History of the Prize

[ What is the Nobel Prize? ] [ The Development of Dynamite]
[ The Nobel Prize and Winners ] [ Nobel Prize in Medicine ]

What is the Nobel Prize? [ Source: Nobel ]



Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist. He invented dynamite and became very wealthy. When he died he left more than nine million dollars of his fortune to set up the Nobel prizes. According to his will, of 1895, the income from this fund was to be allotted each year in five equal parts as prizes to those who had most helped humanity. The interest from the money provides annual prizes for the greatest services to humanity in science and literature, and for the most effective work to promote friendship between nations (the Peace Prize). The Nobel prizes were first awarded on 10 December 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel's death.



The Development of Dynamite

Nobel experimented a lot with nitroglycerine by itself and mixed with gunpowder. He patented detonating charges and percussion caps in 1864. He used these as a primary charge to trigger an explosion. Nobel later used a special clay from northern Germany to stabilise the nitroglycerine. When tested with a percussion cap, the preparation exploded evenly although with less power than nitroglycerine alone. He called this mixture of nitroglycerine and clay "dynamite".

Nobel developed other explosive substances. Blasting gelatine, another powerful explosive, was a solution of gun cotton in nitroglycerine. Guncotton is a preparation of nitric acid and cellulose invented by Christian Schonbein in Germany in 1845. This evolved into modern dynamite which is a mixture of nitroglycerine and guncotton, with some additional ingredients.

The Nobel Prize

When Alfred Nobel died on 10 December 1895, he was a very wealthy man. He left nine million dollars to set up the Nobel Prize. He specified a prize in each of five fields: physics, chemistry, physiology (or medicine), literature, and peace. After 1968 the Nobel Foundation included a sixth, the economics prize.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the physics and chemistry prizes.
The Caroline Institute of Stockholm gives the physiology or medicine prize. (Four Australians have won this prize, including Howard Florey.)
The Swedish Academy grants the literature prize. (Patrick White, an Australian, won this prize in 1973)
The Norwegian parliament chooses a committee of five to select the peace prize winner.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences makes the economics award.

The Nobel Foundation is the legal owner and administrator of the prize funds but avoids involvement in awarding the prizes. A list of rules, drawn up after Nobel's death, has interpreted and carried out his will over the years. A prize may be omitted in any year. The peace prize has been omitted most frequently.

The prize-awarding bodies receive nominations of candidates before 1 February each year. Individuals and institutions qualified according to regulations of the appropriate awarding body make the nominations. No person may apply directly. Besides the cash prize, each award includes a gold medal and a diploma bearing a citation.

Prizes are given on the anniversary of Nobel’s death when possible--the peace prize in Oslo, the others in Stockholm. During World War I, between 1915 and 1918, there were no prizes in Physiology or Medicine. No Nobel prizes were announced during World War II between 1940 and 1942. Each prize was more than 40,000 dollars in 1901 and by 1991 amounted to 1 million dollars. Often two or more winners share a prize. In his will Alfred Nobel specified that all nationalities are eligible for awards.

Winners of the Nobel Prize in Medicine [ Source: Brown ]

1901 Emil A. von Behring (1854-1917) German
For his work on serum therapy, especially its application against diphtheria, by which he has opened a new road in the domain of medical science and thereby placed in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and death.

1902 Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932) British
For his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and how to combat it.

1903 Niels Ryberg Finsen (1860-1904) Danish
In recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light rays, whereby he has opened a new avenue to medical science.

1904 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849-1936) Russian
In recognition of his work on the physiology of digestion, by which, in essential respects, he has transformed and enlarged our knowledge of this subject.

1905 Robert Koch (1843-1910) German
For his investigations and discoveries in regard to tuberculosis.

1906 Camillo Golgi (1844-1926) Italian
Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934) Spanish
In recognition of their work on the structure of the nervous system.

1907 Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran (1845-1922) French
In recognition of his work regarding the role played by protozoa in causing diseases.

1908 Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) German
Elie Metchinikoff (1845-1916) French
In recognition of their work on immunity.

1909 Emil Theodor Kocher (1841-1917) Swiss
For his work on the physiology, pathology, and surgery of the thyroid gland.

1910 Albrecht Kossel (1853-1927) German
In recognition of the contributions to the chemistry of the cell made through his work on proteins, including the nucleic substances.

1911 Allvar Gullstrand (1862-1930) Swedish
For his work on the dioptrics of the eye.

1912 Alexis Carrel (1873-1944) French
In recognition of his works on vascular suture and the transplantation of blood vessels and organs.

1913 Charles Richet (1853-1935) French
In recognition of his work on anaphylaxis.

1914 Robert Barany (1876-1936) Austrian
For his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.

1915 No award given
1916 No award given
1917 No award given
1918 No award given

1919 Jules Bordet (1870-1961) Belgian
For his discoveries in regard to immunity.

1920 August Koch (1874 -1949) Danish
For his discovery of the regulation of the motor mechanism of capillaries.

1921 No award given

1922 Archibald Vivian Hill (1886-1977) British
Otto Meyerhof (1884-1951) German
For his discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and the metabolism of lactic acid in muscle.

1923 Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) Canadian
John James Richard Macleod (1876-1935) Scottish
For their discovery of insulin.

1924 Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) Dutch
For his discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram.

1925 No award given

1926 Johannes Fibiger (1867-1928) Danish
For his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma.

1927 Julius Wagner-Jauregg (1857-1940) Austrian
For his discovery of the therapeutic value of malaria inoculation in the treatment of dementia paralytica.

1928 Charles Nicolle (1866-1936) French
For his work on typhus.

1929 Christiaan Eijkman (1858-1930) Dutch
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins (1861-1947) English
For their discovery of the growth-stimulating vitamins.

1930 Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) American
For his discovery of the human blood groups.

1931 Otto Warburg (1883-1970) German
For his discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme.

1932 Charles Sherrington (1857-1952) British
Edgar Douglas Adrian (1889-1977) British
For their discoveries regarding the function of the neurons.

1933 Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) American
For his discoveries concerning the function of the chromosome in the transmission of heredity.

1934 George Hoyt Whipple (1878-1976) American
George Richards Minot (1885-1950) American
William Parry Murphy (1892-1987) American
For their discoveries concerning liver therapy in cases of anaemia.

1935 Hans Spemann (1869-1941) German
For his discovery of the organiser effect in embryonic development.

1936 Henry Dale (1875-1968) British
Otto Loewi (1873-1961) Born Germany; Naturalised American citizen (1941)
For their discoveries relating to the chemical transmission of nerve impulses.

1937 Albert von Szent-Györgyi (1893-1986) Hungarian, later emigrated to US
For his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid.

1938 Corneille Heymans (1892-1968) Belgian
For his discovery of the role played by the sinus and aortic mechanisms in the regulation of respiration.

1939 Gerhard Domagk (1895-1964) German
For his discovery of the antibacterial effects of prontosil.

1940 No award given
1941 No award given
1942 No award given

1943 Henrik Carl Peter Dam (1895-1976) Danish
For his discovery of vitamin K.

Edward A. Doisy (1893-1986) American
For his discovery of the chemical nature of vitamin K.

1944 Joseph Erlanger (1874-1965) American
Herbert Spencer Gasser (1888-1963) American
For their discoveries regarding the highly differentiated functions of single nerve fibres.

1945 Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) British
Ernst Boris Chain (1906-1979) British (born Germany)
Howard Walter Florey (1898-1968) Australian
For their discovery of penicillin and its therapeutic effect for the cure of different infectious maladies.

1946 Hermann Joseph Muller (1890-1967) American
For his discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation.

1947 Carl Ferdinand Cori (1896-1984) American
Gerty Radnitz Cori (1896-1957) American
Bernardo Alberto Houssay (1887-1971) Argentine
For their discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar.

1948 Paul Müller (1899-1965) Swiss
For his discovery of the high efficacy of DDT as a contact poison against several arthropods.

1949 Walter Rudolf Hess (1881-1973) Swiss
For his discovery of the functional organisation of the interbrain as a coordinator of the activities of the internal organs.

Egas Moniz (Antonio Caetano de Abreu Freire) (1874-1955) Portuguese
For his discovery of the therapeutic value of prefrontal leucotomy in certain psychoses.

1950 Edward Calvin Kendall (1886-1972) American
Philip Showalter Hench (1896-1965) American
Tadeus Reichstein (1897-1996) Swiss
For their discoveries concerning the suprarenal cortex hormones, their structure and biological effects.

1951 Max Theiler (1899-1972) American
For his discoveries concerning yellow fever and how to combat it.

1952 Selman Abraham Waksman (1888-1972) American
For his discovery of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis.

1953 Hans Adolf Krebs (1900-1981) British
For his discovery of the citric acid cycle.

Fritz Albert Lipmann (1899-1986) American
For his discovery of coenzyme A and its importance for intermediary metabolism.

1954 John Franklin Enders (1897-1985) American
Frederick Chapman Robbins (1916- ) American
Thomas Huckle Weller (1915- ) American
For their discovery of the ability of poliomyelitis viruses to grow in cultures of various types of tissue.

1955 Hugo Theorell (1903-1982) Swedish
For his discoveries relating to the nature and mode of action of oxidising enzymes.

1956 Werner Forssmann (1904-1979) German
André Frédéric Cournand (1895-1988) American
Dickinson Woodruss Richards (1895-1973) American
For their discoveries concerning heart catherization and pathological changes in the circulatory system.

1957 Daniel Bovet (1907-1992) Italian
For his discoveries relating to synthetic compounds that inhibit the action of certain body substances, and especially their action on the vascular system and the skeletal muscles.
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1958 George Wells Beadle (1903-1989) American
Edward Lawrie Tatum (1909-1975) American
For the Discovery that genes regulate certain definite chemical processes.

Joshua Lederberg (1925- ) American
For his discoveries concerning genetic recombination and the organisation of the genetic apparatus of bacteria.

1959 Severo Ochoa (1905-1993) American
Arthur Kornberg (1918- ) American
For their discoveries of the mechanisms of the biologic synthesis of ribonucleic and deoxyribonucleic acids.

1960 Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899-1985) Australian
Peter Brian Medawar (1915-1987) British
For their discovery of acquired immunological tolerance.

1961 Georg von Bekesy (1899-1972) (Hungarian-American)
For his discoveries concerning the physical mechanisms of stimulation within the cochlea.

1962 Francis Harry Compton Crick (1916- ) British
James Dewey Watson (1928- ) American
Maurice Hugh Frederick Wilkins (1916- ) British
For the discovery of the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for the transfer of information in living material.

1963 John Carew Eccles (1903-1997) Australian
Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (1914 - ) British
Andrew Fielding Huxley (1917- ) British
For their discoveries concerning the ionic mechanisms involved in excitation and inhibition in the peripheral and central portions of the nerve cell membrane.

1964 Konrad Bloch (1912- ) American
Feodor Lynen (1911-1975) German
For their discoveries concerning the mechanism and regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.

1965 Francois Jacob (1920- ) French
Andre Lwoff (1902-1994) French
Jacques Monod (1910-1976) French
For their discovery of a previously unknown class of genes whose function is to regulate the activity of other genes.

1966 Charles B. Huggins (1901- ) American
For his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer.

Francis Peyton Rous (1879-1970) American
For his discovery of tumour-inducing viruses.

1967 Ragnar Granit (1900-1991) Swedish
Haldan Keffer Hartline (1903-1983) American
George Wald (1906-1997) American
For their discoveries concerning the primary physiological and chemical visual processes in the eye.

1968 Robert W. Holley (1922-1993) American
H. Gobind Khotana (1922- ) American
Marshall W. Nirenberg (1927- ) American
For their interpretation of the genetic code and its function in protein synthesis.

1969 Max Delbruck (1906-1981) American
Alfred D. Hershey (1912-1991) American
Salvador Luria (1908-1997) American
For their discoveries concerning the replication mechanism and the genetic structure of viruses.

1970 Julius Axelrod (1912- ) American
Bernard Katz (1911- ) British
Ulf von Euler (1905-1983) Swedish
For their discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation.

1971 Earl W. Sutherland, Jr. (1915-1974) American
For his discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the action of hormones.

1972 Gerald M. Edelman (1929- ) American
Rodney R. Porter (1917-1985) British
For their discoveries concerning the chemical structure of antibodies.

1973 Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) German
Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) German-Austrian
Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907-1988) British
For their discoveries concerning organisation and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns.

1974 Albert Claude (1899-1983) Belgium
George Emil Palade (1912) Romanian-American
Christian Rene de Duve (1917) Belgium
For their discoveries concerning the structural and functional organisation of the cell.

1975 David Baltimore (1938- ) American
Howard Temin (1934-1994) American
Renato Dulbecco (1914 - ) Italian-American
For their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell.

1976 Baruch S. Blumberg (1925- ) American
Daniel Carelton Gajdusek (1923- ) American
For their discoveries concerning new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases.

1977 Rosalyn S. Yalow (1921- ) American
For the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones. (Received: 1/2 of the 1977 award)

Roger C.L. Guillemin (1924 - ) American
Andrew V. Schally (1926- ) American
For their discoveries concerning the peptide hormone production of the brain. (Shared the second 1/2 of the 1977 award)

1978 Daniel Nathans (1928- ) American
Hamilton O. Smith (1931- ) American
Werner Arber (1929-) Swiss
For their work using restriction enzymes to construct physical and functional maps of the genome of viruses.

1979 Alian M. Cormack (1924- ) American
Geoffrey N. Hounsfield (1919- ) British
For the development of computer assisted tomography.

1980 Baruj Benacerraf (1920 - ) American
George Snell (1903-1996) American
Jean Dausset (1916- ) French
For their discoveries concerning genetically determined structures on the cell surface that regulate immunological reactions.

1981 Roger W. Sperry (1913-1994) American
For his discoveries concerning the functional specialisation of the cerebral hemispheres.

David H. Hubel (1926- ) American
Tosten N. Wiesel (1924 - ) Sweden
For their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system.

1982 Sune Bergstrom (1916- ) Swedish
Bengt Samuelsson (1934-) Swedish
John R. Vane (1927- ) British
For their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances.

1983 Barbara McClintock (1902-1992) American
For her discovery of mobile genetic elements.

1984 Cesar Milstein (1921- ) British-Argentine
Georges J. F. Koehler (1946-1995) German
Niels K. Jerne (1911-1994) British-Danish
For theories concerning the specificity in development and control of the immune system and the discovery of the principle for production of monoclonal antibodies.

1985 Michael S. Brown (1941- ) American
Joseph L. Goldstein (1940- ) American
For their discovery of the underlying mechanism of cholesterol metabolism.

1986 Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909- ) Italian, later emigrated to the US
Stanley Cohen (1922- ) American
For their discoveries of growth factors.

1987 Susumu Tonegawa (1939- ) Japanese
For his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity.

1988 Gertrude B. Elion (1918- ) American
George H. Hitchings (1905- ) American
James Black (1924- ) British
For their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment.

1989 J. Michael Bishop (1936- ) American
Harold E. Varmus (1939- ) American
For their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes.

1990 Joseph E. Murray (1919- ) American
E. Donnall Thomas (1920- ) American
For their discoveries concerning organ and cell transplantation in the treatment of human disease.

1991 Erwin Neher (1944 - ) German
Bert Sakmann (942- ) German
For their discoveries concerning the function of single ion channels in cells.

1992 Edmond H. Fisher (1920- ) American
Edwin G. Krebs (1918- ) American
For their discoveries concerning reversible protein phosphorylation as a biological regulatory mechanism.

1993 Phillip A. Sharp (1944 -) American
Richard J. Roberts (1943 -) British
For their discoveries of split genes.

1994 Alfred G. Gilman (1941- ) American
Martin Rodbell (1925- ) American
For their discovery of key molecules that help cells translate signals into actions. The molecules, called G proteins, solved a mystery in the basic workings of every living cell. Malfunctions in G proteins may cause a host of human diseases, from cancer to whooping cough.

1995 Edward B. Lewis (1918- ) American
Eric F. Wieschaus (1847- ) American
Christiane Nuesslein-Volhard (1942- )German
How genes control early development of the human embryo.

1996 Peter C. Doherty (1940- ) Australian
Rolf M. Zinkernagel (1944- ) Swiss
For the discovery of how the immune system recognises virus-infected cells.

1997 Stanley B. Prusiner (1942- ) American
For discovery and characterisation of an entirely new class of proteins called prions, which cause several rare and fatal neurodegenerative diseases.