Key facts about the Nobel Prize. Curiosities and records of the Nobel Prizes The Nobel Prize is not a woman's business
Multiple laureates
Among the award rules Nobel Prizes there is a condition that all prizes, except for the peace prize, can be awarded to one person only once. Nevertheless, four Nobel laureates are known who received the prize twice: this is Maria Sklodowska-Curie (pictured; in physics - in 1903, in chemistry - in 1911), Linus Pauling (in chemistry - in 1954, the Peace Prize - in 1962), John Bardeen (in physics in 1956 and 1972) and Frederick Sanger (in chemistry in 1958 and 1980). There has only been one three-time winner in the history of the Nobel Prize - International Committee Red Cross, which received the Peace Prize (this prize is the only one that allows the nomination of not only individuals, but also organizations) in 1917, 1944 and 1963.
Laureates posthumously
In 1974, the Nobel Foundation introduced a rule that the Nobel Prize was not awarded posthumously. Before that, there were only two cases of posthumous awarding of the prize: in 1931 - to Erik Karlfeldt (for literature), and in 1961 - to Dag Hammarskjöld (peace prize). After the introduction of the rule, it was violated only once, and then by a tragic coincidence. In 2011, the Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Ralph Steinman (pictured), but he died of cancer a few hours before the announcement of the Nobel Committee's decision.
Nobel economy
AT this year the cash portion of the Nobel Prize is $1.1 million. The amount was reduced by 20% in June 2012 in order to save money. As the Nobel Foundation argued for this step, the innovation will help to avoid a reduction in the organization's capital in the long term, because capital management should be carried out in such a way that "the prize could be awarded indefinitely."
Nobel cache
In the entire history of the Nobel Prize, only one case has been recorded when the winners received the same Nobel medals twice for the same discovery. German physicists Max von Laue (1915 laureate) and James Frank (1925 laureate) after the ban on Nobel Prizes introduced in Nazi Germany in 1936, handed over their medals for preservation to Niels Bohr, who led the institute in Copenhagen. In 1940, when the Reich occupied Denmark, Hungarian György de Hevesy (pictured), fearing that the medals might be confiscated, dissolved them in aqua regia (a mixture of concentrated nitrogen and hydrochloric acid), and after his release he isolated the gold from the stored solution of chloroauric acid and transferred it to the Royal Swedish Academy. There, Nobel medals were again made from it, which were returned to the laureates. By the way, György de Hevesy himself was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944.
Nobel long-liver
Italian neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini (pictured) is a long-lived Nobel laureate and the oldest of them: this year she turned 103 years old. She was awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1986, when she celebrated her 77th birthday. The oldest laureate at the time of the award was 90-year-old American Leonid Gurvich (Economics Prize - 2007), and the youngest was 25-year-old Australian William Lawrence Bragg (Physics Prize - 1915), who became a laureate together with his father William Henry Bragg.
Women of the Nobel
Most big number women laureates are among the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (15 people) and the Literature Prize (11 people). However, the winners of the literary prize can boast that the first of them was awarded high rank 37 years earlier: in 1909 Nobel laureate in literature was the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf (pictured), and the first woman to win the Peace Prize was the American Emily Green Bolch in 1946.
According to the rules of the Nobel Foundation, no more than three people for different works can receive an award in one area per year - or no more than three authors of one work. The first three were the Americans George Whipple, George Minot and William Murphy (pictured), who were awarded the Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934. And the last (for 2011) are the Americans Saul Pelmutter and Adam Reiss and the Australian Brian Schmidt (physics), as well as the Liberians Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Leima Gbowee and the Yemeni citizen Tawakul Karman (Nobel Peace Prize). If the prize is awarded to more than one person or for more than one work, it is divided proportionally: first - by the number of works, then - by the number of authors of each work. If two works are awarded the prize, one of which has two authors, then the author of the first will receive half the amount, and each of the authors of the second - only a quarter.
Nobel passes
The rules for awarding the Nobel Prize do not require that it be awarded every year without fail: by decision of the Nobel Committee, if there are no worthy works among those claiming a high award, the prize may not be awarded. In this case, its monetary equivalent is transferred to the Nobel Foundation in whole or in part - in the latter case, from one third to two thirds of the amount can be transferred to the special fund of the profile section. During the three war years - in 1940, 1941 and 1942 - Nobel Prizes were not awarded at all. Given this gap, the Nobel Peace Prize was most often (18 times) not awarded, the prize in physiology or medicine - nine times, in chemistry - eight times, in literature - seven times, in physics - six times, and in the awarding of the prize in economics, introduced only in 1969, there was not a single pass.
Nobel transformation
The famous physicist Ernest Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. The phrase with which he reacted to this news became winged: the scientist said that “All science is either physics or stamp collecting,” and a little later commented on his award even more figuratively, stating that of all the transformations that he witnessed, “Most unexpected was my own transformation from physicist to chemist.”
Nobel heirs
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays. In total, for works directly related to the application of Roentgen's discovery in science, the Nobel Prizes were awarded 12 more times, including in physics (seven times), in physiology and medicine (three times) and in chemistry (twice): in 1914, 1915, 1917, 1922, 1924, 1927, 1936, 1946, 1962, 1964, 1979 and 1981.
The Nobel Prize has been around for 112 years. Who is he, the Nobel laureate? How old is he and where is he from? How often is the award given to women, and which scientists have received the honorary award twice? DW collected 9 most interesting facts about the Nobel Prize.
1. The United States is ahead of everyone in the Nobel Prize
Most of the Nobel Prizes in scientific disciplines - physics, chemistry and medicine - went to the Americans. Their share is 43 percent. In second place in physics and chemistry are the Germans, in third place are the British. As far as medicine is concerned, the order is reversed. In fourth place are the French.
2. Nobel laureates are born more often in spring or winter.
3. The winner of the award is usually over 50 years old
The average age of Nobel Prize winners in all six categories is 59 years. A little younger are the winners of prizes in the disciplines of natural science. Among chemists and physicists, this is 57 years, in medicine - 55.
4. The Nobel Prize is worthy of both young and old
The youngest scientist to receive the award was 25-year-old physicist William Lawrence Bragg in 1915. And its most respected owners are Leonid Gurvits (2007) and Lloyd Stowell Shapley (2012). When they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics, the scientists were 90 and 89 years old, respectively.
5. The award was also awarded posthumously
Twice in history the Nobel Prize has been awarded posthumously: the 1961 Nobel Peace Prize to Dag Hammerskjöld, and the 1931 Literature Prize to Erik Axel Karlfeldt.
Official rules allow nominating a candidate for the award only during his lifetime. Hammerskjold and Karlfeldt were nominated during their lifetime, but by the time the names of the laureates were announced, they had departed to another world.
In 1974, it was decided not to give the award to the dead anymore. Nevertheless, in 2011, the Nobel Prize was again awarded to the deceased. When the Nobel Committee announced the name of Ralph Steinman, nominated for the prize in medicine, it was not yet known that he had died three days before the ceremony. The Steinman Prize was later received by his heirs.
6. Twice Nobel Laureates
Four scientists were awarded the prize twice. American physicist John Bardeen received it for the first time in 1956 for the invention of the transistor, and for the second time in 1972 for the development of the theory of superconductivity (the ability of some materials to have strictly zero electrical resistance).
context
The Englishman Frederick Sanger was twice awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry - in 1958 for establishing the structure of insulin and in 1980 - for basic research on biochemical properties. nucleic acids, especially recombinant DNA.
The American chemist Linus Carl Pauling received two different awards - in 1954 in chemistry, and in 1962 - the Peace Prize. Pauling was a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons testing.
7. The Nobel Prize is not a woman's business
There are few women among the winners. The most famous woman, twice awarded the prize - Marie Curie. In 1903, she received an award in physics for her research on the phenomena of radiation, and in 1911, in chemistry, for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium.
In total, women have been awarded the Nobel Prize 44 times, and only 16 times for achievements in one of the three disciplines of natural science. It's only 3 percent of total number award winners in these areas. Two women received prizes in physics, four in chemistry and 10 in medicine.
8. They refused the Nobel Prize, and more than once
Laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize Le Dykh Tho and the Jean-Paul Sartre Prize for Literature refused to accept the awards. Sartre did not want any official honors at all, and Le Dykh Tho motivated his refusal in 1973 by the ongoing civil war in Vietnam.
9. Germans were banned from receiving the Nobel Prize
During the time the National Socialists were in power in Germany, German scientists were forbidden to accept these awards. As a result, the chemists Richard Kuhn and Adolf Butenandt, as well as Gerhard Domagk, winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Medicine, were left without prizes in 1938 and 1939. After the end of World War II, they still received diplomas and medals, but not the financial part of the award.
October 10th, 2012
The most prestigious scientific award in the world, which has been in existence for 111 years, is associated with tragic moments, and funny cases, and quite detective stories. Forbes magazine chose the ten most remarkable facts from the history of the Nobel Prize, including quite detective cases and just funny moments.
The second week of October has been called the Nobel Prize for 111 years: it is at this time that the Nobel Foundation, in accordance with the terms of the will of the famous Swedish scientist, announces the names of the laureates of the world's most prestigious scientific prize. In 2012, laureates in the field of physiology, medicine and physics have already been named, and the last winners in the field of economics will be named on October 15. It is not so easy to answer the question “How many Nobel Prize winners?”. In total, from 1901 to 2011, 851 laureates received the award, but the list of people and organizations awarded the award contains only 844 names and titles - simply because some were laureates twice or even three times.
Most of the laureates - 199 people (including 2012) - received awards for research in the field of physiology and medicine. Physicists are only six people less - 193 (taking into account 2012), one of them - twice. 160 laureates have been awarded the Prize in Chemistry (including one twice), 121 Peace Prizes (including one twice and one three times), 108 in Literature, and a total of 69 in Economics (introduced in 1969) .
Multiple laureates
Among the rules for awarding Nobel Prizes there is a condition that all prizes, except for the Peace Prize, can be awarded to one person only once. Nevertheless, four Nobel laureates are known who received the prize twice: this is Maria Sklodowska-Curie (pictured; in physics - in 1903, in chemistry - in 1911), Linus Pauling (in chemistry - in 1954, the Peace Prize - in 1962), John Bardeen (in physics in 1956 and 1972) and Frederick Sanger (in chemistry in 1958 and 1980). There was only one three-time winner in the history of the Nobel Prize - the International Committee of the Red Cross, which received the Peace Prize (this prize is the only one that allows the nomination of not only individuals, but also organizations) in 1917, 1944 and 1963.
Laureates posthumously
In 1974, the Nobel Foundation introduced a rule that the Nobel Prize was not awarded posthumously. Before that, there were only two cases of posthumous awarding of the prize: in 1931 - to Erik Karlfeldt (for literature), and in 1961 - to Dag Hammarskjöld (peace prize). After the introduction of the rule, it was violated only once, and then by a tragic coincidence. In 2011, the Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Ralph Steinman (pictured), but he died of cancer a few hours before the announcement of the Nobel Committee's decision.
Nobel economy
This year, the cash portion of the Nobel Prize is $1.1 million. The amount was reduced by 20% in June 2012 in order to save money. As the Nobel Foundation argued for this step, the innovation will help to avoid a reduction in the organization's capital in the long term, because capital management should be carried out in such a way that "the prize could be awarded indefinitely."
Nobel cache
In the entire history of the Nobel Prize, only one case has been recorded when the winners received the same Nobel medals twice for the same discovery. German physicists Max von Laue (1915 laureate) and James Frank (1925 laureate) after the ban on Nobel Prizes introduced in Nazi Germany in 1936, handed over their medals for preservation to Niels Bohr, who led the institute in Copenhagen. In 1940, when the Reich occupied Denmark, Hungarian György de Hevesy (pictured), fearing that the medals might be confiscated, dissolved them in “aqua regia” (a mixture of concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids), and after liberation isolated gold from the stored solution of chloroauric acid and handed it over to the Royal Swedish Academy. There, Nobel medals were again made from it, which were returned to the laureates. By the way, György de Hevesy himself was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944.
Nobel long-liver
Italian neuroscientist Rita Levi-Montalcini (pictured) is a long-lived Nobel laureate and the oldest of them: this year she turned 103 years old. She was awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1986, when she celebrated her 77th birthday. The oldest laureate at the time of the award was 90-year-old American Leonid Gurvich (Economics Prize - 2007), and the youngest was 25-year-old Australian William Lawrence Bragg (Physics Prize - 1915), who became a laureate together with his father William Henry Bragg.
Women of the Nobel
The largest number of women laureates is among the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (15 people) and the Literature Prize (11 people). However, the winners of the literary prize can boast that the first of them was awarded the high title 37 years earlier: in 1909, the Swedish writer Selma Lagerlöf (pictured) became the Nobel laureate in literature, and the American Emily Green Bolch was the first woman to win the Peace Prize. in 1946.
Nobel co-authors
According to the rules of the Nobel Foundation, no more than three people for different works can receive an award in one area per year - or no more than three authors of one work. The first three were the Americans George Whipple, George Minot and William Murphy (pictured), who were awarded the Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1934. And the last (for 2011) are the Americans Saul Pelmutter and Adam Reiss and the Australian Brian Schmidt (physics), as well as the Liberians Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Leima Gbowee and the Yemeni citizen Tawakul Karman (Nobel Peace Prize). If the prize is awarded to more than one person or for more than one work, it is divided proportionally: first - by the number of works, then - by the number of authors of each work. If two works are awarded the prize, one of which has two authors, then the author of the first will receive half the amount, and each of the authors of the second - only a quarter.
Nobel passes
The rules for awarding the Nobel Prize do not require that it be awarded every year without fail: by decision of the Nobel Committee, if there are no worthy works among those claiming a high award, the prize may not be awarded. In this case, its monetary equivalent is transferred to the Nobel Foundation in whole or in part - in the latter case, from one third to two thirds of the amount can be transferred to the special fund of the profile section. During the three war years - in 1940, 1941 and 1942 - Nobel Prizes were not awarded at all. Given this gap, the Nobel Peace Prize was most often (18 times) not awarded, the prize in physiology or medicine - nine times, in chemistry - eight times, in literature - seven times, in physics - six times, and in the awarding of the prize in economics, introduced only in 1969, there was not a single pass.
Nobel transformation
The famous physicist Ernest Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1908. The phrase with which he reacted to this news became winged: the scientist said that “All science is either physics or stamp collecting,” and a little later commented on his award even more figuratively, stating that of all the transformations that he witnessed, “Most unexpected was my own transformation from physicist to chemist.”
Nobel heirs
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was the first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays. In total, for works directly related to the application of Roentgen's discovery in science, the Nobel Prizes were awarded 12 more times, including in physics (seven times), in physiology and medicine (three times) and in chemistry (twice): in 1914, 1915, 1917, 1922, 1924, 1927, 1936, 1946, 1962, 1964, 1979 and 1981.
In revenge, the US government did not issue a passport to Linus Pauling, and he could not get to a conference in London, where he planned to declare the helical structure of DNA. Therefore, priority went to Crick and Watson, and not to Pauling. Otherwise, there could have been more Nobel medals.
Linus Carl Pauling - the famous chemist, crystallographer and pacifist is not in vain considered one of the most prominent scientists of the twentieth century. In terms of the significance of his discoveries for science, he stands next to the great Albert Einstein, being, according to studies, one of the two most popular scientists of the 20th century! His merits in science, as well as in the field of struggle for the good of mankind, were awarded two Nobel Prizes - in chemistry in 1954 with the wording "For the study of the nature of the chemical bond and its application to explain the structure of complex molecules" and the Peace Prize in 1962. In 1970, at the time of "détente", Brezhnev awarded him the international Lenin Prize "For the strengthening of peace between peoples", although until that time Linus Pauling got pretty "nuts" from Soviet scientists for his "bourgeois" views on science.
February 28, 1901 in the American city of Portland in the family of a poor son of emigrants from Germany Herman Pauling and the daughter of American Irish Lucy Isabelle Darling was born reddish vociferous firstborn. The boy was named Linus. In infancy, he was a rather noisy child, and his father joked that his son had a real Irish throat, although this property of his offspring did not in the least prevent him from acquiring a daughter the next year, and a year later from giving his son another sister.
At the end of 1904, with a wife and three children in his arms, Herman Pauling, who devoted himself to the vain and traveling profession of a traveling salesman for a medical company, decided to change his occupation and settle in a new place. In 1905, he moved to the town, which had a rather sonorous name for the Russian ear, Condon, in the state of Oregon. There he became a pharmacist, opening his own establishment. It must be said that a pharmacy in America is not exactly a pharmacy, but also something like a cafe, although in those days this difference was somewhat less noticeable than now.
Linus Pauling
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The boy grew up a little and went to school. By that time, he knew how to read and write perfectly and literally “swallowed” book after book. The family moved to Portland in 1910, and his father, desiring expert advice on how to make the right library for the child, wrote a letter with this question to the local newspaper. After all, young Linus studied the Bible - and at the same time enthusiastically absorbed the theory of Darwin. The father was afraid that the guy's brains would boil. It was necessary to streamline this process somehow. His father died in the same year quite young, but before that he managed to significantly replenish the library, including books on chemistry, which in many ways predetermined the fate of the boy.
The family had a hard time. The mother was a housewife, and the inheritance she received was rather meager. To feed his family, Linus went to work as a dishwasher in a cafe, and in the evenings sorted and sorted paper in a printing house. He was a closed and thoughtful guy, he could stare for hours at various insects and sort out colorful pebbles so enthusiastically that the sisters predicted a career for Linus as a jeweler. At the age of 13, Pauling entered a chemical laboratory and was so shocked and fascinated by this sight that he decided to immediately become a chemist. He brought kitchen utensils into his room and got his own home survey center.
Due to the need and the need to work, the young man could not continue his studies at school, but this did not become an obstacle to his admission to the free Oregon Agricultural College, which later became a state university. Linus studied so hard that all the teachers paid attention to him. In the last year, he became an assistant at the department, and a year later - already at once at four. In 1922 he became a bachelor in chemical technology. Pauling is called to the Caltech in Pasadena, and he is writing his dissertation there. Then he marries the pretty Ava Helen Miller, his student, the hope and support of his life, who bore him three sons and a daughter. Ave and Linus lived together for 58 happy years.
Pauling received his doctorate in chemistry in 1925. In a little over five years, he became first an assistant professor, then an associate professor, and in 1931 a professor of chemistry. All this time, Linus Pauling successfully and fruitfully worked in the field of crystallography, X-raying various crystals. He read radiographs with such ease and simplicity that some of the students laughed, saying that he had vision that allowed him to see subatomic structures with his own eyes.
By the way, Pauling, still quite a young man, had an undoubted teaching gift, being able to fully involve the audience in the learning process. He explained his subject so vividly and vividly that the students did not notice the time. At the same time, Pauling had a unique talent: in just a few simple and accessible phrases for average minds, he could explain the most complex processes and achieve successful results precisely in understanding the subject. For example, the great Einstein, who considered all ordinary doctors of physics to be fools who could not understand his theory of relativity, did not succeed at all. Although, in fact, the brilliant physicist simply did not know how to clearly enough explain it to the audience. It's good that at least Ioffe and Landau were sorted out ...
Pauling receives a scholarship and goes to Europe, where he trains in the laboratories of the major European luminaries of that time - Sommerfeld, Schrödinger, Bohr.
Back in 1928, the scientist formulated his theory of hybridization, or, as it is also called, the theory of resonance. Pauling looked at the molecule as the result of resonance, that is, the superposition of several structures on top of each other. In addition, each structure tells about the individual features of the properties and structure of the molecule. He wrote his famous The Nature of the Chemical Bond, applying quantum theory to solve many scientific problems. This book put him on a par with the greatest scientists on the planet. This work is translated into dozens of languages, and the book becomes a guiding star for the development of world chemical science.
Linus Pauling elucidated a number of immune mechanisms by studying proteins and antibodies. He studied hemoglobin, made discoveries in the field of virology. The outbreak of World War II forced Pauling to take the path of fighting fascism. A staunch pacifist who ignored the past world war, he develops explosives, jet fuel, oxygen generators for aviation and submariners. Military doctors received from him a system for obtaining blood plasma in field conditions. His contribution to the victory was very great and was awarded the medal of the US government. But respect for the scientist was soon replaced by hysteria...
In the USSR, Pauling's theory was met with hostility. It caused an outbreak of state obscurantism and communist indignation. After the massacre of linguists, cyberneticists and geneticists, chemistry became the target of the “red scientists” from the MGB. Pauling's resonance theory, as well as Ingold's related mesomerism theory, became the target of an attack on the "bourgeois worldview". In 1951, a meeting of obscurantists from science was held in the USSR, who "defeated" Pauling's theory. But this did not prevent the world community from appreciating the works of the scientist. In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
As a member of the US federal security commissions, he recognized the dangers of nuclear weapons and delved deeply into the subject. The result was an anti-war committee formed in 1946, which included prominent nuclear scientists. Pauling proved that tests atomic weapons a priori cannot be safe. The public was dumbfounded. The fact that because of strontium-90 every year 55,000 children will be born disabled, and 500,000 stillborn, and iodine-131 threatens literally everyone with thyroid cancer, especially killed the American inhabitants. Panic and protests began in the country, the government put Linus Pauling on the unreliable list and became interested in his "anti-American activities." As revenge, the US government did not issue a passport to the scientist, and Pauling could not get to London for a scientific conference where he planned to stun the world with a DNA helix. Therefore, priority went to Crick and Watson, and not to him. Otherwise, there could have been more Nobel medals.
Pauling was declared a secret agent of the Kremlin when he published an anti-war proclamation signed by 11,000 of the world's most important scientists from 49 countries; at the same time he released the bestseller No to War. In 1960 he came up with new initiatives against nuclear testing. They tried to intimidate him with prison and a psychiatric hospital, and again and again they accused him of collaborating with the Russians. But then something happened that temporarily shut up the mouths of militaristic mongrels - Linus Pauling receives the Nobel Peace Prize. However, even the award was challenged. The press called him Pisnik: from the English peace and the Russian sputnik, alluding to the Russian rubles for which he sold himself to the communists. The scientist did not pay any attention to the persecution, intently preparing a campaign to ban the testing of atomic weapons. Finally, the USSR, Great Britain and the USA sign an agreement on the refusal of tests. Pauling was not remembered at the same time, but his merit is obvious.
He was completely blocked from funding, and he could no longer work, but did not give up. Three years later, Pauling again annoyed the US government and Congress by signing the Declaration of Civil Disobedience "Conscience Against the Vietnam War." Linus Pauling had to leave the University and move to Stafford.
Kidney problems started. In the Irish, the kidneys are generally a sore spot. Moreover, Linus's genetics were not at all like those of a long-liver: his father died at 34, his mother at 45. Nothing helped. Biochemists, including the famous Irving Stone, suggested that he drink vitamin C. Back in those days, people understood that it was not only about viruses and bacteria. A man, like a monkey, does not produce ascorbic acid, and everything else is easy, and up to a gram per day - exactly as much as needed. Pauling calculated his dose of vitamin C. It turned out to be 10 grams per day, as much as 200 times more than you can get from food. I tested the dosage on myself - the colds stopped.
In 1970, he released a new book, Vitamin C and the Common Cold, which was instantly snapped up by the public in all editions. Gray-haired, but incredibly lively and nimble, the 70-year-old professor became a walking advertisement for vitamin C. The Academy of American Sciences recommended 00.6 grams of vitamin C for an adult male, and Pauling recommended 6 to 18 full-weight grams. Pauling proposed to determine the individual dosage by observing the stomach. Increase the dose a little every day. How the stomach will feel - that's your norm. The people washed away all the ascorbic acid in pharmacies, and the evil pharmacists fell into a rage: they stopped taking expensive medicines completely.
There was a sea of reviews of those cured and recovered, although the press imputed to him the destruction of the entire American people. In response, Pauling stated that aspirin, taken randomly, kills 10,000 people every year, half of them children. And no one has died from ascorbic acid yet. Not stopping there, the scientist is studying the effect of vitamin C on cholesterol metabolism. He makes a rather ambiguous conclusion by modern standards that the use of vitamin C protects blood vessels from "bad" cholesterol. At this time, pharmaceutical concerns and individual greedy pharmacists continued to spoil the scientist. He was declared a charlatan, constantly hounded in the newspapers, cut off on the road. And he continued to experiment on himself.
More recently, studies have shown that vitamin C overdoses cause serious problems, in particular gastrointestinal problems. intestinal tract. It was argued that there was no fault of the scientist, he simply did not have time to finish the research (although he managed to recommend taking vitamin C to the whole nation). Even his mistakes in dosages made doctors seriously take up the problem of vitamins. Pauling received two Nobel Prizes, a lot of medals, orders, honorary titles and other awards. But he presented the main award to himself: Pauling lived for almost 94 years, and for the last 27 years he did not get sick with anything. Until the last minute he remained in a bright, lively mind, clear consciousness and cheerfulness. It just disappeared one day...
Probably, only the desire of mankind for self-expression and heroic deeds contributes to the emergence of unusually tenacious initiatives. So a gentleman by the name of Nobel took it and decided to leave his money to his descendants in order to reward the gentlemen who distinguished themselves in one area or another. He has long rested in the damp earth, and the people remember him. The population is waiting (some impatiently) when the next lucky ones will be announced. And the candidates try, set goals, even intrigue, trying to climb this Olympus of glory. And if everything is clear with scientists and researchers - they receive their awards for real achievements or discoveries, then how do the Nobel Peace Prize winners stand out? Interesting? Let's figure it out.
Who awards the prize and for what?
There is a special committee whose main task is to select and approve
nominations for the highest award in the field. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to people who have distinguished themselves in promoting security and stability on the planet. It is issued annually. The procedure takes place in Oslo, the tenth of December. At the same time, both international organizations and national governments can propose a candidate who will become a laureate. They are listed in the Charter of the Committee. Any person who has been or is a member of the Nobel Committee is also eligible to participate in the nomination process. In addition, the Charter gives such privileges to university professors involved in politics or history.
When they study who received the Nobel Peace Prize, they will definitely come across the name of another political figure whose activities do not cause criticism. Such a person is Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama. It's perfect outstanding personality. From an early age, he was forced to take on spiritual leadership. Buddhists recognized the boy as the incarnation of the deceased lama. Subsequently, he had to shoulder the political responsibility for Tibet (at the age of sixteen). All his work is based on kindness, tolerance and love (from the wording of the Nobel Committee). It should be added that he was unable to reach an agreement with the Chinese government. Now he lives and carries out his ideas in exile.
It turns out that not everything is so simple!
There are also very controversial winners of this high award. The committee is often criticized for being too politicized. Residents of the post-Soviet space consider Mikhail Gorbachev to be such a figure. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to such a controversial person from the point of view of the world community as Yasser Arafat.
This decision of the Committee is considered scandalous on the grounds that this laureate did not deny military ways to achieve his goals. On his account not only fights, but also Act of terrorism. He himself proclaimed his goal the destruction of the whole sovereign state(Israel). That is, despite the fact that Arafat fought for the well-being of the inhabitants of the Middle East, it is difficult to assign the title of peacemaker to him. Another scandalous figure is Barack Obama. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 2009. It must be said that the Committee had to put up with a flurry of criticism of this decision.
More about Obama
In the world press, the opinion is still flickering that the President of the States was awarded the award "in advance". At that time, he had just taken office, he had not yet distinguished himself in anything significant. And the initiatives and decisions that he subsequently took do not at all explain why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama is considered the president who unleashed the largest number military conflicts. Their victims are incalculable due to the "hybrid nature" of these collisions (the term appeared quite recently). He had to make decisions about bombing and ground operations. He is criticized for the invasion of Syria, unrest in Iraq and Ukraine. Nevertheless, Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize and is listed among its laureates.
This "advance reward" leads to more and more scandals. As zones of aggravation of tensions emerge, some politicians are in favor of the annulment of this award. There is an opinion that such non-peaceful behavior dishonors a high premium. In the Russian Federation, of course, they believe that V.V. Putin is a more worthy candidate. The Nobel Peace Prize may yet be awarded to him for his true tenacity in conflict resolution.
About money
People are often interested not so much in the achievements of the individuals awarded this award, but in its amount. The Nobel Peace Prize really can amaze the imagination. The fact is that all the funds of the Committee do not just lie in financial institutions. They "work", increasing in size. According to the will, the profit is divided into five parts. They are not the same and become more and more impressive from year to year. So, the very first amount, handed in 1901, was equal to forty-two thousand dollars. In 2003, the amount was already 1.35 million. Its size is influenced by the state of the world economy. Dividends that go to payments can not only increase, but also decrease. For example, in 2007 the amount of the premium was 1.542 million, and by 2008 it "melted" (1.4 million dollars).
These funds are distributed in five equal shares according to nominations, and then - according to the number of laureates, in accordance with the rules according to which the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. How money will go for awards in each year - is determined by the Committee, having carried out the appropriate calculations of earnings from securities and other assets.
Russian laureates
Our fellow citizens received such an award only twice. In addition to Gorbachev, such an honor was awarded to scientist Andrey Sakharov. However, not his scientific works gave rise to the award. Sakharov was considered a human rights activist and a fighter against the regime. AT Soviet times he was severely criticized and persecuted. The scientist worked on the creation of hydrogen weapons. Despite this, he openly advocated a ban on weapons testing. mass destruction, against the arms race. His ideas were very popular in society and did not like the ruling elite at all.
Sakharov is considered to be a passionate champion of peace, who suffered for his views. The Nobel Committee used the wording: "for courage in the fight against abuse of power ...". Nevertheless, he was rather an idealist, a kind and non-aggressive person (according to the recollections of his colleagues). More Russians did not receive high awards, which does not mean that worthy personalities do not live in our country. Quicker, given fact can be perceived as a political engagement of the Committee, the use of awards in geopolitical competition.
Who has not received an award, but deserves it?
Many politicians believe that Mahatma Gandhi, more than all other figures, deserved a high award. This man dealt with the organization of the struggle of the Indians against the colonialists. Gandhi not only had to devise ways in which the weak and unarmed population could resist the British army, but they also had to be correlated with the characteristics of the local religion. This method was invented by him. It has been called non-violent resistance and is often used today. Mahatma Gandhi was proposed to the Committee five times. Only there were "more worthy" candidates (which again can be explained by the politicization of this organization). Subsequently, the officials responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize expressed their regret that Gandhi never became a laureate.
Incidents of the Nobel Committee
There are such incredible things in the history of this organization that today can only be perceived anecdotally. So, as you know, none other than Adolf Hitler was nominated for this award in 1939. Fortunately, he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And it's not about the money. What would be the prestige of an organization that would call a peacemaker a person guilty of the death of millions of inhabitants of our planet? The Nobel Committee refused to award it, explaining its decision by the attitude of the Nazis towards the Jews.
Nevertheless, at the time of his nomination, Hitler's activities looked quite progressive for the German intelligentsia. He had just concluded two large peace agreements, raised industry, took care of the development of science and art. Nowadays, people understand how absurd and unfounded Hitler's claims for the award were. But at that time, the people of Germany perceived him as a real leader, leading them to bright life. Yes, it was true to some extent. He really cared about the Germans, only at the expense of people of other nationalities. To the credit of the members of the Nobel Committee, they understood this and refused his candidacy for the prize.
Collective laureates
This award was awarded three times to organizations that are somehow connected with the Red Cross. If we take into account the first laureate - its organizer, then four. It should be noted that this international organization undoubtedly deserves such a high appraisal. Its representatives always find a field for activity. Whether in areas of bloody conflict or epidemics, they are often at the center of the action, lending a much-needed hand of support to unfortunate people in distress. By the way, once the UN became the laureate of the award (2001), earlier it was celebrated peacekeeping forces(1988) and Refugee Service (1981). Of the not very well-known organizations-laureates, one can name international organization Labor (1969). It is possible that we do not hear about the wave because a lot of time has passed since its influence in the world was so great that it was awarded an award.
There are many winners of this major award. The names of some went down in history with courage and courage, others - with scandals and intrigues. The third is not remembered at all. Nevertheless, people want this award to fall into the hands of truly worthy individuals, regardless of the political situation.