Mint explainers: how Nobel laureates are chosen

Some of the most famous Nobel laureates include Marie Curie (Physics, 1903; Chemistry, 1911), Ernest Rutherford (Chemistry, 1908), Albert Einstein (Physics, 1921), George Bernard Shaw (Literature, 1925), Red Cross (Peace , 1917, 1944, and 1963), Nelson Mandela (Peace, 1993) and John Nash (Economics, 1994). The list of famous achievers includes 12 people of Indian or Indian origin, ranging from Rabindranath Tagore (Literature, 1913) to Mother Teresa (Peace, 1979) and more recently Abhijit Banerjee (Arthashastra, 2019).

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How the Nobel Prize came into existence

The Nobel Prizes are named after Swedish businessman Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896. In his will, Nobel spared his considerable fortune to reward and recognize intellectual and pioneering works in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. “Those who would have bestowed the greatest advantage upon mankind during the previous year”, wrote Nobel in his will, to be drafted a year before his death. The Sixth Prize for Economic Sciences was added in 1968.

How the winners are chosen

Three Swedish institutions select the winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo chooses the peace prize winner. The Swedish central bank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel in 1968, and its winner is selected by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Every year, these institutions write letters to thousands of members of academia, university professors, scientists, former Nobel laureates, legislators and others to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. No person can nominate himself for the award. Nominees are selected over time to represent as many countries and universities as possible. After receiving all nominations, the Nobel committees of the four prize-awarding institutions get to shortlist and vote to select the final winners.

Award selection committees at institutions include achievers, academics and outside experts. Every year, between February and October, the jury brainstorms extensively on the relevance of the nominees’ work. The winners are selected by majority vote. The Nobel Foundation does not disclose the names, shortlists or any other information about the nominees for 50 years.

Controversies surrounding the Nobel

Despite being nominated five times, Mahatma Gandhi was never awarded the Peace Prize. Some media reports suggest that the Nobel Committee found him to be an original “nationalist” and not quite a global politician. In 1948, the year of Gandhi’s assassination, the Nobel Committee did not award any prizes, stating that “there was no suitable living candidate”.

Einstein did not win the Nobel for his famous theory of relativity because the Nobel committee believed that his work was unproven at the time. Some believe that Einstein, a Jew, may also have been a victim of the rise of anti-Semitic sentiment in that era. Faced with a crisis of credibility, the Nobel Committee decided against awarding the Physics Prize in 1921 instead to Einstein’s work on relativity. Einstein eventually received the 1921 Prize in 1922 for his work on the photoelectric effect, not relativity. And because the Nobel is not awarded posthumously, Gandhi and Einstein can no longer be recognized. However, Barack Obama was awarded the Peace Prize much earlier under his presidency.

Elsewhere in Minto

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