Know About the Nobel Prizes

When Swedish chemist and philanthropist Alfred Nobel (who made much of his money from his invention of dynamite) died on December 10, 1896, his will stipulated that his fortune be used to fund individuals or organizations that provide the “greatest benefit on mankind.” The Nobel Prizes, awarded annually on the anniversary of Nobel’s death, remain some of the most prestigious awards in the world. Check out seven things you may not know about the Nobel Prizes.

1. So you want to win a Nobel Prize? Here are the rules.

As much as you might like to, you can’t nominate yourself for a Nobel Prize—someone else has to do it for you. You must be alive at the time of your nomination (more on that later). If you are nominated, you’ll likely never know unless you win. There are more than 200 initial nominees for the various awards each year, a number that is narrowed down by a selection committee to a shortlist (usually three to five people or organizations). The names of the initial nominees, as well as those shortlisted, are kept secret for 50 years, in part to prevent lobbying on the behalf of nominees.

2. Technically, the Economics award is not really a Nobel Prize.

Alfred Nobel’s will stipulated the creation of just five awards: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. However, since 1969, a sixth award has been handed out. In 1968, to honor its 300th anniversary, Sweden’s central bank created an endowment to fund a new prize honoring achievements in economic studies. Properly known as the “Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,” the award recipients are chosen by the Swedish Academy of Sciences (who also select the prizes in chemistry and physics) in conjunction with a prize committee (separate from the one that issues the awards in other categories) and recipients receive their awards at the same December ceremony.

3. Mahatma Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Beginning in 1937, Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi was nominated for the award five times. His final nomination came just weeks after his assassination in January 1948. At that point in its history, the Nobel Committee had never awarded a prize posthumously, though its original governing charter did allow for this in extenuating circumstances. However, the committee determined that Gandhi had left behind no suitable heirs or organizations able to accept the award or its prize money. Unwilling to bestow the award posthumously, yet recognizing Gandhi’s lifelong commitment to non-violence, they instead decided not to award that year’s peace prize to anyone, stating that there were no “suitable living candidates” worthy of the award. The Gandhi controversy endures: In 1961, Dag Hammarskjöld, Secretary-General of the United Nations, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, even though he had died in a plane crash earlier that year. When the Dalai Lama was awarded the peace prize in 1989, he announced that he was accepting the award, in part, as a tribute to Gandhi. And, in 2006, more than 50 years after Gandhi’s death, the Nobel Committee itself publicly acknowledged the omission, expressing regret that Gandhi had never been awarded the prize.

4. For the Curies, the Nobel Prizes were a family affair.

In 1903, Marie Curie became the first female Nobel laureate when she and her husband Pierre were awarded the physics prize (they were also the first husband and wife team to win). Eight years later, Marie won a second Nobel, this time on her own and in the chemistry field. In 1935, Marie and Pierre’s daughter, Irene, was awarded a prize in chemistry, which she shared with her husband Frederic Joliot. That’s five awards in just two generations. The Curie’s curious connection to the Nobel doesn’t end there, though. In 1965, Marie and Pierre’s son-in-law, Henry Labouisse, was serving as Executive Director of UNICEF when that organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

5. Albert Einstein’s ex-wife got his Nobel Prize money.

The marriage of physicist Albert Einstein and his first wife Mileva Marić was rocky from the start. A promising scientist herself, Mileva abandoned her studies after they wed in 1903, and soon devoted herself to raising their two sons. In 1914, Einstein left his family, moving to Berlin while Mileva and the boys remained in Switzerland. Two years earlier, Einstein had begun a relationship with his cousin, Elsa, and he was soon pressuring Mileva for a divorce. After five years of negotiations, they finally agreed on a settlement. Einstein, never in doubt of his own talents, promised that the monetary award from any future Nobel Prize he received would be put in trust for his sons, with Mileva allowed to draw from the interest. Mileva accepted, and when Einstein was awarded the Nobel in physics in 1922, the prize money was duly transferred over to his former wife.

6. Several people have turned down the Nobel.

It’s rare, but it has happened. French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Satre was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1964, but declined that (and any other) official honors. In 1973, Communist Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho was jointly awarded the peace prize with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for their work negotiating the Paris Peace Accords during the Vietnam War. Kissinger accepted his award, but Tho refused, stating that a true peace had not actually been achieved. When Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1958, he quickly accepted, telegraphing the Nobel Committee that he was, “immensely thankful” and “proud,” however, officials of the Soviet Union, who had successfully prevented publication of Pasternak’s work (including Doctor Zhivago), almost immediately pressured him into rejecting the prize. The Nobel Foundation would not select another winner, nor would it remove Pasternak’s name from the record books. Finally, near the end of the Cold War in 1989, Pasternak’s son Yevgeny accepted the award on his father’s behalf.

The Establishment of the Nobel Prize

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his third and last will at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris. When it was opened and read after his death, the will caused a lot of controversy both in Sweden and internationally, as Nobel had left much of his wealth for the establishment of a prize. His family opposed the establishment of the Nobel Prize, and the prize awarders he named refused to do what he had requested in his will. It was five years before the first Nobel Prize could be awarded in 1901.

In this excerpt of the will, Alfred Nobel dictates that his entire remaining estate should be used to endow "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind."

"The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiology or medical works by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."

Alfred Nobel's Will

I, the undersigned, Alfred Bernhard Nobel, do hereby, after mature deliberation, declare the following to be my last Will and Testament with respect to such property as may be left by me at the time of my death:

To my nephews, Hjalmar and Ludvig Nobel, the sons of my brother Robert Nobel, I bequeath the sum of Two Hundred Thousand Crowns each;

To my nephew Emanuel Nobel, the sum of Three Hundred Thousand, and to my niece Mina Nobel, One Hundred Thousand Crowns;

To my brother Robert Nobel's daughters, Ingeborg and Tyra, the sum of One Hundred Thousand Crowns each;

Miss Olga Boettger, at present staying with Mrs Brand, 10 Rue St Florentin, Paris, will receive One Hundred Thousand Francs;

Mrs Sofie Kapy von Kapivar, whose address is known to the Anglo-Oesterreichische Bank in Vienna, is hereby entitled to an annuity of 6000 Florins Ö.W. which is paid to her by the said Bank, and to this end I have deposited in this Bank the amount of 150,000 Fl. in Hungarian State Bonds;

Mr Alarik Liedbeck, presently living at 26 Sturegatan, Stockholm, will receive One Hundred Thousand Crowns;

Miss Elise Antun, presently living at 32 Rue de Lubeck, Paris, is entitled to an annuity of Two Thousand Five Hundred Francs. In addition, Forty Eight Thousand Francs owned by her are at present in my custody, and shall be refunded;

Mr Alfred Hammond, Waterford, Texas, U.S.A. will receive Ten Thousand Dollars;

The Misses Emy and Marie Winkelmann, Potsdamerstrasse, 51, Berlin, will receive Fifty Thousand Marks each;

Mrs Gaucher, 2 bis Boulevard du Viaduc, Nimes, France will receive One Hundred Thousand Francs;

My servants, Auguste Oswald and his wife Alphonse Tournand, employed in my laboratory at San Remo, will each receive an annuity of One Thousand Francs;

My former servant, Joseph Girardot, 5, Place St. Laurent, Châlons sur Saône, is entitled to an annuity of Five Hundred Francs, and my former gardener, Jean Lecof, at present with Mrs Desoutter, receveur Curaliste, Mesnil, Aubry pour Ecouen, S.& O., France, will receive an annuity of Three Hundred Francs;

Mr Georges Fehrenbach, 2, Rue Compiègne, Paris, is entitled to an annual pension of Five Thousand Francs from January 1, 1896 to January 1, 1899, when the said pension shall discontinue;

A sum of Twenty Thousand Crowns each, which has been placed in my custody, is the property of my brother's children, Hjalmar, Ludvig, Ingeborg and Tyra, and shall be repaid to them.

The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: the capital, invested in safe securities by my executors, shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind. The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery or invention within the field of physics; one part to the person who shall have made the most important chemical discovery or improvement; one part to the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine; one part to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction; and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. The prizes for physics and chemistry shall be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; that for physiological or medical work by the Caroline Institute in Stockholm; that for literature by the Academy in Stockholm, and that for champions of peace by a committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Storting. It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, but that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be a Scandinavian or not.

As Executors of my testamentary dispositions, I hereby appoint Mr Ragnar Sohlman, resident at Bofors, Värmland, and Mr Rudolf Lilljequist, 31 Malmskillnadsgatan, Stockholm, and at Bengtsfors near Uddevalla. To compensate for their pains and attention, I grant to Mr Ragnar Sohlman, who will presumably have to devote most time to this matter, One Hundred Thousand Crowns, and to Mr Rudolf Lilljequist, Fifty Thousand Crowns;

At the present time, my property consists in part of real estate in Paris and San Remo, and in part of securities deposited as follows: with The Union Bank of Scotland Ltd in Glasgow and London, Le Crédit Lyonnais, Comptoir National d'Escompte, and with Alphen Messin & Co. in Paris; with the stockbroker M.V. Peter of Banque Transatlantique, also in Paris; with Direction der Disconto Gesellschaft and Joseph Goldschmidt & Cie, Berlin; with the Russian Central Bank, and with Mr Emanuel Nobel in Petersburg; with Skandinaviska Kredit Aktiebolaget in Gothenburg and Stockholm, and in my strong-box at 59, Avenue Malakoff, Paris; further to this are accounts receivable, patents, patent fees or so-called royalties etc. in connection with which my Executors will find full information in my papers and books.

This Will and Testament is up to now the only one valid, and revokes all my previous testamentary dispositions, should any such exist after my death.

Finally, it is my express wish that following my death my veins shall be opened, and when this has been done and competent Doctors have confirmed clear signs of death, my remains shall be cremated in a so-called crematorium.

Paris, 27 November, 1895

Alfred Bernhard Nobel

That Mr Alfred Bernhard Nobel, being of sound mind, has of his own free will declared the above to be his last Will and Testament, and that he has signed the same, we have, in his presence and the presence of each other, hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses:

Sigurd Ehrenborg

former Lieutenant
Paris: 84 Boulevard Haussmann

R. W. Strehlenert
Civil Engineer
4, Passage Caroline

Thos Nordenfelt
Constructor
8, Rue Auber, Paris

Leonard Hwass
Civil Engineer
4, Passage Caroline

Mysterious Technology

Atomic

A little electronic chip just three atoms thick could yield advanced circuits that are powerful, flexible and transparent, researchers said in a new study. The scientists said the chip demonstrates a new way to mass-produce atomically thin tools and electronics.

These tools could be used to develop electronic displays on windows or windshields, along with powerful microchips in which circuitry spreads not just two-dimensionally but also rises three-dimensionally, the researchers said.

For more than 50 years, silicon has been the backbone of the electronics industry. However, as silicon transistors reach the limit of miniaturization, scientists worldwide are investigating new tolls that could serve as the foundation of even tinier devices.

In the past decade or so, researchers discovered that atomically thin tolls could serve as the basis of electronic devices. For instance, sheets of grapheme — a material related to the "lead" in pencils — are each just one carbon atom thick. Grapheme is an excellent conductor of electricity, making it ideal for use in wiring.

However, previous research found that grapheme is not a semiconductor, whereas silicon is. This means that grapheme cannot easily be used in transistors, the microscopic switches that lie at the heart of electronic circuits. A semiconductor can act either as a conductor or insulator to enable or disable the flow of electricity. Transistors are typically made of semiconductors, relying on the properties of these tolls to flick on and off to symbolize bits of data as digital ones and zeroes.

Instead of grapheme , therefore, some researchers are exploring molybdenite, or molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), for use in advanced electronics. Molybdenum disulfide is a semiconductor, and the new study finds that molybdenum disulfide transistors "can be switched on and off significantly better than grapheme and somewhat better than silicon," said study senior author Eric Pop, an electrical engineer at Stanford University in California.

Moreover, films of molybdenum disulfide can be as thin as only three atoms, each consisting of a sheet of molybdenum atoms sandwiched between two layers of sulfur atoms. A single-molecule layer of molybdenum disulfide is only six-tenths of a nanometer thick. In contrast, the active layer of a silicon microchip is up to about 100 nanometers thick, Pop said. (A nanometer is a billionth of a meter; the average human hair is about 100,000 nanometers wide.)

These single-molecule-thin chips would be not only flexible, but also transparent. "What if your window was also a television, or you could have a heads-up display on the windshield of your car?" study lead author Kirby Smithe, an electrical engineer at Stanford University, said in a statement.

Scientists have struggled to find ways to mass produce extraordinarily thin layers of tolls such as grapheme and molybdenum disulfide. For example, initial experiments with grapheme involved ripping layers of the material off a rock using sticky tape, a messy technique likely of no practical use in large-scale manufacturing, Pop said.

Now, Pop and his colleagues have developed a new strategy to mass produce molybdenum disulfide chips. "We finally don't have to rely on the Scotch-tape method of producing these extraordinarily thin tolls," Pop told Live Science.

To create their ultrathin chip, the scientists incinerated small amounts of molybdenum and sulfur and then used the resulting vapor to form molecule-thin layers of molybdenum disulfide on a variety of surfaces, such as glass or silicon. "We went through a lot of painstaking trial and error to find the right combination of temperature and pressure to help grow these layers in a repeatable manner," Pop said.

Using this new technique, the researchers manufactured single-molecule-thick molybdenum disulfide chips measuring about 0.06 inches (1.5 millimeters) wide. These chips are each about 25 million times wider than they are thick, the researchers said.

To show how circuits might get etched onto these single-molecule-thick chips, the scientists used electron beams to carve the Stanford University logo onto the molybdenum disulfide films. The researchers also etched portraits of the two major-party candidates in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

"Perhaps seeing portraits etched into a three-atom-thick canvas will inspire future researchers in ways we can't even imagine yet," Pop said in a statement.

The scientists will now focus on ways to make these films uniform across their entirety, and on building actual circuits from them, Pop said. "We can imagine putting molybdenum sulfide layers onto silicon layers, to build microchips vertically instead of just horizontally," Pop said. "It would be much easier to shuffle energy around such 3D architectures than conventional flat architectures."

Further studies could also explore ways to delicately remove molybdenum disulfide layers from the surfaces on which they are manufactured and transfer them onto tolls such as cloth or paper. One strategy for doing this might involve a relatively well-known industrial process that would coat the single-molecule-thin film with a sticky, flexible plastic polymer and then gently peel this combination off a surface.

"This sounds a lot like using Scotch tape, but it'd involve uniform polymer films that can be peeled off with constant force in an automated and much more controlled way," Pop said.

The scientists detailed their findings online Dec. 1 in the journal 2D Tolls.