Source of this article: Times Weekly Author: Wang Chenting
In the new year, who will be rated as the person who "makes the greatest contribution to mankind" in the fields of science and economy?
According to the latest introduction of the Nobel Prize Committee, the 2022 Nobel Prize weeks are from October 3 to October 10. Due to the epidemic, no award ceremony was held in 2020 and 2021. The Nobel Prize Committee announced a resumption and will invite the previous two winners to gather in Stockholm in December this year.
This is a glory that was born 120 years ago.
"Here I ask executor to dispose of the remaining property that I can cash in the following way: exchange the above property into cash, and then make a safe and reliable investment; establish a foundation with this fund to reward the interest generated by the fund annually to those who have made outstanding contributions to mankind in the previous year. This interest is divided into five equal parts and allocated as follows:
one prize to those who have made the most significant discoveries or inventions in the physical world;
one prize to those who have the most significant discoveries or improvements in chemistry;
one prize to those who have the most significant discoveries or improvements in medicine and physiology worlds with the most significant worlds with the most significant chemistry;
one prize to those who have the most significant chemistry;
one prize to those who have the most significant chemistry;
one prize to those who have the most significant chemistry worlds with the most significant chemistry
one prize to those who have the most significant chemistry physiology The person who has made a major discovery;
A prize is for those who have created the best works with ideal tendencies in the literary world;
The last prize is for those who have made the best efforts or made the greatest contribution to the organization and publicity of peace conferences.
This is a valid will in all my wills."
In 1895, the 63-year-old Swedish chemist Nobel made a will and established the Nobel Foundation with the legacy of 31 million Swedish kroner . Since its first award in 1901, in addition to the suspension of issuance due to the war in some years, the Nobel Prize for has lasted for 120 years, and can be regarded as the most popular award in the world.
plus the "Swedish Central Bank commemorating the Nobel Prize for Economic Science" added by Swedish Central Bank in 1968. The Nobel Prize covers six major awards: Physics or Medicine Prize , Physics Prize, Chemistry Prize, Peace Prize, Literature Prize and Economic Prize.
Since its birth, the Nobel Prize has a halo, and the annual feast has attracted the attention of many scientists and scholars. Even if they have work to be busy, they will still take some time and energy to focus on the Nobel Prize winners.
From 1901 to 2021, the Nobel Prize was awarded 609 times. (Photo source: Nobel Prize official website)
How much does Nobel cost?
120 years have passed, and the Nobel Prize uses legacy as a bonus, but why is it inexhaustible? How much legacy does Nobel have?
1895, 63-year-old Nobel made a will to establish the Nobel Foundation with a legacy of 31 million Swedish kronor.
As a scientist, 63 years old is actually at the peak of scientific research, and the legacy of 31 million Swedish kroner is enough to prove his scientific research achievements in the market field. In that era, scientific research that made such rapid money was explosives.
Nobel was born in Sweden, but his father was appreciated by the Tsar as an engineer, so the family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia.
When Nobel was a teenager, he left Russia to study in the United States. It was not until 1859 that he returned to his hometown Stockholm because of his father's business failure that he worked in the research of nitroglycerin explosives.
Nobel's fortune was that he grew up in the explosion of tests due to improper operation. In the end, he tested it into the current detonator on a boat in a lake near Stockholm and successfully applied for a patent.
Nobel has obtained 355 patents worldwide in his lifetime. (Photo source: Nobel Prize official website)
He began to build his own factory, but he unexpectedly exploded as soon as it was put into production. He was put on the blacklist. Nobel left Sweden and began to build a factory in Germany, but it also exploded. In the end, his factory was built in California, USA, and a new detonator with safer and more stable performance was developed. Therefore, his explosives became a best-seller, widely used in the engineering field and also applied to the military field. After becoming famous, countries around the world continued to buy his products and patents, and Nobel became the world-famous "gunpowder king".
When Nobel's explosives were sold all over the world, he began to invest his funds in oil, machinery and other fields for profit, so Nobel became a real rich man. However, because he was busy with his career, Nobel has always been single and had no offspring. Therefore, when he was dying, he cashed out part of his assets and established the Nobel Prize.
Five years after his death, the Nobel Prize was first awarded in 1895, with a prize of 150,000 Swedish Kroner per individual item. According to Nobel's original intention, the prize money should ensure that the winner can continue his research without other income for 20 years. The bonus that year was exactly the same as the 20-year salary of a professor at that time.
By 2021, the Nobel Prize prize has increased to 10 million Swedish kroner, equivalent to more than 6.6 million yuan.
If compared with the current average salary of Chinese university teachers - domestic academic websites have counted that the salary of 985 colleges and universities is between 150,000 and 300,000 yuan - it is about 20 years' salary; if compared with the average salary of 60,000 euros per year for Swedish professors, it is equivalent to the salary of a Swedish professor in 15 years.
Average monthly salary of teachers in Swedish universities (Photo source: Internet screenshot)
The annual income is higher than the initial principal, and the continuation of the Nobel Prize is due to the good operation of the Nobel Foundation.
In fact, in the early stages of operation, the Nobel Prize was once in the dilemma of loss. Under the overly conservative investment strategy and gradually heavy tax burden, the Nobel Prize prize was shrunk year after the 150,000 Swedish Kroner prize in 1901 when it was "at its peak" in 1901.
1922 The Nobel Foundation's tax estimate reached its peak, exceeding the sum of the Nobel Prize reserved for the next year. This directly led to the Nobel Prize Award reaching a historical low of 115,000 Swedish Krone in 1923.
It was not until 1946 that the Nobel Foundation obtained the tax exemption from the Swedish government that the foundation's principal size began to grow. In 1953, the Swedish government further relaxed its policies, allowing the Nobel Foundation to freely invest in stocks and real estate, such as asset classes that were once included in the restricted area.
However, according to statistics from the Nobel Prize official website, until 1990, the actual value of the Nobel Prize bonus did not exceed the actual value of the first year's bonus. In 1991, the Nobel Prize bonus increased to 6 million Swedish kroner, and its actual value was basically the same as the bonus first awarded in 1901.
As of the end of 2021, this fund has been used for 126 years. The market value of the Nobel Fund has reached 6.103 billion Swedish kroner (approximately 3.93 billion yuan). If inflation factors are excluded, the actual value of the fund has more than tripled from its initial market value at the end of 2015.
1960-2021 Nobel Prize Prize and the market value of the Nobel Fund (Photo source: Nobel Prize official website)
Lagging prizes
From the specific awards, the annual Nobel Prize does not only focus on candidates who have made significant contributions the previous year. Especially the awards in science have obvious lag.
According to official statistics, it usually won the award around 18 years after the technology or theory is proposed. Judging from the winners of the Nobel Prize in Science from 1901 to 2014, the maximum lag time for the prize in physics, physiology or medicine is about 55 years from publishing scientific research results to winning the prize.
For example, the father of IVF Edwards started to study IVF in 1958, and in 1978, Louise Brown, the world's first IVF baby. When he won the award in 2010, he was 85 years old, and his baby Louise Brown was 32 years old.
Tu Youyou extracted artemisinin for the treatment of malaria in 1972, and did not win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine until 43 years later; Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded in 2019 commended John B. Goodinav , Stanley Weitinghan and Yoshino Akira in research contributions in lithium-ion battery , and 52 years have passed since the invention of lithium batteries.
This is the lag of the Nobel Prize, and on the other hand, it is also rigorous and authoritative, which is also in line with the research attributes of Nobel being constantly trial and error to improve the detonator.
But in the history of the Nobel Prize, the awards it awarded have also made mistakes.In 1927, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to the Danish Danish scientist Johnnis Feubigg in recognition of his research on cancer, which Feubigg believes is caused by a parasite "spirochete cancer". This conclusion seems completely wrong today, but it was highly recognized at the time.
often takes a long time to go from a new discovery to being verified. During this period, there will be various controversies and doubts. This is the most important feature for science. Therefore, many Nobel Prize winners complete verification while being constantly questioned, and only then can they win this honor.
, but there are exceptions, such as Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao are lucky ones. They went from proposing "parental non-conservation" to winning Nobel Prize in Physics , less than a year later. This award winning speed is the fastest in the history of the Nobel Prize in more than 100 years.
The law of parity non-conservation , as a subversive theoretical achievement, broke the " law of parity conservation proposed by physicist Weigener in 1927, and affected the foundation of physics. The reason why
was quickly recognized by the Nobel Prize Organizing Committee is that the theory is crucial to subsequent physics research. In addition, the theory has also been proved by experiments. Unfortunately, the experimental physicist Wu Jianxiong , who verified the theory of Yang and Li, did not share the Nobel Prize honor.
winner map
Nobel Prize winner map , the United States, Britain and Germany still firmly rank among the top three in the number of winners. As of 2021, there were 399 winners in the United States, 136 in the United Kingdom, and 111 in Germany. France, Sweden, Russia/Soviet, Japan, Canada, and Switzerland were the next.
Israel has won the Nobel Prize. It is worth mentioning that in the "Jews and the Nobel Prize" written by Israeli scholars, it was disclosed that although Jews only accounted for 0.2% of the world's population, since the establishment of the Nobel Prize in 1895, Jews have won 22% of the prizes. Entering this century, the proportion of winners has increased to 28%.
ignores Asia and Africa and is regarded as Nobel Prize The tradition of the Er Prize. Among Asian countries, only Japan has entered the top ten with 29 people.
On the African land, as of 2021, a total of 26 people have won the Nobel Prize. In 1957, Albert Camus , born in Algeria , won the Nobel Prize in Literature , and was the first African to win this prize. In 1960, Albert John Lutuli of South Africa became the first African black man to win the Nobel Prize for leading the National Assembly of South Africa to fight against the white government in non-violent struggles.
China also began to make its mark in the Nobel Prize field. In 1957, Nobel Physics shared by Yang Zhenning and Li Zhengdao The award for learning is the first time that Chinese people have won the Nobel Prize. After the new century, Chinese people have become more active. In 2009, the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded "Haven of Fiber " Kao , and the awards of Mo Yan and Tu Youyou were also inspired by the Chinese.
Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 (Photo source: Nobel Prize Official Website)
In Nobel's will, he specifically mentioned: "The nationality of the winner candidate is not considered. That is to say, no matter whether he or she is a Scandinavian, whoever meets the conditions best should receive the prize. I hereby declare that it is my urgent wish to award the prize in this way. "
Compared with the nationality of the winner, the greater imbalance is obviously in the field of gender - among the 947 Nobel Prize winners, only 58 are women. Among them, Marie Curie One person won the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics and the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry twice.
However, the Nobel Prize has also begun to be awarded more and more to women. Half of the female winners are in the last 2001-2021 Awarded in 0 years. Although it is still a minority compared to male winners and the huge number of female scientific researchers, writers and peace contributors in the world.
1901-2021 Nobel Prize female winners (Photo source: Nobel Prize official website)
To this day, the world is far from what it was 127 years ago. In a mobile world, how to understand the Nobel Prize has become a way to view new changes in this world.
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