Author: Nino Kokashvili
"I intend to leave after my death a large fund for the promotion of the peace idea, but I am skeptical as to its results."
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Nobel’s last will that was signed on 27th of November 1895 specified that he was giving his fortune for those who would contribute the mankind in physics, chemistry, psychology (medicine), literature and peace. The initial Nobel Prize was awarded in those 5 categories annually. Later Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel and since 1969 Nobel Prize is awarded in Economics as well.
The most common fields in each category are:
- Chemistry – Biochemistry
- Physics – Practical physics
- Medicine – Genetics
- Economics – Macroeconomics
- Literature – Prose
All together from 1901 till 2015 the total number of Nobel Prize awards is 573, given to 896 people and organizations. 822 laureates are men, 48 - women, and 26 – organizations. Before 1974 Nobel Prize could be awarded posthumously (it has happened twice), but since 1974 Nobel Prize is awarded only to them who are alive at the time of Nobel Prize announcement.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
The statutes of the Nobel Foundation:
"A prize amount may be equally divided between two works, each of which is considered to merit a prize. If a work that is being rewarded has been produced by two or three persons, the prize shall be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons."
Nobel prize can be awarded jointly and multiple times. Red Cross has been awarded Nobel Peace prize 3 times. There are many examples of as joined Nobel Prizes and as multiple awarded laureates, but both together has happened only once so far. Linus Pauling is the only person who has been awarded Nobel Prize twice and unshared. (1954 –Nobel Prize in Chemistry and 1962 –Nobel Peace prize).
The first woman who won a Nobel Prize is Marie Curie, She got awarded a prize in Physics in 1903 with her husband, Pierre Curie. She also is the only woman to have won multiple Nobel Prizes. Marie Curie is a unique laureate by one another reason, as she is the only mother-daughter pair to have won Nobel Prize (In 1911 she has been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry with her daughter).The most Nobel Prizes awarded to women in a single year was in 2009, when five women became laureates.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
There are years without Nobel prize awards. Total number of years when Nobel Prize was not awarded is 49. Mainly it was caused by world wars.
Even though Nobel Prize is a Scandinavian award, it belongs and covers the whole world. Nobel prize is awarded to people of every nationality as long as they worth it.
Alfred Nobel:
“It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not”
Since 1901 till 2016 people from 75 different countries have been awarded Nobel Prize. From 896 Nobel Prize laureates, 474 are Europeans, 360 - Americans and the rest 62 places represent the rest of the world. The first three countries that have the highest number of Nobel Prize laureates and count more than 100 awards are: USA (360 laureates), UK (130) and Germany (105).
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
Country ranking differs among Nobel Prize categories. Even though USA has received the overall highest number of Nobel Prize awards in all categories together, still, in Literature France is a leading country with 10 Nobel Prize Laureates. In all other categories Unites State is the first by ranking. Other countries still differ in ranking positions. While Germany performs better in Physics than UK, United Kingdom on other hand has higher number of laureates in Medicine. France shows better results than other countries (after USA) in Peace category. United Kingdom has the second highest position with 5 laureates in Economics. For more detailed ranking statistics please have a look at graphs below.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
Country ranking of Nobel Prize winners significantly change if we observe Nobel Laureates according to country population. Figure below shows the list of countries by Nobel Laureates per capita. Countries such as Faroe Islands and Saint Lucia rank highest among others as their population is relatively low and even one Nobel Prize laureate for whole country is enough for the 1st position in ranking. United States, United Kingdom and Germany - the three countries that have the highest number of Nobel Laureates in all categories together are not in leading positions any more, but still remain in first 20 countries.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
Figure below shows the age distribution of Nobel Prize laureates. The average year of Nobel Prize laureates is 59. From 1901 to 2015 all together in every category 31 people with age of 59 have received Nobel Prize award. The youngest laureate who got Nobel Prize was 17 years old (Malala Yousafzai, in Peace 2014) and the oldest laureate - Leonid Hurwicz was 90 years old in 2007 when he got his first Nobel Prize award in Economics.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
The birth date of laureates does not give any significant evidence that would satisfy Zodiac lovers. The dates are distributed almost equally among all 12 month (table 1 below). Neither the number of the days that laureates were born shows anything interesting. For statistic lovers, the most common birth date of Nobel Prize Laureates are 21st of May and 28th of February.
| Source: compiled by the author based on Nobelprize.org data |
Additional facts:
Two Nobel Prize winners have declined the award so far. They are Jean-Paul Sarte (1964 in Literature) and Le Duc Tho (1973 in Peace).
Four other laureates couldn't get the prize as they were forced to decline. They are Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and GErhard Domagk. They were forced to refuse the prize by Adolf Hitler. Also, Boris Pasternak was forced to decline the prize by Soviet Union officials.
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