Brief Nobel Prize. History of the Nobel Prizes

Alfred Nobel bequeathed 94% of his fortune to the organization of the prize in five areas of knowledge that were of interest to him. Further, more about what the prize is awarded for, what Alfred Nobel is generally known for, and why there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics.

What is Alfred Nobel famous for?

Many people know Alfred Nobel only as the person whose name the prize is named after, which is awarded annually in several directions. This one was born a famous person in the first half of the nineteenth century, and died four years before its end. Alfred Nobel owns 355 different patents, his most famous invention being dynamite. This Swedish chemist, inventor, engineer and entrepreneur has also done charity work.

Alfred Nobel lived part of his life in Russia, from his youth he was fluent in four languages: English, German, French and Russian. After seven years of living in St. Petersburg, Alfred's father sent him to study in the United States, the Russian chemist Nikolai Zinin advised him to do so. Along the way, the young man visited several European countries, and when he arrived in the United States, he worked for the inventor John Ericsson, who designed the Monitor battleship, the Noverti locomotive and became the owner of several more patents. Nobel filed his first American patent for a gas meter in 1857, but the first patent he received was for determining how to make gunpowder (1863).

Upon returning to Russia, Alfred Nobel took up the affairs of a family firm that fulfilled orders for the Russian army. The Crimean War contributed to the prosperity of the company, but after it the factories could not return to normal production, and the family declared itself bankrupt. Nobel's parents returned to Sweden, and he devoted himself to the study of explosives. In 1863 he invented the detonator, in 1867 - dynamite. In total, he patented 355 inventions.

History of the establishment of the Nobel Prize

In 1888, when Nobel's brother died, newspapers mistakenly announced the death of Albert himself, and not his brother. When he read his own obituary "Dealer of Death" in a French newspaper, he seriously thought about how he would be remembered by mankind. After that, he decided to change his will.

Nobel's will suggested that all movable and immovable property of the compiler should be converted into monetary units, which should be placed in a safe financial institution. All income must belong to a specially created fund, which will distribute it in the form of cash bonuses to those who last year brought the greatest benefit to human society. It was his particular desire that the nationality of the candidate should not be taken into account when awarding prizes.

At first, the paper was received with skepticism. Relatives of Alfred Nobel called themselves offended and demanded that the document be officially recognized as illegal. The Nobel Foundation and the presentation of prizes were organized by the executors of his will - the secretary R. Sulman and the lawyer R. Lilekvist. Later, separate institutions were identified, which were engaged in the awarding of individual prizes. When the Swedish-Norwegian Union was terminated, the Norwegian Committee became responsible for awarding the peace prize, and the organizations of Sweden - for the rest.

Rules for awarding the prize to them. A. Nobel

The statute of the Nobel Foundation determines the rules for awarding the prize. Only individuals can be nominated, not organizations (except for the Peace Prize, which can be awarded to both individuals and official organizations). In one year, one or two discoveries in the same field may be encouraged, but the number of laureates should not exceed three. The rule was officially added in 1968, but in fact it has always been observed.

What is the Nobel Prize for? Behind outstanding discoveries in five directions: physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology, literature, promotion of peace in the world.

Between several candidates, the monetary reward is divided in this way: first in equal parts between the works, then according to the same principle between their authors. For example, if two discoveries are awarded, then the allocated money is first divided by two. The first work has two authors - half is divided once again equally, and the second - one - half is awarded to him.

Also, the award should not be awarded posthumously. But if the laureate was alive at the time of the Nobel Prize, but was taken to another world before the ceremony, then the prize is retained by him. This rule came into effect in 1974. Until now, twice Nobel Prize was awarded posthumously to Dag Hammarskjöld (by the way, he was the first to refuse the prize during his lifetime, referring to the fact that he held a position in the Nobel Committee, and that he was little known outside of Sweden) and Eric Karlfeldt, the winner of the 1961 Peace Prize. According to the approved rule, the award was retained by William Vickrey. Only once did the Nobel Committee deviate from the rule by awarding Ralph Steiman posthumously, since at the time of the nomination the committee considered him alive.

If the members of the Nobel Committee in the current year did not find worthy candidates, the prize may not be awarded. In this case cash kept until next year.

Areas in which awards are given

Alfred Nobel indicated in his will that the interest on the deposit must be divided by 5 equal parts which are intended for:

• whoever does the most important discovery or an invention in the field of physics;
• one who makes an improvement or an important discovery in the field of chemistry;
• one who makes a discovery in the field of physiology or medicine;
• the one who will create the most outstanding literary work;
• the one who will make the most important contribution to the rallying of nations, the reduction of armies, the abolition of slavery, the promotion of peace conferences.

So Alfred Nobel determined what to give the Nobel Prize for.

But Nobel refused the prize to famous mathematicians. To the question of why there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics, he himself could not answer, since the will (as it should) was made public after his departure to another world. Be that as it may, the inventor and entrepreneur provided for awards in only five areas.

Why there is no Nobel Prize in mathematics has been asked before, but the committee is not going to expand the list of prizes, for which it has been criticized more than once. Its representatives answer that since only five directions were allocated in the will of the founder of the award, it means that they will give awards in five. No more, no less.

Russian Nobel Prize winners

The list of Russian laureates includes persons who, at the time of awarding the prize, had the citizenship of Russia, the USSR, Russian Empire, regardless of their real nationality at that time. The first Nobel Prize winner from Russia was I. Pavlov for discoveries in physiology digestive system. I. Mechnikov (for works on immunity), I. Bunin (Nobel Prize in Literature), N. Semenov (chemistry), B. Pasternak (literature), P. Cherenkov, I. Tamm and I. Frank (physics), L. Landau (physics), N. Basov, A. Prokhorov (physics), M. Sholokhov (literature), A. Solzhenitsyn (literature), A. Sakharov (peace prize) and others.

Why there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics

But still, the Nobel Prize in mathematics is not awarded. Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics? Alfred Nobel noted in his will that he chose all disciplines after a balanced and deliberate analysis. But the train of thought of the inventor and entrepreneur remained unknown.

The most likely version of why mathematicians are not awarded the Nobel Prize is the following fact: Nobel insisted that inventions should give real benefits to all mankind, and mathematics is still an exclusively theoretical science. After all, most of the population doesn't care if Fermat's Theorem is proven or not. But if the queen of sciences is applied to physics or chemistry, outstanding scientists are awarded precisely in these disciplines.

Versions related to private life

There is also a version that Alfred Nobel's wife allegedly cheated on him with a mathematician. It was for this that the scientist became angry with the queen of sciences and did not add her to the will. In fact, Nobel was not married at all, and this is just a catchy explanation. At forty-three, he advertised in the newspaper that he was looking for a housewife, translator and secretary all rolled into one. Bertha Kinsky responded to the ad. But soon she left for Austria and got married, and relations with Alfred remained exceptionally friendly.

By the way, it was Bertha Kinski who advised Nobel to include the Peace Prize in his will. Later, the Nobel Foundation presented this prize to her.

Another version is Alfred Nobel's dislike for the mathematician Mittag-Leffler. Then it was he who was one of the most likely contenders for the first prize. The reasons for the hostility are not exactly known. Some sources claim that Mittag-Leffler tried to woo Nobel's fiancee, others that he annoyingly demanded donations to Stolkholm University. It can be assumed that this was also the reason for the exclusion of the queen of sciences from their list.

"Ghosts" of the Nobel Prize in Mathematics

Although the Nobel Prize in mathematics is not awarded, there are several awards that replace it. The equivalents are the Fields Medal, the Abel Prize, and the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics.

- international annual awards for outstanding scientific research, revolutionary inventions or major contributions to culture or society, named after the founder (Alfred Bernhard Nobel) , Swedish chemical engineer, inventor and industrialist.

The Nobel Prize is awarded annually for achievements in the following areas of human activity:

• Physics - since 1901, Sweden;
• Chemistry - since 1901, Sweden;
• Medicine and physiology - since 1901, Sweden;
• Literature - since 1901, Sweden;
• Protection of the world - since 1901, Norway.
• Economics - since 1969, Sweden;

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Prizes are awarded according to Nobel's will:

• Organizers: Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm (for physics, chemistry, economics), Royal Institute of Medicine and Surgery in Stockholm (for physiology or medicine) and Swedish Academy in Stockholm (for literature); in Norway, the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament, awards the Nobel Prize for peace-building activities.
• Nobel Prizes are awarded to candidates regardless of their race, nationality, gender and creed for the latest achievements and for earlier work if their significance became apparent later.
• All Nobel Prizes, except for the Peace Prize, can only be awarded individuals and only once. As an exception, the Nobel Prizes were awarded twice to M. Sklodowska-Curie (in 1903 and 1911), L. Pauling (in 1954 and 1962) and J. Bardin (in 1956 and 1972). As a rule, Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously.
• The right to nominate candidates for the prize is used only by private individuals, the circle of which is determined by the regulation on each type of Nobel Prize. Proposals for nominations are sent by February 1 to the respective six committees.
• Discussion of candidates and voting are held in strict secrecy, disagreements on candidates are not recorded in the minutes of the meetings. Only the decision and its brief motivation are published in the press (no motivation is given for peace prizes). Decisions to award awards are not subject to appeal or cancellation.
• Solemn Nobel Prize ceremonies are held in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
• By regulation, the Nobel laureate must, within six months of receiving the prize, give the Nobel Memorial Lecture (a popular lecture on the subject of his work), usually in Stockholm or Oslo. The lecture is then published by the Nobel Foundation in a special volume.

Nobel Prize Winners

Nobel Prize winners will be determined by areas of achievement:

• Peace Prize
• Literature Prize
• Physics Prize
• Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Chemistry Prize
• Economics Prize

Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is an annual award given by the Nobel Foundation for achievements in the field of literature. The Literature Prize has been awarded since 1901. The first Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the French poet and essayist René François Armand Prudhomme "for outstanding literary virtues, especially for high idealism, artistic excellence, and also for the extraordinary combination of sincerity and talent, as evidenced by his books."

From 1901 to the present, 107 prizes have been awarded. During these years, the prize was not awarded and was not awarded only 7 times: in 1914, 1918, 1935 and in the period from 1940 to 1943.

Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual prize awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Established by Alfred Nobel in 1895. The first Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded in 1901 to the German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen "in recognition of the extraordinary merits to science, expressed in the discovery of remarkable rays, subsequently named after him."
Since 1901, 201 Nobel Prizes in physics have been awarded. 200 people became laureates of the prize in physics.
The prize in physics was not awarded only six times - in 1916, 1931, 1934, 1940, 1941 and 1942.

What year was the Nobel Prize established?

After his death, Alfred Nobel bequeathed

« ... The income from investments should belong to the fund, which will distribute them annually in the form of bonuses to those who during the previous year have brought the greatest benefit to mankind ... The indicated percentages must be divided into five equal parts, which are intended: one part - to the one who makes the most important discovery or an invention in the field of physics; the other to the one who makes the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry; the third - to the one who will make the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; the fourth - to the one who will create the most outstanding literary work of an idealistic direction; fifth, the one who has made the most significant contribution to the rallying of nations, the abolition of slavery or the reduction of the existing armies and the promotion of peace congresses ... My particular desire is that the nationality of candidates should not be taken into account in awarding prizes ...»

On April 26, 1897 A. Nobel's will was approved by the Storting of Norway. The executors of Nobel's will, secretary Ragnar Sulman and lawyer Rudolf Lilekvist, organized the Nobel Foundation to take care of the execution of his will and organize the presentation of the prize.

Albert Einstein Nobel Prize 1921

He was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Physics, but members of the Nobel Committee long time did not dare to award the prize to the author of such a revolutionary theory as the theory of relativity.

Committee member A. Gullstrand, laureate of the 1911 Physiology or Medicine Prize, believed that the theory of relativity would not stand the test of time.

But in 1922, the Nobel Prize for 1921 was awarded to Einstein for the theory of the photoelectric effect, that is, for the most indisputable and well-tested work in the experiment; however, the text of the decision contained a neutral addition: "and for other work in the field of theoretical physics."

Vladimir Dergachev

The Nobel Prizes are awarded by four Swedish Nobel committees, which are special bodies of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Karolinska Institute ( medical university) and the Swedish (Writing) Academy. The Nobel Prize in Economics, or more specifically the Swedish State Bank's Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, is awarded by the Bank of Sweden. In Stockholm, the Nobel Prizes are awarded in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature, and economics.

The Fifth Nobel Committee awards peace prizes, is located in the Norwegian Parliament (Storting) and is a division of the Norwegian Nobel Institute. The amount of the prize fluctuates depending on the income of the Nobel Foundation and was reduced to $1.1 million in 2012.
The Swedish Academy is located in the Old Town in the building of the former Stockholm stock exchange. It is here that decisions are made on the awarding of the Nobel Prizes in Literature. This miniature Academy has only 18 life members. The building houses a museum to the inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel, who established the most prestigious prize in the world. Nobel spent his childhood in Russia, knew five languages.

A fragment of the main entrance to the Stockholm Concert Hall, where the Nobel Prize ceremony is being held. Sculptural composition by Carl Milles "Orpheus".


Photo by Vladimir Dergachev

In this hall, in 2000, the last laureate from Russia, physicist academician Zhores Alferov, received the Nobel Prize, now a deputy State Duma by the list Communist Party Russian Federation.


Photo: EPA

Hotel where Nobel laureates stay


Photo by Anton Dergachev

After the Nobel Prize ceremony, a banquet is held in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall, attended by the royal family and a thousand guests. If you weren't invited to the banquet, don't be discouraged. You can order the "Nobel menu" in the town hall restaurant at a convenient time for you, for only about 200 euros.
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The Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded and presented in Oslo, Norway. The first Nobel Peace Prize in the twenty-first century was awarded to the accompaniment of American rockets and bombs exploding on Afghan soil, the United Nations and its Secretary General. If in the West this event was regarded as a triumph of democracy, then in the Muslim world the assessments were diametrically opposed. Even in the Christian East (Moscow) the words were heard: "Peace Prize, posthumously." An organization created to maintain international security, in last years withdrew from the performance of the main functions. The UN often appears on the Eurasian continent as an extra on American geopolitics.
The award ceremony takes place in the Oslo City Hall. AT common days Anyone can enter the town hall. It is only in the "city halls" of corrupt countries that you have to protect the authorities from the people.
Here before the collapse Soviet Union in 1990, Mikhail Gorbachev, the petrel of universal values, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Photo by Vladimir Dergachev

Nobel Prizes are awarded in the West and primarily reflect the preferences of Western Christian civilization. Therefore, the frequent indignations of the “brothers of the Slavs” that the Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded to the wrong people are groundless. In the Soviet Union there was the International Lenin Prize. In democratic Russia, there are hardly enough funds and resources to support home-grown oligarchs and show business, so there is no similar international peace award. Perhaps an alternative to the Nobel Prize in the near future will be the Chinese Confucius Peace Prize. The award was established in 2010 at the initiative of a Chinese businessman, and is awarded to fighters for peace according to the East. In 2011, Vladimir Putin was awarded the prize. Thus, both the West and the East noted the shyness Russian leaders(Gorbachev and Putin) between West and East.

1. THE AWARD WAS BORN TO TAKE EYES FROM NOBEL'S DISCOVERIES

The creator of the award, Alfred Nobel, was an avid pacifist, which did not stop him from making an impressive capital in the arms trade and the invention of dynamite. He believed that the very presence of dangerous weapons should intimidate the enemy, preventing wars, terrorist attacks and bloodshed. The insight was painful. When the papers ahead of time buried Alfred Nobel, confusing him with his brother Ludwig, who died in St. Petersburg, he was greatly surprised by the morning headlines: "Seller of Death", "Bloody Rich Man", "Dynamite King". In order not to go down in history as a blood millionaire, Alfred Nobel immediately called a lawyer and rewrote the will, which said after death all the multimillion-dollar property should be put into reliable bank and entrust the fund, which will divide the income from investments into five equal parts and present them annually in the form of a bonus. The idea was a success: now few people remember who invented dynamite, but even a child knows about the Nobel Prize.

2. ECONOMY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF PRIZES

Initially, the prize was awarded in five categories: chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and peacekeeping achievements. Later, in 1969, the Swedish Bank added an economics prize to this list. Since the field of economics was not listed in the will, it is handed over not from the Nobel fund, but from the fund of the Swedish Bank, but at the Nobel Prize ceremony. The descendants of Nobel do not support the addition of the economic area to the prize. “Firstly,” they say, “the whole meaning of the prize collapses. If it is named after Nobel, then it should be awarded only in those areas that Nobel himself listed in his will. Secondly, Nobel simply did not like economists and bypassed their attention in the will is not accidental."

3. PREMIUM FALLS IN PRICE

In terms of the current exchange rate, when the Nobel's movable and immovable property was converted into cash equivalent, the fund received about 250 million dollars. Part of the capital was immediately invested in securities, and prizes were awarded to laureates from the profits. The fund is currently worth $3 billion. Despite the growth of the capital of the Nobel Prize Fund, in 2012 it was decided to cut it by 20% (from 1.4 million to 1.1 million dollars). Such a move, according to the directors of the fund, will help create a reliable financial cushion and ensure a high monetary level of the premium for many years to come.

4. UNUSUAL WINNERS AND NOMINATES

The award was very rarely given to anyone a second time. For all the years of its existence, this happened only 4 times. Federick Segner received both Prizes in Chemistry, John Bardeen in Physics, Linus Pauling in Chemistry and the Peace Prize. Marie Skłodowska-Curie was the only woman to win two Nobel Prizes.

Maria Sklodowska-Curie

Stanley Williams, leader of the Crips crime group, was nominated for the Nobel Prize 9 times: as a writer and as a humanist. Initially, the Crips group opposed police lawlessness on the streets of Los Angeles, but when it grew, it turned out to have several police deaths and, for some reason, a bank robbery. Stanley Williams was arrested and sentenced to death. The books that Stanley wrote while incarcerated became bestsellers, and he even won the US President's Award. This still did not soften the hearts of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 2005 the leader of the Crips gang was executed.

5. PRIZE FOR MATH

Many people know that the Nobel Prize is not awarded in the field of mathematics. Also, many are sure that the reason for this is Nobel's beloved, who went to mathematics. Indeed, in the will, mathematics was originally included in the list of areas in which the prize is awarded, but later crossed out by Nobel himself. In fact, there is no evidence of a romantic story related to the refusal of the Nobel to give the prize to mathematicians. More likely is the fact that the main contender for the prize in mathematics before the death of Nobel was Mittag-Leffler, whom the founder of the prize had long disliked for importunately soliciting donations for Stockholm University. Deciding to be true to himself and not give Mittag-Leffler any money, Nobel crossed mathematics off the list and replaced it with the Peace Prize.

6. BANQUET AFTER THE AWARDS

The banquet is held immediately after the awards ceremony in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall. The chefs of the restaurant at the town hall and the best culinary specialists, who were awarded the title of "Chef of the Year" in the year of the award, are involved in the preparation of the gala dinner. Three months before the banquet, members of the Nobel Committee taste three varieties of the menu and decide which one is worthy of serving the guests at the banquet. For dessert, ice cream is traditionally served, but its variety is kept in the strictest confidence until the very evening of the ceremony.

The hall is decorated with more than 20,000 flowers from San Remo, and the movements of the waiters are rehearsed to the nearest second. Exactly at 7 pm, guests of honor, led by monarchs, descend into the Blue Hall. The Swedish king leads a Nobel laureate by the arm, and if there is none, then the wife of a physics laureate.

The banquet service has its own unique design: it is made in three colors of the Swedish Empire: blue, green and gold and consists of 6750 glasses, 9450 knives and forks, 9550 plates and one tea cup for Princess Liliana, who did not drink coffee. After the death of the princess, the cup began to be kept in a special mahogany box with the princess's monogram. The saucer from the cup was stolen not so long ago.

7. NOBEL IN SPACE

Most often, the name of Alfred Nobel is immortalized by astronauts. In 1970, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the Moon after Alfred Nobel, though on its dark side. And in 1983, asteroid number 6032 was named after him.

8. WHEN PRIZES ARE NOT AWARDED

If there are no worthy candidates for an award in any of the areas, it is simply not awarded. This has happened five times with the Medicine Prize, four times with the Physics Prize, and most of all with the Peace Prize. According to the rules that were adopted in 1974, the prize can only be awarded during the life of the laureate. The rule has only been broken once, in 2011, when medical award winner Ralph Steiman died of cancer two hours before the ceremony.

9. CASH EQUIVALENT OF THE PRIZE AND STRANGE WAYS TO SPEND IT

The cash equivalent of the premium is floating, but usually amounts to more than a million US dollars. Not every scientist spends such a sum on the development of his scientific research. Ivan Bunin, with all the scope of the Russian soul, spent money on parties. The poet Rene Francois Armand Sully-Prudhomme organized his own prize, which was not as successful as the Nobel, but lasted six years and was awarded to masters of poetry. Hungarian writer Irme Kertes gave his prize to his wife, thus appreciating her heroic loyalty to him in hardship and poverty. "Let her buy herself dresses and jewelry," the writer commented on his decision, "she deserved it."

Paul Greengard, who explored the relationship between nerve cells, which later led to the creation of antidepressants, spent the award money to create his own Pearl Meister Greengard award. It is often presented as an analogue of the Nobel Prize for women, because in scientific world According to Greenard, there is huge discrimination against women. The scientist dedicated the award to his mother, who died during childbirth.

10. PEACE PRIZE

The most controversial and politically charged of the six areas in which the prize is awarded is the Peace Prize. For an award in different times such absolute villains as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin were nominated.

Last year, 2014, Vladimir Putin was nominated for it. Seventeen-year-old Malala Yusufai from Pakistan, who took away the victory from Putin, became the youngest Nobel Prize winner. Her struggle for the education of girls in Islamic countries has led to worldwide recognition and a prestigious award. Radical Islamic groups declared jihad (holy war) to the girl and immediately after the award was given, they tried to kill her, but Malala survived and continues to fight for women's rights to education.

Unlike all other areas, the Peace Prize is not awarded in Stockholm, but in Oslo.

The Nobel Week starts on October 3, during which the names of the 2011 prize winners in medicine or physiology, physics and chemistry, literature, economics, as well as the name of the Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced.

Nobel literature prize awarded to a writer whose works "approach the ideal". At the same time, Nobel did not specify the criteria for the "ideal". The first winner of the Literature Prize was the French writer Sully Prudhomme.

Nobel peace prize is the most famous and authoritative international award in the field of socio-political and humanitarian activities. The Nobel Peace Prize includes a laureate diploma, a medal and a cash check. The decision to award the Peace Prize is entrusted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, whose members are elected by the Storting of Norway from among Norwegian public and political figures, but they are completely independent of the Storting in deciding on the laureate. The Peace Prize may be awarded both to individuals and to officials and public organizations. The first recipients of the award were Jean Henri Dunant, a Swiss businessman and public figure, founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and French economist and international mediator Frédéric Passy.

The economics prize was established much later and is the first and so far the only addition to the Nobel list. Official name This award is the Alfred Bernhard Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics. It was established by the Swedish State Bank in 1968, the year of its 300th anniversary. Since then, every year the bank has donated to the Nobel Foundation an amount equal to one Nobel Prize. The first Nobel Prize winners in economics were in 1969 the Norwegian Ragnar Frisch, who developed the principles of building "national accounts", and the Dutchman Jan Tinbergen, the author of the theory of "optimal order".

The Nobel Prize consists of a gold medal with the image of Alfred Nobel and the corresponding inscription, a diploma and a certain amount of money. Traditionally, prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and economics are presented in Stockholm on concert hall king of Sweden. The Nobel Peace Prize is presented in Oslo (Norway) by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of the King of Norway and members of the royal family.

In Sweden, this day is the official day of raising the national flag, and it has been given the status of "Nobel Day".

The size of the first premiums in 1901 was 150 thousand Swedish crowns (6.8 million crowns in terms of 2000), then the remuneration was reduced and only in 1991 reached its original level. The current amount of the award is 10 million SEK: in 2011 this amount .

A total of 817 laureates (813 individuals and 20 organizations) were awarded between 1901 and 2010.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources