Nobel stipulated in his last will and testament that his money be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" inphysics,chemistry,peace,physiology ormedicine, andliterature.[4][5] Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died, and signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club inParis on 27 November 1895.[6][7] Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, 31 millionSwedishkronor (US$198 million, €176 million in 2016), to establish and endow the five Nobel Prizes.[8] Due to the level of skepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that it was approved by theStorting (Norwegian Parliament).[9][10] The executors of his will wereRagnar Sohlman andRudolf Lilljequist, who formed theNobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's fortune and organise the prizes.[citation needed]
The members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that were to award thePeace Prize were appointed shortly after the will was approved. The prize-awarding organisations followed: theKarolinska Institutet on 7 June, theSwedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June.[11][12] The Nobel Foundation then reached an agreement on guidelines for how the Nobel Prize should be awarded. In 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly createdstatutes were promulgated by KingOscar II.[10][13][14] According to Nobel's will, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences were to award the Prize in Chemistry.[14]
The committee and institution serving as the selection board for the prize typically announce the names of the laureates in October. The prize is then awarded at formal ceremonies held annually on 10 December, the anniversary ofAlfred Nobel's death. "The highlight of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm is when each Nobel Laureate steps forward to receive the prize from the hands of His Majesty theKing of Sweden. The Nobel Laureate receives three things: a diploma, a medal and a document confirming the prize amount" ("What the Nobel Laureates Receive"). Later theNobel Banquet is held inStockholm City Hall.
A maximum of three laureates and two different works may be selected. The award can be given to a maximum of three recipients per year. It consists of a gold medal, a diploma, and a cash grant.[citation needed]
TheNobel Laureates in chemistry are selected by a committee that consists of five members elected by theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In its first stage, several thousand people are asked to nominate candidates. These names are scrutinized and discussed by experts until only the laureates remain. This slow and thorough process, is arguably what gives the prize its importance.
Forms, which amount to a personal and exclusive invitation, are sent to about three thousand selected individuals to invite them to submit nominations. The names of the nominees are never publicly announced, and neither are they told that they have been considered for the Prize. Nomination records are sealed for fifty years. In practice, some nominees do become known. It is also common for publicists to make such a claim – founded or not.
The nominations are screened by committee, and a list is produced of approximately two hundred preliminary candidates. This list is forwarded to selected experts in the field. They remove all but approximately fifteen names. The committee submits a report with recommendations to the appropriate institution.
While posthumous nominations are not permitted, awards can occur if the individual died in the months between the nomination and the decision of the prize committee.
The award in chemistry requires that the significance of achievements being recognized is "tested by time". In practice it means that the lag between the discovery and the award is typically on the order of 20 years and can be much longer. As a downside of this approach, not all scientists live long enough for their work to be recognized.
The medal for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is identical in design to theNobel Prize in Physics medal.[16][17] The reverse of the physics and chemistry medals depict theGoddess of Nature in the form ofIsis as she emerges from clouds holding acornucopia. The Genius of Science holds the veil which covers Nature's 'cold and austere face'.[17] It was designed byErik Lindberg and is manufactured by Svenska Medalj inEskilstuna.[17] It is inscribed "Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes" ("It is beneficial to have improved (human) life through discovered arts") an adaptation of "inventas aut qui vitam excoluere per artes" from line 663 from book 6 of theAeneid by the Roman poetVirgil.[18] A plate below the figures is inscribed with the name of the recipient. The text "REG. ACAD. SCIENT. SUEC." denoting the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is inscribed on the reverse.[17]
Nobel laureates receive a diploma directly from the hands of the King of Sweden. Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureate that receives it. The diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize.[19]
At the awards ceremony, the laureate is given a document indicating the award sum. The amount of the cash award may differ from year to year, based on the funding available from theNobel Foundation. For example, in 2009 the total cash awarded was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million),[20] but in 2012, the amount was 8 million Swedish Krona, or US$1.1 million.[21] If there are two laureates in a particular category, the award grant is divided equally between the recipients, but if there are three, the awarding committee may opt to divide the grant equally, or award half to one recipient and a quarter to each of the two others.[22][23][24][25]
In recent years, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has drawn criticism from chemists who feel that the prize is more frequently awarded to non-chemists than to chemists.[27] In the 30 years leading up to 2012, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded ten times for work classified asbiochemistry ormolecular biology, and once to amaterials scientist. In the ten years leading up to 2012, only four prizes were awarded for work strictly in chemistry.[27] Commenting on the scope of the award,The Economist explained that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is bound by Nobel's bequest, which specifies awards only in physics, chemistry, literature, medicine, and peace. Biology was in its infancy in Nobel's day and no award was established.The Economist argued there is no Nobel Prize for mathematics either, another major discipline, and added that Nobel's stipulation of no more than three winners is not readily applicable to modern physics, where progress is typically made through huge collaborations rather than by individuals alone.[28]
In 2020, Ioannidis et al. reported that half of the Nobel Prizes for science awarded between 1995 and 2017 were clustered in just a few disciplines within their broader fields.Atomic physics,particle physics,cell biology, andneuroscience dominated the two subjects outside chemistry, whilemolecular chemistry was the chief prize-winning discipline in its domain. Molecular chemists won 5.3% of all science Nobel Prizes during this period.[29]
After Nobel's death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to carry out the provisions of his will and to administer his funds. In his will, he had stipulated that four different institutions—three Swedish and one Norwegian—should award the prizes. From Stockholm, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confers the prizes for physics, chemistry, and economics, the Karolinska Institute confers the prize for physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy confers the prize for literature. The Norwegian Nobel Committee based inOslo confers the prize for peace. The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner and functional administrator of the funds and serves as the joint administrative body of the prize-awarding institutions, but it is not concerned with the prize deliberations or decisions, which rest exclusively with the four institutions.
^abHoffmann, Roald (9 February 2012). "What, Another Nobel Prize in Chemistry to a Nonchemist?".Angewandte Chemie International Edition.51 (8):1734–1735.doi:10.1002/anie.201108514.PMID22323188.
