The annual Nobel Prize was shaped after dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel approved in his will in 1895 that most of his wealth would be allocated to a fund that would award five prizes in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and peace, all of which would contribute to the benefit of humanity.

In 1968, the Swedish Central Bank added the sixth prize for economics, but it does not officially bear the name of the Nobel Prize, but is called the "Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics".

Awards have been awarded since 1901, and the annual prize was only interrupted during the First and Second World Wars.

Origins

The chemist Alfred Nobel considered himself a peace-lover, but his invention of dynamite in 1867, his dedication to explosives, and the creation of 90 weapons factories attached to him a charge he did not like, as he was nicknamed the "merchant of death."

In 1888, Nobel's brother Ludwig died, so French newspapers confused him with Alfred, and called Nobel by mistake, and one of them published the news under the title "The merchant of death died", which made him worry about his reputation and fear his biography, which will circulate after his death.

Adding to his sadness at what would be circulated after his death, the French newspaper's obituary read: "The merchant of death is dead. Dr. Alfred Nobel, who amassed a fortune by discovering a faster way to kill as many people as possible, passed away yesterday.

Nobel was greatly influenced by these words, especially since he considers himself a pacifist and a lover of peace, and as an expression of his remorse, he decided to allocate 94% of his revolution (31 million Swedish kronor) to invest it in distributing awards for achievements that serve humanity in 5 fields, without discrimination in sex or nationality.


After Nobel read his obituary himself, he asked his friends to sign the third amended version of his will, to be authenticated at the headquarters of the Norwegian Club (after Sweden separated from Norway it became the Swedish Club) on November 27, 1895.

Nobel died of a stroke in 1896, so the will and its details were revealed, at first the Swedish parliament refused to implement it, and the French government tried to extend its control over Nobel's legacy to collect its taxes, after making France his headquarters before his death.

Despite all these obstacles, Nobel's friends and heirs were able to convince Parliament to implement them, so the legislature appointed a special committee to follow up on the matter, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee was established in April 1897, and then the Karolinska Institute, the Swedish Academy and the Royal Swedish Academy respectively in June of the same year.

In 1900, King Oscar II ratified a law establishing the Nobel Prize Foundation.

The first award ceremony in the five fields was held in Stockholm, Sweden in 1901, with the first prize going to Herne Dunant for his efforts in founding the International Red Cross.

In 1902, it was decided that the King of Sweden would hand over the prizes to the winners himself, and the Swedish monarchs have been attending the award ceremonies ever since.

In 1903, Pierre Curie announced his refusal to accept the prize, protesting that his wife Marie had not been nominated for her contribution to research on radioactive materials, and the prize board decided to nominate her and become the first woman to win the Nobel.


Nobel Legacy Fund

Alfred Nobel left most of his property to be converted into a fund and invested, with "the income from the investments to be distributed annually in the form of prizes to those who during the previous year had bestowed the greatest benefit to mankind," as he stated in his will.

The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner of the Nobel Fund, a joint governing body of the awarding institutions, but does not interfere with the decisions of nominating winners or committee decisions in selecting winners.

Nomination Committees and Selection of Winners

The Nobel Peace Prize is the only prize chosen in Norway, based on the Nobel Testament, with winners selected in the remaining fields in Sweden.

The Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Physics, the Nobel Society of the Karolinska Institute selects the winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, and the Swedish Academy determines the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Medical Science Awards Committee at the Karolinska Institute consists of 50 members, the Swedish Academy also has 50 members, the Chemistry and Physics Committee consists of 300 members from the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Peace Prize is supervised by the Norwegian Institute, which assigns 5 members to its committee.

The names of the nominees are submitted to the committees each year by about 3,300 people, then the work of these candidates is evaluated to reduce their numbers from a few thousand to about <> names, and then these names are handed over to the awarding institutions.


Committee for the evaluation of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway

The Norwegian Nobel Committee (responsible for the Nobel Peace Prize) is composed of 5 individuals appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, often retired politicians, academics, university professors, researchers and former winners.

Candidates are selected before January 31 each year, and committee members are allowed to nominate people after that date no later than the first committee meeting in February.

Members begin submitting written proposals for their nominators starting in February, and may enlist outside consultants to help determine the relevance and merit of each candidate.

After the meeting of the members, the names of the most prominent candidates are presented in a short list sent for evaluation by consultants and experts in the field, and meetings are held once a month until the decision is decided on the first of October of each year.

The committee tries to decide unanimously, but in some cases, it says they are rare, the choice is made based on a majority decision. The winners are contacted a quarter of an hour before the announcement at a press conference held by the committee.

The list of candidates remains secret and is not disclosed until 50 years later, but candidates are free to disclose who they have nominated.


Conditions for candidacy and winning

  • Anyone can be nominated to be alive.
  • The winner can re-nominate for the prize a maximum of 3 times.
  • Self-candidacy is not accepted.
  • Nominations are received from members of national councils, governments and international courts, as well as university presidents and academics in the five fields, and leaders of peace research institutes and foreign affairs institutes.
  • Former Nobel Peace Prize winners, board members of Nobel Peace Prize winning organizations, current and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and former consultants at the Norwegian Nobel Institute can propose a nomination.
  • Only those alive in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, economics and literature are accepted for nomination.
  • No age requirement is required for candidacy.
  • The criteria for selecting the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize go back to the commandment of the scientist Nobel, who recommended "reducing the number of permanent armies, and contributing and participating in the establishment of events and conferences for peace and fraternity among nations."
  • After receiving the prize, the committee disclaims responsibility for the actions of the winner after his victory, as it awards him based on his efforts that preceded the receipt of the prize.
  • The prize is cancelled in any field if no one is eligible for it.


Award Delivery Mechanism

The names of the winners are announced by the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on the first of October, and the award ceremony is held in Stockholm and Oslo on the tenth of December of each year, which coincides with the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel.

Prior to the ceremony, a series of press conferences, panel discussions and lectures will be held for the winners, with a concert for the winners at the Stockholm Ballroom, followed by a "Nobel Dialogue Week".

The Nobel banquet is an annual tradition overseen by the royal family, where winners attend with their spouses as guests of honour inside the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall, then be invited to a royal dinner at the royal palace and meet the ruling family for the second time.

The ceremony ends with the winners visiting the Nobel Foundation and signing in the guestbook, and their names are added to the winners' register.

Nobel Prize medal made of 18k gold (European News Agency)

Prize

The prize is a medal made of 18-carat gold, with a diploma called a Nobel diploma, in addition to a piece of art with 10 million Swedish kronor for the winner, divided if the winners are two or 3 (the maximum number of winners) and there is no requirement for equality between them in distribution.

The winner is crowned with a laurel wreath, according to the custom prevailing in the competitions of ancient Greece.

Winners who did not receive their prizes

Hitler prevents 3 of his compatriots

Adolf Hitler prevented three of his German compatriots, Richard Kuhn, Adolf Buttenandt, and Gerhard Dumajek, from accepting the Nobel Prize, but they were later able to receive the medal and the Nobel diploma without receiving the money.

The Soviet Union prevents Boris Pasternak

After Boris Pasternak accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958, the authorities of his country (then the Soviet Union) forced him to refuse the prize.


Author Jean-Paul Sartre

تخلى الفيلسوف الفرنسي جان بول سارتر عن كتابة الأدب في الأعوام الأخيرة من حياته، لكنه حصل على جائزة نوبل للآداب في أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 1964 وهو العام نفسه الذي تخلى فيه عن الكتابة.

أرسل سارتر للأكاديمية، قائلا إنه "لا يرغب في إدراجه في قائمة الفائزين بالجائزة، لا في عام 1964 ولا في المستقبل، وإنه لن يكون قادرا على قبول هذه الجائزة".

وقال سارتر إن أسباب رفضه الجائزة لا تخص الأكاديمية السويدية ولا جائزة نوبل في حد ذاتها، ولكنه اعتاد على رفض الأوسمة الرسمية والتكريم، بما في ذلك وسام "جوقة الشرف" الفرنسي عام 1945 بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية.

ويرى الكاتب أنه يجب أن يتبنى مواقف سياسية أو اجتماعية أو أدبية فقط بالوسائل الخاصة به أي الكلمة المكتوبة، مضيفا أن التكريم يعرض أفكاره لضغط لا يريده.

الكاتب جورج برنارد

رفض الأديب الأيرلندي جورج برنارد شو استلام جائزة نوبل عام 1925 لعدم اقتناعه بأهميتها، وسخر منها ومن مؤسسها، لكنه تراجع وقبلها من غير أن يأخذ قيمتها النقدية، وقال إن "القراء وجماهيري يزودونني بأموال كافية لاحتياجاتي وأكثر".

المعارض الصيني ليو شياوبو

حصل ليو شياوبو على جائزة نوبل للسلام في الثامن من أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2010، وقالت لجنة نوبل النرويجية إنه حصل على الجائزة "لنضاله الطويل وغير العنيف من أجل حقوق الإنسان الأساسية في الصين"، رغم أنه كان معتقلا.

لكن هذه الجائزة تسببت بفتور لفترة طويلة بين الصين والنرويج، ومارست الصين ضغوطا سياسية على النرويج بعد هذه الجائزة.


جوائز تعرضت للنقد

الطبيب أنطونيوس إيجاس مونيز (عام 1949)

حصل الطبيب أنطونيوس إيجاس مونيز على جائزة نوبل للطب لاختراعه عملية فصل الفص المخي الجبهي للمرضى الذين يعانون من الوسواس القهري والفصام والاكتئاب، لكن ثبت فشلها في ما بعد.

جوائز نوبل للأدب "الأكثر تعرضا للنقد"

الروائي ليو تولستوي (عام 1901)

تم ترشيح الروائي الروسي ليو تولستوي لجائزة نوبل في الأدب كل عام بدءا من 1902 إلى عام 1906، بعد انتقادات شديدة تعرضت لها الأكاديمية السويدية لعدم ترشيحه عام 1901، وتلقت الأكاديمية رسالة من 42 كاتبا وأديبا سويديا معبرين عن استيائهم من عدم ترشيحه.

ومع ذلك لم يفز تولستوي في سنوات ترشحه، وقيل إنه لم يفز بسبب تحفظات الأكاديمية على مواقفه السياسية والدينية، إضافة إلى العلاقات المتوترة بين روسيا والسويد وقتها.

المؤلف جون شتاينبك (عام 1962)

حصل المؤلف الأميركي جون شتاينبك على جائزة نوبل للآداب عن كتاباته الواقعية والخيالية التي "جمعت بين روح الدعابة والتعاطف الاجتماعي"، حسب اللجنة المانحة للجائزة، وتعرضت اللجنة للانتقاد بشدة ووصف تصرفها بأنه "واحد من أكبر أخطاء الأكاديمية السويدية".

وكشف أرشيف جائزة نوبل أن شتاينبك كان "خيارا توفيقيا" من بين قائمة مختصرة، وأظهرت الوثائق التي رفعت عنها السرية أنه تم اختياره كونه أفضل الخيارات السيئة، واعترف الكاتب بنفسه أنه لا يستحقها، عندما سئل يوم إعلان الجائزة عن رأيه.


الأديب الروسي ألكسندر سولجينتسين (عام 1970)

منحت جائزة نوبل للآداب للمعارض السوفياتي ألكسندر سولجينتسين الذي لم يحضر الاحتفال في ستوكهولم، خشية أن يمنع الاتحاد السوفياتي عودته.

ورغم أن الأكاديمية السويدية اختارته فائزا بالجائزة، فقد رفضت الحكومة السويدية عقد حفل توزيع الجوائز ومحاضرة استلام الجائزة في سفارتها بموسكو كما طلب الأديب السوفياتي، فرفض سولجينتسين الجائزة بالكامل، وعلّق على أن الشروط التي وضعها السويديون كانت "إهانة لجائزة نوبل نفسها".

تراجع سولجينتسين عن موقفه وقبل الجائزة في العاشر من ديسمبر/كانون الأول 1974، بعدما نفاه الاتحاد السوفياتي، ويشير بعض النقاد إلى أنه حصل على الجائزة بسبب موقفه السياسي، وليس على خلفية القيمة الأدبية لأعماله.

الكاتبان السويديان إيفيند يونسون وهاري مارتينسون (عام 1974)

Swedish writers Evend Jønsson and Harry Martinsson shared the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1974 despite being members of the Swedish Academy that awards it, causing a stir at the time.

Photographer Jean-Claude Arnault (2018)

The Nobel Prize for Literature was withheld from French photographer Jean-Claude Arnault after 18 women (some of them members of the Swedish Academy) made sexual harassment allegations against him, and this prize caused the resignation of 6 members of the Swedish Academy.


Nobel Peace Prize. Second most criticized award

George Marshall (1953)

George Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, and because he was commander of U.S. military forces during the U.S.-Philippine War, his victory was much criticized.

Political Aung San Suu Kyi (1991)

Demands for the withdrawal of the Nobel Peace Prize began with Aung San Kyi in early September 2017 due to her silence and positions on the massacres and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar (Burma).

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) called on the Nobel Peace Committee to withdraw its prize, and activists on social media launched campaigns for the same goal, but the Nobel Institute in Norway announced that it could not strip the Myanmar chancellor of her prize.

Aung San Suu Kyi won her award for her opposition to military rule in Myanmar, and was subjected to house arrest from 1989 to 1995, but after reconciling with the military, she ignored what her country's soldiers were doing to the Rohingya Muslims, and refused more than once to condemn it.

U.S. President Barack Obama (2018)

Former US President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a few months after taking office, making the prize a mockery and critics saying he had yet to offer peace.

"Perhaps the big issue that overshadows my winning this prize is that I am commander-in-chief of the army of a country that is fighting two wars," Obama said in a speech at the Nobel Peace Prizes ceremony in late 2009, referring to his country's wars on Afghanistan and Iraq.


Arab Nobel Prize Winners

Peter Medawar

Briton of Lebanese descent Peter Medawar was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1960, jointly with Australian Frank Burnett for their discovery of "acquired immune tolerance".

Mohamed Anwar El , Sadat

Former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978, after signing the Camp David Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel.

Naguib Mahfouz

In 1988, Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Elias James Khoury

Elias James Khoury, an American of Lebanese descent, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1990 for his research in organic structure theory.

Yasser Arafat

Former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, because, according to the committee, they had contributed to "peace in the Middle East."

Ahmed Zewail

Egyptian-American chemist Ahmed Zewail was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1999 for his efforts and research on femtoseconds.

Mohamed El , Baradei

In October 2005, Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBaradei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), with whom the prize was shared, in recognition of their efforts to contain the spread of nuclear weapons.


Tawakol Karman First Arab woman to win the Nobel Prize

Tawakkol Karman, a right-wing journalist and human rights activist and president of Women Journalists Without Chains, received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Liberian activist Lima Gobuye.

The Quartet sponsoring the Tunisian national dialogue

The Quartet for National Dialogue in Tunisia was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its active contribution to building a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia after the 2011 Jasmine Revolution.

The committee is composed of four Tunisian organizations: the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Union of Industry, Commerce and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights (LTDH) and the National Association of Lawyers in Tunisia.

Nadia Murad

Iraqi Yazidi activist Nadia Murad was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to end the use of rape as a weapon in war and armed conflict in 2018.