TIME.CO, Jakarta – Nobel prize taken from the name of its initiator, Alfred Nobel. He is a businessman and dynamite maker from Sweden. Long story short, he felt guilty for creating dynamite. On top of that, his factory also exploded and killed his older brother, Ludvig.
According to brandeis.edu, this incident caused Alfred Nobel to have a crisis of conscience. A year before his death he made a will to reward people who had carried out useful humanitarian work in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology, literature, peace, to which economics was added in 1968.
In his will, 94% of Alfred Nobel’s wealth was donated to award an award that would later be called the Nobel Prize. Here are some interesting facts about the Nobel Prize:
1. Nobel Prizes are awarded by many institutions
According to fact.net, the Nobel Foundation only gives nominations and decides who receives the prize. However, the prizes are awarded by different institutions. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is the institution that awards Nobel Prizes in the physics and chemistry categories. Meanwhile, the physiology category was awarded by the Karolinska Institute. The Norwegian Nobel Committee is responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in the field of peace. Finally, the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed by the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1968.
2. Nobel Prize medals are made of real gold
Before 1980, Nobel Prize medals were made of 23-karat gold. However, from 1980 to the present, Nobel Prize medals are made of 19-karat green gold with 24-karat gold plating. Now, the medal collection is held by the Norwegian Mint after previously being held by the Swedish Mint,
3. The Nobel Prize candidates were not informed
Around 3,000 people are nominated for the Nobel Prize every year. However, the appointment will not be communicated to them. The nominated person will only find out if you have won the Nobel Prize. If they don’t win, they will have to wait about 25 years to find out the final candidates in the various fields.
Announcement
4. The Nobel Prize medal in economics has the symbol of a star
The peculiarity of all categories of Nobel Prize medals is that behind them is the face of Alfred Nobel. In the economy category, the symbol of a star was added and accompanied by the words “Sveriges Riksbank until Alfred Nobels Minne 1968”. When interpreted into Indonesian, the sentence reads “The Sveriges Riksbank, in commemoration of Alfred Nobel, 1968”.
5. The most controversial 1973 Nobel Peace Prize
In 1973, Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho received the Prize Nobel Peace Prize for successfully negotiating a ceasefire in the Vietnam War. The Norwegian Nobel Committee strongly protested that the ceasefire did nothing to end the war.
Kissinger was heavily criticized for making things worse, considering he was President Nixon’s national security advisor at the time. Le Duc Tho, however, refused the prize because there was still no peace in Vietnam.
6. The Ralph Steinman Story
The Nobel Prize never rewards people who have died. However, Ralph Steinman’s story is an exception. Quoting brandeis.edu, Ralph Steinman is a Canadian immunologist. Steinman won the Nobel Prize in Physiology on October 3, 2011. The Nobel Committee at that time was unaware that Steinman had died several days earlier. After some deliberation, Steinman finally received the Nobel Prize again.
Editor’s Choice: Nobel Prize, awarded by the reviewer who invented dynamite
Quoted From Many Source
