You might be surprised if you’re one of many who believe that only the very best get the Nobel Prize. Get to know more about Nobel prize by reading these amazing Facts about Nobel Prize below!
Alfred Nobel, a Swedish industrialist, left a fortune to endow the Nobel prize to honor the contributions of five people to physics, literature, chemistry, and physiology. In memory of Alfred Nobel, the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) has added Economics to its six-year-old list.
These fascinating facts about this amazingness will inspire you to think.
Facts about Nobel Prize
1. The Great Split
Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi shared the 2015 Nobel Prize for their work in fighting child suppression and basic human rights. After being shot in the face in 2012 by the Taliban, Malala was thrust into the spotlight.
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2. Posthumous Awards
Only living people can be nominated for the PrizePrize. A person can still be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize if they die within a year of being nominated. This had happened twice, most recently in 1961, when Dag Hammarskjold (Secretary-General of United Nations) was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He had been killed in an airplane crash in Africa.
3. Anybody can be nominated
Surprisingly, anyone can nominate for the Nobel Prize if they are alive. This PrizePrize has been awarded to Adolf Hitler and Stalin, as well as Benito Mussolini.
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4. The Cost
Leon Lederman, the 1988 Nobel winner for co-discovery of the muon neutrino, was able to sell his Nobel to pay his medical expenses. It was purchased by an unidentified buyer for $765,000. Only two Nobels were ever sold in the winner’s lifetime.
5. Troublesome Security
Did you know that Nobel Prize winners can pose security risks? Brian Schmidt, the co-discoverer of dark energy, won the Nobel Physics Prize in 2011, but it was difficult to get his gold medal through security at airports.
6. Total Nobel Prizes
Between 19051 & 2015, 573 Nobel Prizes were awarded. Two laureates shared them 135 times, and three laureates were 97.
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7. Popular Genres
Particle physics is the most popular field for Physics Laureates, Chemistry Laureates its biochemistry, Medicine Laureates genetics, and Laureates, in Economics Sciences it’s macroeconomics. Literature Laureates are mainly prosed writers.
8. For Women
Up to date, 49 women have received the Nobel Prize.
9. The Most Desirable Person who Did Not Receive the Award
Five times, Mohan Das Karamchand Gandhi received the Nobel prize nomination! He was assassinated two days prior to the nominations for 1948 and was consequently disqualified.
Although Gandhi was considered by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee to be the recipient of the award, they weren’t sure who to give it to because he had no legal heirs.
10. Alfred
Alfred Nobel was a chemist, engineer, and industrialist with many talents. He could also speak five languages fluently at the age of 17. To fund the Nobel Prizes, he left 31 million Swedish Kroner (265 million dollars).
11. Award Ceremony
Although Nobel Prizes are not announced in advance, they are awarded each year on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death on December 10.
12. Honour is declining
Jean-Paul Sartre declined the prominent award in 1964, as he was declining all official honors.
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13. Multiple Laureates
Linus Pauling is the only person to have received two Nobel Prizes unshared – the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize.
14. The Big Names Who Should have Won, but Never Did
Dmitri Mendeleev and Leo Tolstoy are Virginia Woolf, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust.
15. It turns out to be false
Johannes Fibiger was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1926 for his discovery of parasitic worms, which cause cancer. This proved to be false.
16. Divorce Settlement
In settlement for his divorce, Einstein’s Nobel Prize money was paid to Mileva Maric.
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17. What is it?
All of this has been done without us knowing the actual contents of the Nobel Prize. It includes a medal, personal diploma, and cash valued at 8 million Swedish Kroner. This is roughly equivalent to $1.1million US dollars.
