Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Nobel Prize

Starting point is 00:00:00 On December 10th, 1896, the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel passed away. In his will, he gifted most of his estate for the creation of a prize that rewarded people for excellence in various forms of human endeavor. Over 100 years later, the prize he created is one of the most prestigious awards that are given out in the world. Learn more about the Nobel Prize, how they were created, and how they work on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? throughline is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR.

Starting point is 00:00:59 If you know anything about the history of the Nobel Prize and why it was created, you probably know part of the story, but probably not the whole story. The story begins with the man whose name is on the prize. I'm in the prize, Alfred Nobel. Nobel was born on October 21st, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. His father was an engineer and an inventor, but while the family was in Sweden, they were perpetually poor. When he was nine, his family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. There, his father found success operating a small factory that made tools and explosives. He did a good business fulfilling weapons contracts from the Russian government. With his father's successful armaments business, Alfred's family was able to hire private tutors for him and provide him with a top-notch

Starting point is 00:01:42 education. He became proficient in six languages, Swedish, French, Russian, English, German, and Italian. When he came of age, he worked at a laboratory in Paris for two years and traveled extensively. However, he returned to St. Petersburg to work in his father's factory. He worked there until his father went bankrupt in the aftermath of the Crimean War. From there, he returned to Sweden, where he began experimenting with the extremely unstable and dangerous substance known as nitroglycerin. In 1863, he received a Swedish patent for the percussion detonator, which was a safer method of igniting explosives compared to gunpowder. In 1865, he invented the blasting cap. However, in 1864, tragedy struck when a shed used to prepare nitroglycerin exploded at his factory outside of Stockholm,

Starting point is 00:02:27 killing five people, including his brother Emel. The accident and the death of his brother led him to find safer methods of handling the inherently dangerous nitroglycerin. In 1867, he invented a substance that retained the explosive power of nitroglycerin, but was much safer to handle. He did this by mixing nitroglycerin with primarily diatomaceous earth. He originally called it Nobel's blasting powder, but later changed its name to dynamite. Dynamite was his most famous and successful invention, but hardly is only one. He held over 300 patents, mostly dealing with pressurized gases and gauges. It did make him rich. His brothers founded an oil company that he invested in, which eventually

Starting point is 00:03:09 made him even more wealthy. Nobel never married and never had any children. He ran several successful businesses all over Europe and traveled constantly. He was very reserved and few people ever got close to him. According to one of his biographers, in 1888, an event occurred which was a pivotal moment in his life and in this story. His brother Ludwig died. It wasn't the death of his brother per se that changed him. It was an obituary written in a Paris newspaper. The newspaper had wrongly assumed that Alfred had died and wrote his obituary instead. The headline of the obituary read, The Merchant of Death is Dead. Supposedly, after reading his own obituary, he set about to ensure that he was known for something more than the creation of a deadly substance

Starting point is 00:03:55 like dynamite. I should note that this story, as great as it is, has never been verified. There's no evidence that the newspaper it supposedly ran in actually existed. However, it's a story that's been propagated for over a century now. In fact, there is nothing on the record, written or otherwise, that would suggest that Nobel felt guilty in any way about the invention of dynamite. Quite the opposite, actually. Nobel felt that the invention would eventually pave the way to peace. One of his former secretaries was a woman by the name of Bertha von Stuttner. After she stopped working for Nobel, she became a notable 19th century peace activist, and the two kept in correspondence throughout their life. In one of his letters,

Starting point is 00:04:38 to her, he wrote, quote, my factories may make an end of war sooner than your congresses. The day when two army corps can annihilate each other in one second, all civilized nations it is hoped will recoil from war and discharge their troops, end quote. That being said, Nobel oddly enough, considered himself to be a pacifist. It might be that von Stunner's ideas eventually rubbed off on him. While his motivations may be in question, what we do know is that when he died on December 10, 1896 at the age of 63, he left behind a very specific will. 94% of his assets worth an estimated $200 million today were dedicated to an annual prize,

Starting point is 00:05:20 quote, to those who during the preceding year shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The categories were physics, physiology, aka medicine, chemistry, literature, and peace. His family was shocked at the will. Several members of the family. considered contesting the will. There were legal problems with the will as well. Nobody was sure where Nobel's legal residence was. He had moved around and had lived in Russia, France, and Italy, but he never became a citizen in any of those countries. Had he been found to have been a resident of France, the will could have been interpreted to a violated French law, and the French government could have taxed the estate. It ultimately took five years to resolve all of the

Starting point is 00:06:01 legal issues surrounding his will. Much about his will was also rather vague, so his executors the Swedish scientist Ragnar Solman and Rudolf Liliquist, established the Nobel Foundation in 1900 to manage the fortune and distribute the prizes. In his will, Nobel specified exactly who would be awarding the prizes. At the time of Nobel's death, Norway and Sweden were a single country. The Peace Prize was to be awarded by the Norwegian Parliament. They created the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which consists of five members appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.

Starting point is 00:06:34 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was responsible for the award in physics and chemistry. The Karolinska Institute awards the prize in medicine. The Karolinska Institute is a medical and research university outside of Stockholm. Finally, the prize in literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy, which is the organization that has the highest authority over the Swedish language. It should be noted that none of these organizations were notified about being responsible for these awards when the will was written. There is nothing about them being compensated for the work involved in handing out the awards either. The responsibility for doing this was simply dropped on them.

Starting point is 00:07:09 One of the things that's been a mystery is why Nobel chose the fields he did for the prizes. Physics and chemistry makes sense, but why not mathematics? Medicine makes sense, but there's no award explicitly for biology. If you're going to have an award for literature, then why not one for music or painting? There have been rumors that the reason no award was given for mathematics is because Nobel's fiancé had an affair with a mathematician. However, there is no proof of this whatsoever. it would seem that the awards were just subjects that interested Nobel.

Starting point is 00:07:41 Alfred Nobel was just not interested in math. The Peace Prize may have been a nod to his long-term friend Bertha von Stutner, who, not surprisingly, won the Nobel Peace Prize herself in 1905. With all of the legal issues surrounding the will out of the way, and with the Nobel Foundation established, the first awards were presented on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel on December 10, 1901. December 10th is still the day of the official. award ceremony today. The first recipients of the Nobel Prize were Jacobus von

Starting point is 00:08:12 Hoff of the Netherlands in chemistry for his discovery of the laws of chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure in solutions. Wilhelm Rundken of Germany in physics for the discovery of x-rays. Emil von Bering in Germany and medicine for his work on serum therapy, especially its applications against diphtheria. René Prudhomme of France and special recognition of his poetic composition. The Peace Prize was divided between two Frenchmen. Jean Dunant and Frederick Passet. Dunant was honored for his humanitarian efforts to help wounded soldiers and create international understanding, and Passet, for his lifelong work in international peace conferences, diplomacy and arbitration. The award quickly rose in prominence due to the money

Starting point is 00:08:53 that was associated with the prize. Nobel Prize recipients receive a medal which has a profile of Alfred Nobel on it, a diploma from the King of Sweden or the Norwegian Parliament in the case of the Peace Prize, and a cash stipend. As of today, the amount awarded is 8 million Swedish croner, which is the equivalent of about 900,000 U.S. dollars. If a prize is split, then the cash award is split as well. Nominations are received for Nobel Prizes from a select group of experts in the field as determined by the committees. There are about 3,000 nomination forms sent out to individuals around the world. There is a rule that prizes are not to be awarded posthumously, so Isaac Newton will not be winning a Nobel Prize. However, there have been two cases

Starting point is 00:09:37 where the recipients have died after their nomination. The 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Eric Axel Karlfeldt, who died after he was nominated. And in 1961, the Peace Prize was awarded to U.N. Secretary Dog Hammersold, who was killed in a plane crash after his nomination. Since 1971, award recipients have to be alive at the time of the announcement. However, in 2011, one of the winners of the prize for chemistry, Ralph Steinman, died three days before the announcement, but the committee didn't know about it. They didn't rescind the award as they claimed it was given in good faith. The award was originally supposed to be given for things done within the previous year. However, this caused problems. There have been two cases

Starting point is 00:10:21 where Nobel Prizes had been given for discoveries, which were later proven to be false. The 1926 Prize in Medicine was awarded to Johannes Fibger, who discovered a parasite that caused cancer. It was later found that the parasites had absolutely nothing to do with cancer. In 1906, the prize in medicine was given jointly to Camillo Golgi and Santiago Romone Icahall in recognition for their work on the structure of the nervous system. The problem was they each had diametrically opposed views on how the nervous system worked. Golgi thought that the nervous system was a single network, whereas Cahal thought it was a collection of cells known as neurons.

Starting point is 00:11:00 Golgi's acceptance speech was mostly cutting down Cahall, even though it was Cahall who was later proven correct. There have only been four people in history who have been awarded two Nobel Prizes. Marie Curie was awarded a prize in physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911. Linus Pauling won the prize in chemistry in 1954 and peace in 1962. John Bardeen won the prize in physics in 1956 and 1972, and Frederick Sanger won the prize in chemistry in 1958 and 1980. There have been controversy surrounding many who have received prizes and those who have not received them. Lisa Maitner, the Swedish Austrian physicist who co-discovered

Starting point is 00:11:39 nuclear fission, was never awarded a Nobel Prize. She was nominated 29 times in physics and 19 times in chemistry. Jocelyn Bell-Burnell helped discover pulsars, a discovery that was awarded the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics. However, the award went to her supervisor and not her. The most controversial prizes have always been in literature and peace, where the subject is far more subjective. Mahatma Gandhi was never given a Nobel Prize in Peace. However, when he was killed in 1948, the Nobel Committee decided not to award a medal to anyone, saying, quote, there were no suitable living candidates. There's one prize that you may have noticed is missing, the Nobel Prize in economics. The prize in economics was not part of the original will of Alfred Nobel. It was created

Starting point is 00:12:27 in 1968 when the Central Bank of Sweden donated a large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation for the establishment of an award in economics to honor Alfred Nobel. After the creation of this award, the Nobel Foundation Committee determined that there would be no new awards. One of the problems that's developed is that awards in science can only be awarded up to three individuals. This worked fine in the early 20th century when teams were much smaller. However, research today, such as the search for the Higgs boson particle, involves teams of thousands of people. Determining who should get a prize for their collective work is often more about politics than it is about science. The Nobel Prize has become one of the most prestigious awards in the world, recognizing and promoting the significant contributions

Starting point is 00:13:12 to science, literature, and peace. And there is probably no greater distinction on the planet today than to be known as a Nobel laureate. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Peter Bennett and Cameron Kiefer. Today's review comes from listener of Boom Kaja over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, Bear down, Chicago Bears, make every play clear the way to victory. Bear down, Chicago Bears, put up a fight with a might so fearlessly.

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Nobel Prize

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