The Nobel Prizes are globally recognized as the pinnacle of achievement in their respective fields. Understanding their intricate history, categories, selection process, and controversies is vital for any serious competitive exam aspirant.

I. Fundamental Principles and History

• Founder: Alfred Nobel (1833–1896), a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist.
  • Key Invention: Most famously known for inventing dynamite in 1867. He held 355 patents.
  • Motivation for Prizes: A popular, though possibly apocryphal, story suggests Nobel was motivated by a premature obituary published in a French newspaper that mistakenly reported his death, labeling him a “merchant of death” due to his invention of explosives. This deeply affected him and spurred his desire to leave a more positive legacy.
• Nobel’s Will: His last will and testament, signed in 1895, stipulated that the bulk of his fortune be used to establish a fund, the interest from which would be annually awarded as prizes.
  • Purpose: To honor “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
• Establishment of the Nobel Foundation: Founded on June 29, 1900, as a private organization to manage Nobel’s fortune and administer the prizes according to his will. It’s akin to an investment company, aiming for sustainable returns.
• First Awards: The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901.
• Nobel Day: The awards are presented annually on December 10, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.
• Prize Components: Each laureate (recipient) receives:
  • A gold medal (solid 18-carat green gold, plated with 24-carat gold). Each medal is uniquely designed for its field.
  • A diploma featuring a unique artwork and citation.
  • A monetary award. The amount varies depending on the Nobel Foundation’s financial performance. As of 2023, it was 11 million Swedish Kronor (SEK), approximately US$1 million. If there are multiple laureates in a single category, the prize money is usually divided among them.

II. Categories and Awarding Institutions

Alfred Nobel’s will precisely specified the institutions responsible for selecting the laureates for the original five prizes.

• Original Five Categories (Instituted by Nobel’s Will):
  1. Physics: Awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Stockholm, Sweden).
  2. Chemistry: Awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Stockholm, Sweden).
  3. Physiology or Medicine: Awarded by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden).
  4. Literature: Awarded by the Swedish Academy (Stockholm, Sweden).
  5. Peace: Awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee (Oslo, Norway).
     • Reason for Norway: The exact reason is unknown, but during Nobel’s lifetime, Sweden and Norway were in a union. It’s speculated that Nobel might have chosen Norway as it was perceived as less militaristic than Sweden.
• The “Sixth” Prize (Not by Nobel’s Will):
  • Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel:
    • Instituted: 1968 by Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden’s central bank) to celebrate its 300th anniversary.
    • First Awarded: 1969.
    • Awarding Institution: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (same as Physics and Chemistry).
    • Status: Although not one of the original five, it is administered by the Nobel Foundation, announced with the other prizes, and generally regarded as a Nobel Prize.
• Missing Categories (Why no Math, Engineering, etc.?): Nobel’s will did not include these fields. There is no official Nobel Prize in Mathematics, despite popular misconceptions. The common myth about Nobel’s dislike for a mathematician is unsubstantiated.

III. Nomination and Selection Process

The process is highly rigorous, secretive, and takes over a year.

• Who can Nominate?: Nomination is by invitation only (except for the Peace Prize, which has broader nominators). General public cannot nominate. Nominators typically include:
  • Members of the Nobel Committees.
  • Previous Nobel Laureates.
  • Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (for Physics, Chemistry, Economics).
  • Members of the Swedish Academy (for Literature).
  • Professors at selected universities, parliamentary assemblies, and certain international organizations.
• Nomination Deadline: Typically January 31st of the award year.
• Secrecy Rule: All information about nominations, investigations, and opinions regarding a prize is kept secret for 50 years. This is to prevent lobbying and ensure independent decision-making.
• Selection Stages:
  1. Invitation and Nomination (September – January): Nomination forms are sent out, and eligible nominations are submitted.
  2. Preliminary Screening (February – March): The Nobel Committees screen the nominations and prepare a preliminary list.
  3. Adviser Review (March – August): Experts and advisors review the short-listed candidates and their work.
  4. Committee Discussion and Final Voting (September – Early October): The Nobel Committees discuss the candidates and make their final recommendations. Laureates are chosen by a majority vote of the respective awarding institution.
  5. Announcement (Early October): The winners are usually announced during the first two weeks of October.
  6. Award Ceremony (December 10): Held in Stockholm (for all but Peace Prize) and Oslo (for Peace Prize).
• Limitations:
  • Maximum Three Laureates: A prize amount can be divided among a maximum of three persons.
  • No Posthumous Awards (Generally): Prizes are generally not awarded posthumously. However, if a person is named a laureate and dies before the official award ceremony, the prize may still be conferred. This rule has seen subtle changes over time. (e.g., Dag Hammarskjöld won the Peace Prize posthumously in 1961, before the rule was strictly implemented).
  • Organizations for Peace Prize: The Peace Prize is the only one that can be awarded to organizations, not just individuals.

IV. Notable Indian/Indian-Origin Nobel Laureates (High-Yield)

It’s crucial to distinguish between Indian citizens and persons of Indian origin/ancestry/residency.

• Indian Citizens (5):
  1. Rabindranath Tagore (1913, Literature): For his profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse, by which, with consummate skill, he has made his poetic thought, expressed in his own English words, a part of the literature of the West. (First non-European, first Asian laureate).
  2. C.V. Raman (1930, Physics): For his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him (Raman Effect).
  3. Mother Teresa (1979, Peace): For her work in bringing help to suffering humanity. (Only female Indian Nobel laureate).
  4. Amartya Sen (1998, Economic Sciences): For his contributions to welfare economics.
  5. Kailash Satyarthi (2014, Peace): For his struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. (Shared with Malala Yousafzai).
• Indian Origin/Ancestry/Resident (who later became citizens of other countries or were born in British India):
  1. Ronald Ross (1902, Physiology or Medicine): Born in Almora, British India. For his work on malaria.
  2. Rudyard Kipling (1907, Literature): Born in Bombay, British India.
  3. Har Gobind Khorana (1968, Physiology or Medicine): Born in Raipur, British India; became a US citizen. For his work on the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.
  4. Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (1983, Physics): Born in Lahore, British India; became a US citizen. For his theoretical studies of the physical processes important to the structure and evolution of stars (Chandrasekhar Limit).
  5. V.S. Naipaul (2001, Literature): Born in Trinidad and Tobago, of Indian ancestry; British citizen.
  6. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (2009, Chemistry): Born in Chidambaram, India; became a US and British citizen. For studies of the structure and function of the ribosome.
  7. Abhijit Banerjee (2019, Economic Sciences): Born in Krishnanagar, West Bengal, India; became a US citizen. For his experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.
  8. The 14th Dalai Lama (1989, Peace): Born in Tibet, lives in India (Dharamsala). For his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people’s struggle to regain their liberty.

V. Controversies and Criticisms

The Nobel Prizes, particularly the Peace and Literature prizes, have been subject to numerous controversies.

• Omission of Mahatma Gandhi: Perhaps the most notable omission. Gandhi was nominated multiple times (1937, 1938, 1939, 1947, and just before his assassination in January 1948) but never received the Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee later expressed regret for this.
• Political Motivation: Critics often argue that some awards, especially the Peace Prize, are politically motivated or premature (e.g., Barack Obama in 2009 just months into his presidency).
• Controversial Laureates:
  • Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin (Peace, 1994): Shared for the Oslo Accords, but Arafat’s past as a leader of a group that engaged in terrorism drew criticism.
  • Le Duc Tho and Henry Kissinger (Peace, 1973): For the Paris Peace Accords to end the Vietnam War. Tho declined, stating peace had not truly been achieved, and Kissinger’s role in covert operations drew criticism.
• Scientific Oversights:
  • Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Discovered pulsars but was overlooked for the 1974 Physics Prize, which went to her supervisor Antony Hewish and Martin Ryle.
  • Rosalind Franklin: Her critical X-ray diffraction work was instrumental in discovering the DNA structure, but she died before the 1962 prize was awarded to Watson, Crick, and Wilkins, making her ineligible for a posthumous award.
• Hitler’s Ban on Germans Accepting Prizes: After Carl von Ossietzky (a German pacifist) won the 1935 Peace Prize while imprisoned by the Nazis, Adolf Hitler forbade any German from accepting a Nobel Prize. Richard Kuhn (Chemistry, 1938), Adolf Butenandt (Chemistry, 1939), and Gerhard Domagk (Physiology or Medicine, 1939) were forced to decline but later received their diplomas and medals after WWII.
• Declined Prizes: Only two laureates have voluntarily declined:
  • Jean-Paul Sartre (Literature, 1964): Refused all official awards.
  • Le Duc Tho (Peace, 1973): Cited lack of actual peace in Vietnam.
• Gender Bias: Historically, there has been a significant disparity, with very few women receiving Nobel Prizes. While the numbers are slowly improving, this remains a point of critique. Marie Curie is the only person to win Nobel Prizes in two different scientific fields (Physics 1903, Chemistry 1911).

VI. Nobel Lectures and Banquets

• Nobel Lectures: According to the Nobel Foundation’s statutes, each laureate is required to give a public lecture on a subject related to their prize. These usually occur during Nobel Week.
• Nobel Banquet: A grand banquet is held in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall after the award ceremony in Sweden, attended by the Swedish Royal Family and distinguished guests. A separate, smaller banquet is held in Oslo after the Peace Prize ceremony.

VII. Key Takeaways for Exams

• Founder and his will: Alfred Nobel, “greatest benefit to humankind.”
• Six Categories: Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics (the latter not in Nobel’s original will).
• Awarding Bodies: Know which institution awards which prize.
• Key Dates: 1901 (first awards), Dec 10 (award ceremony).
• Key Rules: Max 3 laureates, no posthumous (generally), 50-year secrecy.
• Indian Laureates: Memorize names, fields, and reasons for Indians/Indian-origin laureates. Distinguish between citizens and others.
• Notable Controversies: Especially Gandhi’s omission, Peace Prize debates, and declined awards.