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 USA, he worked for the inventor John Ericsson, who designed the battleship Monitor, 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 studying 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 assumed that all movable and immovable property of the compiler should be converted into monetary units, which should be placed in a reliable 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 most benefit 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 followed.
What is the Nobel Prize for? For outstanding discoveries in five areas: physics, chemistry, medicine and physiology, literature, promoting 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, the funds are kept until next year.
Areas in which awards are given
Alfred Nobel indicated in his will that the interest from the contribution must be divided into 5 equal parts, which are intended:
- 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 his discoveries in the physiology of the 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.
The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious and most famous prize in the world. It has been presented annually in Stockholm and Oslo since 1901 and has gathered a lot of unusual facts around it during this time.
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 newspapers buried Alfred Nobel ahead of time, 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 stated that after death all the multi-million dollar property should be placed in a reliable bank and entrusted to a fund that would divide investment income into five equal parts and hand them over 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. “First of all,” they say, “this is how the whole meaning of the award 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 ignored them in his will not by chance.”
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 the 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 her 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. At different times, such unconditional villains as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin were nominated for the award.
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 on the girl ( holy war) 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.
Initially, the Nobel Prize was the annual profit of the Alfred Nobel Foundation, which was distributed among the laureates in five areas. Consequently, each year the size of the Nobel Prize was different.
Now no one can say for sure how much the possessions of Alfred Nobel himself were valued, since family assets were closely mixed in various investments in different countries of the world. After 5 years of work on the establishment of the Nobel Foundation, its volume was estimated at 31,587,202 SEK.
In 1901, the monetary equivalent of the first Nobel Prize was 150,782 crowns. It is easy to calculate that a little more than 750,000 kroons were spent on just 5 nominations for awards, that is, a little more than 2.38 percent of all amounts at the disposal of the fund.
The real value of the Nobel Prize is also difficult to calculate due to the change in the purchasing power of the Swedish krona. However, the Nobel Committee gives indicative figures. Thus, 150,782 kroons awarded in 1901, at the rate of 2011, correspond to 8,123,951 kroons, or more than 900 thousand euros.
From year to year, the part of the fund that went to pay bonuses changed. Apparently, this is due to the different profitability of the investments of the Alfred Nobel fund, but it is impossible to say for sure, because the fund began to publish financial statements only in 1975, after being exempted from taxes.
And the Swedish krona itself was valued differently in different years. It is considered the most unfortunate year for Nobel laureates was 1919. This year the amount of the award was 133,127 kroons, which, against the background of the amount of 1901, does not look so bad. But it was a bad year for the Swedish krona, and in 2011 prices, the 1919 premium is valued at 2,254,284 kroner today. The fattest year for the Nobel Prize was 2001. Marking the beginning of the new millennium, the members of the Nobel Committee decided to make the amount of payments fixed. And since 2001, the size of the Nobel Prize has been 10 million Swedish kronor. However, no one canceled the inflation of the Swedish krona. Therefore, it was most profitable in terms of money to receive the Nobel Prize in 2001.
It is impossible to say exactly how much money the Nobel Foundation manages today. According to 2007 estimates, this is 3.62 billion kroons. At the same time, the rules for distributing amounts between the laureates have also changed. Since the Nobel Foundation regularly receives donations, since 1980 the amounts have been decoupled from the foundation's actual profits and, for convenience, have been adjusted to the inflation rate of the Swedish krona. In 1981, the premium amounted to 1 million crowns, in 1986 - 2 million, in 1989 - 3 million, in 1990 - 4 million, in 1991 - 6 million crowns. In the mid-1990s, the premium grew to 7 million, by the end it reached 9 million. And from 2001 to this day, the amount of the award is exactly 10 million Swedish kronor. It is possible that the amounts will be adjusted again in the future. If not, then every year it will become less and less profitable to receive the Nobel Prize.
Vladimir DergachevThe Nobel Prizes are awarded by the 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. 
Fragment of the front entrance Concert hall Stockholm, where the Nobel Prize ceremony takes place. 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 State Duma deputy on the list of the 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 of the twenty-first century was awarded to the accompaniment of American rockets and bombs exploding on Afghan soil to 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. On ordinary 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 West and East noted the shyness of Russian leaders (Gorbachev and Putin) between West and East.
The Nobel Prize is a nationwide award that has been awarded every year since 1901. It is awarded to the most outstanding chemists, physicists, writers, medical scientists and peacekeepers. The laureate is awarded a medal with a portrait of A. Nobel, a diploma and a monetary reward.
The Nobel Prize is $1.5 million and is never awarded posthumously. The founder of the award is the famous Swedish entrepreneur, chemist Alfred Nobel, who became famous all over the world for having created dynamite.
On November 27, 1895, Nobel signed a will in which he indicated that the property after his death should be converted into cash and put in a bank. All capital income will be controlled by a special fund, which divides them into 5 parts and pays a cash reward.
The first prize was awarded on December 10, 1901, and in 1969 a new nomination was established for specialists in the field of economics. The Nobel Foundation has decided that no more new nominations will be established. The awarding of the prize is carried out by Nobel committees, each of which has 5 people.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences elects committees to determine the best among physicists and economists. Royal Karolinska Institute of Medicine and Surgery in Stockholm - committees in the field of medicine. Swedish Academy - committees to determine the best writers. And the winners of the Peace Prize are chosen by the Norwegian parliament, Stroeting.
The Peace Prize has a specific position. It can be obtained not only by a person, but also by an organization, and it is precisely this that can be obtained more than once. Although, there are exceptions to every rule - the Nobel Prize was received 2 times by Sklodowska-Curie (chemistry and physics); J. Bardeen (twice became a laureate in physics); L. Pauling (Peace Prize and Chemistry).
The award ceremony takes place on December 10 hometown The Nobel Prize is awarded in Stockholm (the capital of Sweden) and only the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo (the capital of Norway). The King of Norway and the entire royal family are always present at the presentation of the Peace Prize. Before the ceremony, the so-called Nobel Week is held - laureate scientists give lectures that are published in a special collection of the Nobel Foundation.
But the most important events of the Nobel Week are the Nobel Concert, which takes place on December 08, and the Nobel Dinner in the Blue Hall of the City Hall. The best and most famous musicians who perform classical music take part in the concert.
The menu for the banquet is compiled back in September and it contains all the dishes that have been on the menu since the first ceremony in 1901. A mandatory condition for the banquet is a strict dress code: ladies are dressed in evening dresses, and men in tailcoats. Usually up to 1500 people attend the Nobel dinner.
The Nobel Prize is the most coveted by many world scientists, but some refused to receive money that was earned from human deaths and the use of dynamite.
There is also a parody of the Nobel Prize - the so-called.
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