The Nobel Prize was established as the last will of the industrialist, scientist and inventor Alfred Nobel.
Prize is a term that comes from the Latin word praemium . This is the name given to the award or distinction that is granted to recognize a benefit or merit.
Nobel , on the other hand, is the surname of a Swedish engineer and chemist born in 1833 and died in 1896 : Alfred Nobel . This scientist is recognized for having invented dynamite and for establishing the recognition that bears his name.
The Nobel Prize was born as the last will of the Nordic inventor. Its first award took place in 1901 and distinguished outstanding personalities in the fields of Peace ; Literature ; Physiology or Medicine ; Chemistry ; and Physics . Due to the multiplicity of categories, we often speak of Nobel Prizes , in the plural.
History of the Nobel Prize
Alfred Nobel accumulated great wealth due to his more than three hundred inventions and his successful management of different businesses. However, he felt a certain guilt for the eventual harm that several of his creations could cause to human beings (such as dynamite, for example).
Faced with this situation, on November 27, 1895, he signed a will where he bequeathed more than 90% of his fortune to the establishment of an award that would honor outstanding people from different sectors for their contributions to humanity . Thus, in 1900 , the Nobel Foundation was established to administer the delivery of these awards.
Wilhelm Röntgen y Jacobus Henricus van «t Hoff (Chemistry), Sully Prudhomme (Literature) y Emil Adolf von Behring (Physiology/Medicine) estuvieron entre los ganadores de la primera edición del Nobel Prize. Con el time, y más allá de algunas interrupciones, el galardón adquirió constancia y un gran prestigio.
Albert Einstein is among the winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Medals, diplomas and money
Nobel Prize winners receive various items as tribute and compensation. Among the objects awarded, medals stand out, which can be minted in Sweden or Norway .
The design of the medal varies depending on the category. They all share the characteristic of presenting an image of Alfred Nobel on one side and a Latin expression on the other. It is important to mention that the medals are made with gold .
The King of Sweden , on the other hand, gives the winners a diploma with their name and the reasons for the recognition. In the case of the Nobel Peace Prize , the diploma is given by the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the justification for the award is not included.
Regarding the financial endowment, the amount varies depending on the edition. The intention is that the laureate can focus on his work without material worries, thus contributing to the progress of society . Currently, the reward is around one million euros.
Some Nobel Prize winners
There are organizations and figures that stand out for having won the Nobel Prize on more than one occasion. The Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917 , 1944 and 1963 ; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ), meanwhile, did so in 1954 and 1981 .
The American John Bardeen won the Nobel Prize in Physics twice ( 1956 and 1972 ), while the Englishman Frederick Sanger won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and 1980 . Marie Curie and Linus Pauling , likewise, share the particularity of having won Nobel Prizes in different categories ( Physics and Chemistry for Curie , and Chemistry and Peace for Pauling ).
It should be noted that many Latin Americans have won the Nobel Prize , such as the Argentine Adolfo Pérez Esquivel ( Nobel Prize for Peace in 1980 ), the Chilean Gabriela Mistral ( Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945 ), the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez ( Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 ) and the Mexican Octavio Paz ( Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990 ).