The2012Nobel Prizes were awarded by theNobel Foundation, based inSweden. Six categories were awarded:Physics,Chemistry,Physiology or Medicine,Literature,Peace, andEconomic Sciences.[1]
Nobel Week took place from December 6 to 12, including programming such as lectures, dialogues, and discussions. The award ceremony and banquet for the Peace Prize were scheduled inOslo on December 10, while the award ceremony and banquet for all other categories were scheduled for the same day inStockholm.[2][3]
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Serge Haroche (b. 1944) |  French | "for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individualquantumsystems." | [4] |
 | David J. Wineland (b. 1944) |  American | ||
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Robert Lefkowitz (b. 1943) | American | "for studies ofG-protein-coupled receptors" | [5] |
.jpg) | Brian Kobilka (b. 1955) | |||
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | SirJohn B. Gurdon (b. 1933) |  United Kingdom | "for the discovery that mature cells can bereprogrammed to becomepluripotent" | [6] |
 | Shinya Yamanaka (b. 1962) |  Japan | ||
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) | Mo Yan (b. 1955) |  China | "who withhallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary" | [7] |
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | European Union (founded 1958) | European Union | "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe." | [8] |
| Awardee(s) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Alvin E. Roth (b. 1951) | United States | "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design" | [9] |
_crop.jpg) | Lloyd S. Shapley (1923–2016) | |||
The Peace Prize's awarding to theEuropean Union drew various criticisms fromEurosceptics and both Europe'sfar-left andfar-right; detractors questioned the union's alleged record of peacemaking activities and peace outcomes.[10][11][12] Previous laureatesDesmond Tutu,Mairead Maguire andAdolfo Pérez Esquivel, in an open letter written to theNobel Foundation, also criticized the awarding on the basis of the European Union's imposition of "... security based on military force and waging wars rather than insisting on the need for an alternative approach".[13]