The history of the Nobel Prize began in 1901. Since then, 97 prizes have been awarded, and in some years the awarding has not been held at all. During this entire period, there were many interesting things in the history of the most famous international award.
Age of laureates
The youngest Nobel Prize winner for a long time was William Lawrence Bragg, a physicist who received the prize at the age of 25 (1915). True, he has already been bypassed by the Pakistani girl Yousafzai, who received the award at the age of 17.
On the contrary, the oldest age of the laureate is 90 years. We are talking about Leonid Hurwitz, who received a prestigious award in 2007.
On average, the age of the laureates of the award ranges from 55 to 59 years.
Season
According to statistics, the most common dates of birth among the winners of the award were February 28 and May 21. Thus, Nobel laureates are most often born in the winter or spring.
There are few women among the award winners
Previously, most women did not have the opportunity to do science, for which there are many reasons. The most famous female Nobel Prize winner was Marie Skłodowska-Curie. Moreover, Maria became one of the four who received the award twice. The woman received one prize for research in physics, and the other for the discovery of new chemical elements.
Four twice laureates
In addition to Marie Curie, who received the award in 1903 and 1911, three more people were lucky enough to become Nobel laureates twice:
- physicist John Bardeen (1956 and 1972)
- chemists Frederick Sanger (1958 and 1980)
- Linus Carl Pauling (1954 and 1962).
American John Bardeen invented the transistor, and received the second prize for the theory of superconductivity. His countryman Linus Carl Pauling received his first Nobel Prize in the field of chemistry, and the second was the Peace Prize. Englishman Frederick Sanger studied insulin and the properties of nucleic acids.
Nobel Prize Leader – USA
Americans have indeed received the most famous awards. Most often, prizes were awarded in the field of chemistry, physics, medicine. In general, the share of Americans among other Nobel laureates is more than 40%.
Laureates who refused the Nobel Prize
Jean-Paul Sartre could have received the prize for literature, but he refused both the prize and the events involved in it. In connection with the VietnamEse Civil War, Le Dykh Tho refused the peace prize - in the current situation, it seemed to him that this would be the right decision.
Posthumous laureates
In the history of the award, several times there was a situation when the nominees for the award did not live to see its presentation. It's about Erik Axel Karlfeldt and Dag Hammerskjöld. Later, it was decided not to award posthumously. However, in 2011, Ralph Stintman died a few days before the award in the field of medicine, which the organizers did not know about.
German scientists could not accept the Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize was forbidden to receive scientists from Germany, when the power in the country belonged to the National Socialists. Three scientists: Gerhard Domagk, Adolf Butenandt and Richard Kuhn received their awards only after the Second World War. Nevertheless, in monetary terms, the premium was still not issued.
