FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | THE NOBEL PRIZE sweden.se PHOTO: HENRIK MONTGOMERY/TTPHOTO: The Nobel Banquet is a magnificent party held at Stockholm City Hall. NOBEL PRIZE: THE PRESTIGIOUS AWARD THAT CAPTURES THE WORLD’S ATTENTION The Nobel Prize is considered the most prestigious award in the world. Prize-winning discoveries include X-rays, radioactivity and penicillin. Peace Laureates include Nelson Mandela and the 14th Dalai Lama. Nobel Laureates in Literature, including Gabriel García Márquez and Doris Lessing, have thrilled readers with works such as 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and 'The Grass is Singing'. Every year in early October, the world Nobel Day is 10 December. For the prize Prize in Economic Sciences turns its gaze towards Sweden and winners, it is the crowning point of a week In 1968, Sweden’s central bank (Sveriges Norway as the Nobel Laureates are of speeches, conferences and receptions. Riksbank) established the Prize in announced in Stockholm and Oslo. At the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Millions of people visit the website of in Stockholm on that day, the Laureates Nobel. The prize is based on a donation the Nobel Foundation during this time. in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or received by the Nobel Foundation in The Nobel Prize has been awarded Medicine, and Literature receive a medal 1968 from the central bank to mark to people and organisations every year from the King of Sweden, as well as the bank’s 300th anniversary. The Prize since 1901 (with a few exceptions such a diploma and a cash award. The cer­ in Economic Sciences is awarded by as during World War II) for achieve­ emony is followed by a gala banquet. the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, ments in physics, chemistry, physiology The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in follow ing the same principles as the or medicine, literature and peace. Oslo the same day. Nobel Prizes. FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | THE NOBEL PRIZE sweden.se DID YOU KNOW? Legacy of Alfred Nobel up to three recipients for each prize, who The Nobel Prize is the legacy of Sweden’s share the sum between them. 51 WOMEN Alfred Nobel (1833–1896). Prizes are awarded The Nobel Prize and the Prize in to ‘those who, during the preceding year, Organisations affiliated with Economic Sciences have been shall have conferred the greatest benefit the prize awarded to women 52 times from on mankind.’ When he signed his last will The Nobel Prize is affiliated with several 1901 to 2018. One woman, Marie in 1895, Nobel declared that the bulk of organisations and institutions entrusted Curie, has been honoured twice, receiving the 1903 Nobel Prize in his estate should be converted into a fund with different tasks related to the prize. Physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize and invested in safe securities. The four The Nobel Foundation Rights Association in Chemistry. This means a total institutions in Sweden and Norway (the was established in 1999 to provide informa­ of 51 women have received Nobel two countries were united between 1814 tion through a variety of media about the Prizes to date: and 1905) conferring the prizes were to Nobel Laureates and their achievements. 17 have received the Peace Prize, 14 the Prize in Literature, be the Swedish Academy of Sciences, This non-profit association serves as 12 in Physiology/Medicine, Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, the an umbrella organisation for three other 5 in Chemistry (including Curie), Swedish Academy in Stockholm and entities: 3 in Physics (including Curie) and a committee of five people to be elected • Nobel Media, which develops and man­ 1 in Economic Sciences. by the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget). ages programmes, productions and 96 YEARS OLD media rights of the Nobel Prize within The Nobel Foundation the areas of digital and broadcast media, The oldest Laureate to date is Arthur In 1900, the four institutions awarding the publishing as well as events. Ashkin, who was 96 when he was awarded the Prize in Physics in 2018. prizes agreed to create the Nobel Foundation, • The Nobel Museum, housed in the Old a private institution based on Alfred Nobel’s Stock Exchange Building (Börs huset) 17 YEARS OLD will. The Nobel Foundation would adminis­ in Stockholm’s Old Town, creates inter­ est and spreads knowledge around the The youngest Laureate to date is Malala ter Nobel’s estate, totalling SEK 31 million, Yousafzai, who was 17 when she was make public announcements and arrange natural sciences and culture. awarded the Peace Prize in 2014. the prize ceremonies. The total amount • The Nobel Peace Center, at Rådhus­ awarded each year is based on the most plassen in Oslo, Norway, a showcase TWO HAVE DECLINED recent return on investment. The capital is which presents the Nobel Peace Prize Two Nobel Laureates have declined currently worth over SEK 4.5 billion, more and the work of the Nobel Peace Prize Obs! Löst tecken Lê Ðúc Tho. the Nobel Prize. Jean­Paul Sartre, than double the value of the original estate Laureates. n awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in when adjusted for inflation. Literature, declined the award be­ cause he had consistently declined The Nobel Prize in each category is cur­ rently worth SEK 9 million. There can be Obs! Löst tecken Lê Ðúc Tho. all official honours. Lê Ðúc Tho . was awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for negotiating the Vietnam peace agreement. Lê Ðúc Tho . said he was not in a position to accept the Nobel THE FATHER OF DYNAMITE Peace Prize, due to the situation in NOBEL MUSEUM PHOTO: Vietnam. Alfred Nobel was a chemist, engineer, in­ ventor and entrepreneur. He was born on FOUR FORCED TO DECLINE 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, and died on 10 December 1896 in San Remo, Italy. Four Nobel Laureates have been He was devoted to the study of explo­ forced by authorities to decline the sives, and his inventions include a blast­ Nobel Prize. Adolf Hitler forbade ing cap, dynamite and smokeless gun­ three German Laureates – Richard powder. Nobel became famous across the Kuhn (Chemistry), Adolf Butenandt world when the St. Gotthard Tunnel in the (Chemistry) and Gerhard Domagk Swiss Alps was completed in 1881 and (Physiology/Medicine) – from ac­ dynamite was used for the first time on cepting their prizes. The Nazi regime a large scale. banned all Germans from accepting At the time of his death, Nobel held Nobel Prizes after the 1935 Nobel 355 patents in different countries. Peace Prize was awarded to Carl There were Nobel companies in more von Ossietzky, a German writer who than 20 countries, with explosives of all publicly opposed Hitler and Nazism. kinds being manufactured under his pat­ The three later received their awards, ents in around 90 factories worldwide. but not the prize money. Nobel lived and worked in many coun­ Alfred Nobel. Boris Pasternak, the 1958 Nobel tries, including Sweden, Russia, France, and drama. He could never have imag­ Laureate in Literature, initially ac­ the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. ined how important his prize would be­ cepted the prize but was later coerced He spoke five languages, had a passion­ come, or how much media attention future into declining by Soviet authorities. ate interest in literature, and wrote poetry Nobel Laureates would attract. n 2 | FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN | THE NOBEL PRIZE sweden.se PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES GETTY IMAGES PHOTO: PHOTO: IMAGEBANK.SWEDEN.SE PHOTO: THE NOBEL PRIZE-AWARDING SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO: INSTITUTIONS Four institutions select the Nobel Laureates: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel). Founded in 1739 as an independent organisation, it aims to promote the sciences and enhance their influence in society. It currently has SHUTTERSTOCK PHOTO: around 460 Swedish and 175 foreign members. The Swedish Academy (Nobel Prize in Literature). Founded in 1786, it consists of 18 Swedes, all elected for life, though chairs are occasionally vacant. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine). Dating from 1977 in its Prize­winning discoveries (clockwise from left): X­rays; AGA lighthouse, a type of current form, the assembly consists of automatic lighthouse that runs on acetylene gas; the molecular structure of DNA – 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet. the double helix; penicillin. The Norwegian Nobel Committee (Nobel Peace Prize). Founded in 1897, its five members are appointed by the Norwegian Parliament. A HISTORY OF CULTURE AND SCIENCE PHOTO: FREDRIKA BERGHULT/NOBEL MEDIA AB BERGHULT/NOBEL FREDRIKA PHOTO: Between 1901, when the first Nobel Prize was awarded, and 2018, a total of 935 Nobel Prizes have been awarded to individuals and organisations. Together, they represent a major contribution to the cultural and scientific history of the world. There have been 908 prizes awarded to technology. In the early 1900s, he invented individuals and 27 to organisations. Only the AGA lighthouse, a type of automatic a few recipients have been honoured more lighthouse that ran on acetylene gas. The than once, which means that a total of gas supply was controlled by a sun valve 904 individuals and 24 unique organisa­ that shut off the gas in daylight, and a re­ tions have received prizes to date. volving light apparatus that allowed the The first Nobel Prize in Physics, in 1901, beacon to flash by switching the gas off Around 1,300 guests are invited went to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen for his and on at brief, regular intervals. The two each year to the grand banquet. discovery of X­rays, used every day by innovations made it possible to reduce gas health care providers around the world.