The prizes

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Each Nobel Prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money, the amount of which depends on the income of the Nobel Foundation. A Nobel Prize is either given entirely to one person, divided equally between two persons, or shared by three persons. In the latter case, each of the three persons can receive a one-third share of the prize or two together can receive a one-half share. Sometimes a prize is withheld until the following year; if not then awarded, it is paid back into the funds, which happens also when a prize is neither awarded nor reserved. Two prizes in the same field—i.e., the prize withheld from the previous year and the current year’s prize—can thus be awarded in one year. If a prize is declined or not accepted before a set date, the prize money goes back into the funds. Some prizes have been declined by their winners, and in certain instances governments have refused to allow their citizens to accept them. Those who win a prize are nevertheless entered into the list of Nobel laureates with the remark “declined the prize.” Motives for nonacceptance may vary, but most often the reason has been external pressure; for example, in 1937 Adolf Hitler forbade Germans in the future from accepting Nobel Prizes because he had been infuriated by the award of the 1935 Peace Prize to the anti-Nazi journalist Carl von Ossietzky, who at the time was a political prisoner in Germany. In some cases, the refuser later explained the real reason behind the refusal and was granted the Nobel gold medal and the diploma—but not the money, which invariably reverts to the funds after a certain period of time.

Prizes are withheld or not awarded when no worthy candidate in the meaning of Nobel’s will can be found or when the world situation prevents the gathering of information required to reach a decision, as happened during World Wars I and II. The prizes are open to all, irrespective of nationality, race, creed, or ideology. They can be awarded more than once to the same recipient. The ceremonial presentations of the awards for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and economics take place in Stockholm, and that for peace takes place in Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. The laureates usually receive their prizes in person, and each presents a lecture in connection with the award ceremonies.

The general principles governing awards were laid down by Alfred Nobel in his will. In 1900 supplementary rules of interpretation and administration were agreed upon between the executors, representatives of the prize-awarding institutions, and the Nobel family and were confirmed by the king in council. These statutory rules have on the whole remained unchanged but have been somewhat modified in application. For example, Nobel’s stipulation that the prizes be awarded for achievements made during “the preceding year” was obviously unworkable in regard to scientists and even writers, the true significance of whose discoveries, research, or writings might not be generally apparent for several years. Nobel’s ambiguous stipulation that the literature prize be awarded to the authors of works of an “idealistic tendency” was interpreted strictly in the beginning but has gradually been interpreted more flexibly. The basis for the economics award was scientific—i.e., mathematical or statistical, rather than political or social.

The Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine have generally been the least controversial, while those for literature and peace have been, by their very nature, the most exposed to critical differences. The Peace Prize has been the prize most frequently reserved or withheld.

List of Nobel Prize winners