All You Need To Know About The Nobel Prize | history, winners, facts
Alfred Nobel was born on October 21, 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, into an engineering family. He was an engineer, chemist, and inventor. Nobel bought the Bofors iron and steel plant in 1894 and turned it into a significant armaments producer. Ballistite was also created by Nobel. Many smokeless military explosives, including the British smokeless powder cordite, have their origins in this discovery. Nobel subsequently became embroiled in a cordite patent infringement litigation as a result of his patent claims. During his lifetime, Nobel accumulated a fortune, most of which came from his 355 innovations, dynamite being the most well-known of them. (1)
How Nobel Prize Started
According to his will and journals, Alfred Nobel recognized that his reputation was in tatters because of his success with explosives that had resulted in several fatalities.
The demand for explosives peaked in the middle of the 19th century. In addition to being necessary for mining and launching weapons at your adversaries, this was a time of swift railway and canal construction. This frequently required using explosives to drill through a mountain every now and again. Because there was such a tremendous demand for powerful explosives, Alfred profited greatly.
However, there was a problem: explosives were very unstable at the period. It may blow up if you approach it incorrectly. Nitroglycerin, the most potent explosive at the time, might blow up if it becomes too hot, if you hit it with a hammer, or if you drop it to the ground. Nitric acid and glycerol, which heat up when combined, are used to produce them. Did I mention that nitroglycerin tends to ignite when it was heated?
Other common explosives, such as gunpowder or guncotton, may ignite upon contact with a spark, such as that produced by the wicks of lanterns used during tunneling or during production. Explosion-related fatalities among industry and tunnel employees were significant.
Alfred was interested in creating explosives, and he established a manufacturing company based mostly on nitroglycerin and blasting oil, which is nitroglycerin combined with gunpowder. The end product was a dark, greasy material that might blow up when exposed to nitroglycerin or explosives. Even at his enterprises, accidents happened often. In fact, one of his factories in Hamburg was entirely destroyed twice! Above all else, though, Emil Nobel, his brother, perished in the crash.
Of course, the fact that governments imposed regulations prohibiting the production, distribution, and use of nitroglycerin didn't help.
Alfred spent his entire life working to make nitroglycerin safer.
A solution was eventually discovered by him: nitroglycerin was mixed with kieselgur to make it stable enough to be transported.
In fact, it was so shock-resistant that you could fire a cannon at it. And since it could be fired from a cannon, high-explosive artillery rounds could be produced. Because it was so lethal, everyone used it in battle (and there were many battles at the period), and Alfred gained some notoriety for making money off of dynamite. If previously, he was now a "dealer of death."
This reputation disturbed him so much that he decided to establish the Nobel Prize by leaving a portion of his substantial money to be awarded as a prize to those who have made the greatest contributions to mankind in the disciplines of physics, chemistry, medicine, peace, and literature.
How Nobel Prize Look Like
Why is the Nobel Prize a coveted award?
Nobel Prizes in literature and peace are extremely subjective, and frequently highly politicized in the case of peace. Regarding the sciences and economics, I like to think that practically everyone who wins them is exceptional. However, there must be those others who have been overlooked who are perhaps just as deserving. Many other facets of life also hold true for this.
The Nobel Prize is stupidly considered the biggest award on Earth. It’s overhyped by everyone and it’s not even awarded to the right people.
Who in their right mind agreed to present Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just 12 days after he took office? They destroyed the legitimacy of the award in one fell swoop. Why award a Peace Prize to the leader of a nation at war? The worst part is that Obama did not promote peace and instead led his country into further wars.
The Peace Prize award was basically a congratulation for not being George Bush.
Alfred Nobel created the destructive explosive dynamite as an atonement for developing powerful explosives that could be used in warfare, which gave rise to the Nobel Prize. In both World Wars, dynamite was extensively employed.
Alfred Nobel regretted creating dynamite as a result of a reporting error. When Ludwig Nobel, Alfred's brother, passed away in 1888, the European Press confused Ludwig for Alfred.
A French newspaper wrote a cheeky and defamatory statement, "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.
How Nobel Prize Winners Are Selected
According to data from Nobelprize.org, the procedure goes as follows:
The extensive study that goes into choosing the prizewinners is a contributing factor to the reputation of the Nobel Prize. The prize-awarding organizations request more than 6,000 people to submit or nominate, candidates for the prizes in the early fall of the prior year. Although the winners are revealed in October and November, the selection process begins then. Each award receives over 1,000 nominations, and there are often between 100 and 250 contenders.
- Invitation letters are sent out in September. The Nobel Committee sends invitation letters to those eligible to nominate: members of national legislatures, governments, and international tribunals; chancellors of universities; professors of social science, history, philosophy, law, and theology; directors of peace research organizations and foreign policy institutes; past recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize; board members of organizations that have received the Prize; and current and former members of the Committee.
- The submission deadline is in February. Nominations that must be postmarked by the first of February each year serve as the basis for the Committee's evaluation. Postmarked and accepted nominations after this date is taken into consideration for the debate the following year. The Committee has received over 200 distinct nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in previous years. Since many of the letters are for the same people, the number of nominations is substantially larger.
- February to March. The Committee evaluates the work of the candidates and compiles a short list.
- Advisory review period: March-August. Permanent advisers and advisers chosen specifically for their familiarity with certain individuals assess the shortlist. The advisers neither personally assess nominees nor provide suggestions that are in writing.
- October – Nobel Laureates are chosen. The Nobel Committee selects the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize by majority vote at the start of October. There is no right of appeal regarding the judgment. The recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize are then declared.
- Nobel laureates are awarded their prizes in December. The Nobel Laureates receive their Nobel Reward, which consists of a Nobel Medal and Diploma, as well as a certificate certifying the prize amount, at the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony on December 10 in Oslo, Norway.
Even though Nobel himself wasn't a particularly talented scientist, why is the Nobel Prize regarded as the highest distinction among academics?
There are two clear-cut solutions here.
- The prize is not given to Alfred Nobel personally. It bears his name, and if you read the will that established the prize, you will understand how significant the shift it signified is. On that, science prospers and advances.
- Another crucial factor is that their many peers nominated them, which carries a lot of weight. The procedure also involves a varied committee, which increases the worth of the actual prize.
What have been some of the contentious Nobel Prize selections?
- Winston Churchill.
For "his mastery of historical and biographical depiction as well as for dazzling oratory in upholding elevated human principles," he received the Nobel prize.
Read that?
"DEFENDING EXALTED HUMAN VALUES"
Here are a few instances of his outstanding oratory in support of sublime human values:
Churchill on Mahatma:
"It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer of the type well-known in the East, now posing as a fakir, striding half naked up the steps of the Viceregal palace to parley on equal terms with the representative of the King-Emperor.
Churchill on Indians:
"I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion."
Churchill about Native Americans and Aborigines:
"I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."
Churchill about striking miners demanding better work conditions:
"Drive the rats back down their holes."
- Liu Xiaobo
Year: 2010
Chinese human rights activist who is now in jail received the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China".
Due to state censorship, the laureate, who was formerly a renowned scholar, was allegedly barely recognized in the People's Republic of China (PRC) at the time of the award.
He participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations and co-wrote the Charter 08 manifesto, for which he was given an 11-year jail sentence on December 25, 2009. The Chinese government and official media criticized the decision, despite the fact that it had received widespread approval from Western intellectuals and politicians. Other nations that condemned the prize and what they saw as meddling in China's internal affairs included Saudi Arabia and Russia. Following the declaration, formal censorship was implemented in China throughout all media, including print, television, and the internet. The prize was fiercely condemned by the administration, who also called the Norwegian ambassador to Beijing to lodge a formal complaint. Chinese law enforcement detained civilians who tried to celebrate. Prior to the announcement of the Nobel Committee's decision, Liu's wife was placed under house arrest. In the end, only 46 of the 65 invited countries showed up (the People's Republic of China and 19 other countries turned down invitations).