the board of the Nobel Committee, it was decided to leave him on the list of laureates, because the Nobel Commission of the Royal Karolinska Institute did not know about his death at the time of the decision.
Were there family Nobel Prizes?
And how! And the greatest contribution to this small list was made by the Joliot-Curie family. The following family laureates came out of it: two married couples - Marie and Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot; mother and daughter - Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie; and father and daughter - Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie.
Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
And here we enter the realm of assumptions. Nobel himself noted in his will that he chose the appropriate disciplines "after a balanced and thoughtful analysis." However, he took his train of thought to the grave.
The version that, by excluding mathematics, he thus took revenge on his wife's lover, who was just a representative of this science, does not stand up to criticism, because Alfred Nobel was never married.
The most likely assumption is that Nobel insisted that discoveries "should benefit mankind", and pure mathematics remains pure mathematics, an exercise for the mind, from which the common man is neither hot nor cold. Well, what difference does it make to the majority of the world's population whether Fermat's theorem has been proven or not?
Mathematics in application to physics, chemistry or economics is awarded in these disciplines.
What about biology?
Again, medicine. Or chemistry. Interpretations are possible.
Yana Litvinova
BBC Russian Service, London