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SALT LAKE CITY — Nine people and one organization have been awarded the Nobel Prize for the 2015 year.
Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald received the prize in physics; Thomas Lindahl, Paul C. Modrich and Aziz Sancar received the prize in chemistry; William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Youyou Tu received the prize in medicine and physiology, Svetlana Alexievich received the prize in literature; Angus Deaton received the prize in economic sciences; and The National Dialogue Quartet received the Peace prize.
But how much do you know about the history of the Nobel Prize?
It originated with the man, Alfred Nobel, who was a proficient in intellectual studies. Nobel was well known for his avid interests in science, literature and languages. Upon his death his library housed more than 1,500 volumes, most of which were fiction classics in their original languages. By the age of 17 he was fluent in five languages. He is the inventor of dynamite and holder of 355 patents. In his will, he directed that his estate and fortune be left in securities to be distributed as prize to those who made great contributions to mankind.
Common fields of study for each of the awarded categories are particle physics, biochemistry, genetics, macroeconomics and literature, which is mainly prose. The peace prize is much more varied as far as what is honored: human rights, arms and disarmament, humanitarian work, negotiation, peace movement, women's rights and world organizing.ng:
To date, the Nobel Prize claims 864 Laureates since 1901 and 17,450 nominations. The process of selection is rigorous and time consuming — roughly 18 months from nomination to the award ceremony — but the nominations themselves are kept confidential until 50 years after the nomination is made, due to Nobel Foundation stipulations. Lists of the nominees are available from 1901 to 1963 on the Nobel Prize website, except for the medicine and physiology category, for which nominee information is only available from 1901 to 1953.
The youngest Laureate is Malala Yousafzai, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17. The oldest Laureate upon receiving the prize is Leonid Hurwicz in economics, who received the award at the age of 90.ng:
In the past, there have been four laureates who were forced to decline the prize — three from Germany during World War II and another from the Soviet Union. Three Laureates were under arrest at the time the prize was awarded to them: German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, Burmese politician Aung Suu Kyi and Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. There were 49 times the prize was not awarded, most due to World Wars I and II. When prizes are not awarded, the cash is added to the award pool for the following year or when a suitable nominee is awarded the prize.
More well known laureates are Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Dalai Lama, William Faulkner, Marie Curie, Jimmy Carter, Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama.
Recipients of the prize are so named laureates because of the laurel wreath that was awarded as high honor in ancient Greece.
For more information about the Nobel Prize—such as how it is awarded, who has been nominated and their work, and a compendium of the life of Albert Nobel—visit www.nobelprize.org.
Corinn Sessions is an aspiring writer with big dreams, immense curiosity, and far too much free time on her hands. Contact her at corinnsessions@gmail.com.
