What is the Nobel Prize? What is the history of the Nobel Prize?
The Nobel Prize is the most well-known award in the world and has been given annually since 1901 to people who make significant contributions in any of the fields of science, medicine, or public interest.
Nobel Foundation in Sweden
The Nobel Foundation was founded in 1895. It is an independent foundation that is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. It is a company that awards the Nobel Prizes and manages them for its candidates. The goal of the foundation is to bring together the members of the Nobel family and award the best. The board of directors of the foundation are mostly Nobel family members. They are all independent people, and they are always the final judge when it comes to choosing the Nobel Prize winners.
History of the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize was established by Alfred Nobel and his brother Ludvig in his last will. He was a chemist, entrepreneur and arms and explosives manufacturer from Sweden. He was one of the first to invent dynamite and two-part blasting caps for an explosive mixture. He invented dynamite in 1866 and got it patented in 1867, dynamite cartridges and powder flasks in 1873, and the first safety-catch mechanism for dynamite in 1875.
He also had several other inventions in the field of chemicals, including the production of nitroglycerin. He was also the creator of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the award for Physics, Literature, Peace, and so on. Alfred Nobel also set up the Nobel Prizes that are still awarded today.
Nobel Prize Ceremony
There is a very strict code of conduct and a shortlisting process that is required to be followed before the winner of the Nobel Prize will be declared. To be announced as the winner, the person must meet at least three of the following four criteria.
- Is it a person who has made a major advance in any of the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology and his discovery or invention positively impacts people’s lives?
- Is the person’s work of international significance?
- Is the person a permanent resident of Sweden?
- Did the Nobel Prize Committee choose the person?
After all these checks, the selection committee will send an official letter to the winner telling him that he/she has won the Nobel Prize and that the exact amount will be added to his/her bank account. The money will take approximately one month to reach the bank account. On the day of the prize ceremony, a representative of the Nobel Foundation will come to his/her home to collect the Nobel Prize medal. All the representatives will come to the winner’s house without warning.
The winner’s name will be read out loud, and he/she will be invited to come to the stage where the Nobel Foundation will collect the medal from him/her. Once the medal is presented, a speech will be read out aloud, and the winner will also get a medal and a certificate.
Benefits of the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prizes are the most prestigious prizes in the world. It is a recognition of the outstanding work that is being done. It is given annually to a person doing amazing work in the following five fields: Medicine, Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, and Literature. The total amount of prize money varies from year to year. For example, it can be 1 million or 10 million SEK. The winner of the prize receives money in gold and silver. It is to ensure that they will not spend the money too fast.