STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – The Nobel Prizes will be announced this week, starting with the prize for medicine or physiology on Monday.
The awards, which are also given for achievements in physics, chemistry, literature and peace, come with a prize value of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million) while the recognition alone can boost book sales and generate worldwide fame.
WHAT IS THE NOBEL PRIZE?
The Nobel Prize was established by the wealthy Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who stated in his will that his estate should be used to fund “prizes to those who, in the preceding year, have given the greatest benefit to mankind”.
Nobel died in 1895 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his estate, before the first prizes were awarded.
Nobel named the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award prizes in chemistry and physics, the Swedish School of Literature, the Swedish university Karolinska Institute of Physiology or medicine, and the Norwegian parliament for peace. It is not known why Nobel chose Norway, which at the time was in a union with Sweden, to award the peace prize.
In 1968, when Sweden's central bank celebrated its 300th anniversary, it established the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with a donation to the Nobel Foundation. The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, according to the same principles as other prizes.
FAMOUS AND NOT FAMOUS PEOPLE
Notable Nobel laureates include scientists Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Marie Curie, writers Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, and inspirational leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.
Although many achievements are still celebrated, some awards have not aged well, such as the Egas Moniz prize of 1949 in physiology or medicine for the closed and unauthorized practice of lobotomy.
Many peace awards have also been criticized, including those of Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. The failure to award Mahatma Gandhi before his death in 1948 is also seen by many as a mistake.
THE KINGS
Nobel Prizes are awarded to winners on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The peace prize is presented by the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel committee in Oslo, and other awards are presented by the king of Sweden at the Stockholm Concert Hall.
In the evening about 1,300 guests were treated to a lavish banquet at Stockholm City Hall. The feast requires extensive planning and the food is prepared by an executive chef leading a large team of cooks while over 200 waiters serve various courses and wines.
Months before the banquet, three menus proposed by the selected chefs were presented to the Nobel Foundation for tasting. The chosen menu is kept secret until the day of the Nobel banquet.
Menus aim for a Scandinavian touch and last year's menu included a starter of baked beets with seafood cream and sturgeon caviar, a main course of cod loin stuffed with king crab, and a chocolate baked cream dessert with lingonberry compote.
($1 = 10.1509 Swedish crowns)
