Nobel Prize Lessons

Speaker’s manuscript – Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize

• The Nobel Prize is a prize in five categories that has
been awarded for over 100 years. More than 900
individuals and organisations from over 70 countries
have received it.
• Now, we’ll take a closer look at how the Nobel Prize
works, at its founder Alfred Nobel and some of the
awarded achievements.

Alfred Nobel
• As you’ve seen in the video, Alfred Nobel lived during
the 19th century. He was born in Stockholm but lived
in various places during his life: St. Petersburg,
Hamburg, Paris and San Remo.
• He spoke several languages and, as a young man,
dreamt of becoming an author. Instead, his father
Immanuel encouraged all his four sons to become engineers. Alfred Nobel became a
successful chemist, inventor and businessman.

Dynamite
• Alfred Nobel started experimenting with the liquid
explosive nitroglycerine, and he invented dynamite,
an explosive much safer to handle than
nitroglycerine alone.
• Alfred Nobel continued to develop explosives, as well
as other inventions and ideas, such as artificial silk
and the first aluminium boat in the world.
• He was careful with his patent applications and started many companies and
factories for dynamite production. Business travel and his companies occupied most
of his time. His best-known invention, dynamite, made him one of the wealthiest
people in Europe.
• Alfred Nobel was known for his inventions but was also criticised. Dynamite was
not only used in mining and for the construction of railroads, tunnels and canals. It
was also used in warfare.
The will
• At the age of 62 Alfred Nobel wrote his will. One year
later, on December 10, 1896, he died of a stroke. In
his will, he wrote that a large part of his estate was to
be placed in a fund. The yearly interest on this fund
would pay for a prize given to “those who, during the
preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to
humankind”.
• According to the will, the prize would go to the worthiest candidates, whether they
were Scandinavian or not.
• Question to your students: Do you remember what categories the Nobel Prize is
awarded in?

Five Nobel Prizes and one prize in economic sciences

• According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize would
be divided into five categories: physics, chemistry,
physiology or medicine, literature and peace.
• He also specified who would select the Laureates.
The physics and chemistry prize would be awarded
by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the
physiology or medicine prize by Karolinska
Institutet, the literature prize by the Swedish Academy and the peace prize by a
committee consisting of five persons elected by the Norwegian Parliament
(Storting).
• The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. In the late 1960s, Sveriges Riksbank
(Sweden’s central bank) established a prize in economic sciences in memory of
Alfred Nobel. The economics prize is awarded at the same time as the Nobel Prize,
as part of the same ceremony.

Selecting the Nobel Laureates

• This is Maria Goeppert Mayer, who was awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963 for “discoveries
concerning nuclear shell structure”. This is how she
was selected for the prize. All Nobel Laureates are
chosen in a similar way.
• The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences appointed a
committee of five members to take care of the
physics prize selection. In September 1962 the committee sent out a large number of
invitations to nominate candidates for the 1963 prize. The invitations were sent to
various scientists and professors in physics.
• By February 1, 1963 the committee had received 79 nominations. Two were for
Maria Goeppert Mayer. After having reviewed the list, the committee chose
Goeppert Mayer and some other names for a short list to be presented to the
members of the Academy of Sciences.
• Early in October, she was voted one of the three final candidates for the Nobel Prize
in Physics. Two months later she attended the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm
and received her award.
Awarding the Nobel Prize
• On December 10 each year, the Nobel Prize is
presented.
Question to your students: Do you remember why
it’s on December 10? [It’s the day Alfred Nobel
passed away.]
• The Prize in each category consists of a medal, and a
large sum of money. In 2018 the prize amount is nine
million Swedish kronor, about a million US dollars.
• The Prize Award Ceremony is held at the Stockholm Concert Hall for all categories
except the Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
• After the actual award ceremony, there is an elegant banquet in each city to honour
the new Nobel Laureates.
Now we will take a closer look at the achievements of some Nobel Laureates.

Discovery – the 2011 Physics Prize

• The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded to people who
have either made inventions or discoveries in this
field.
• Can an ancient exploding star tell us something
about the size of the universe? The Physics Laureates
Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess
studied such stars, called supernovae.
• By following the intensity of light of the supernovae, the scientists were able to
calculate that the expansion of the universe is accelerating. They expected the
opposite: that the expansion would be slowing down.
• What causes this acceleration? Dark energy, one of the greatest enigmas in physics
today.

Benefit
The discovery changed the way physicists look at the
universe. Dark energy constitutes about three
quarters of the universe. The scientists have helped
to unveil a universe that had been largely unknown
to science.

Discovery – the 1995 Chemistry Prize

• The Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewards important
discoveries or improvements that provide new
knowledge about the composition of materials, how
they are created and how they change due to
chemical reactions.
• The atmosphere around our earth contains small
amounts of ozone: molecules made from three
oxygen atoms.
• Nobel Laureates Paul Crutzen, Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland made
pioneering contributions to explaining how ozone is formed and decomposes
through chemical processes in the atmosphere.
• In 1974, Mario Molina and Sherwood Rowland demonstrated that CFC gases –
freons – have a damaging effect on ozone in the atmosphere. At that time, freons
had many uses, including propellants in spray cans and refrigerants in refrigerators.
Benefit
• The Nobel Laureates’ research showed how sensitive
the ozone layer is to the influence of emissions due to
humans.
• When political leaders learnt how the ozone layer is
damaged, they acted quickly and reached
international agreements to severely restrict the use
of substances that damage the ozone layer.
• Without a protective ozone layer in the atmosphere, animals and plants could not
exist, at least on land.

Discovery – the 2008 Medicine Prize

• The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is a
reward for discoveries that help us to understand
how organisms work, or that lead to important cures
for a disease.
• The image shows a change in the tissue that can
develop into cervical cancer (the dark purple to the
middle left in the image).
• In 1983, Nobel Laureate Harald zur Hausen discovered what causes cervical cancer:
The human papilloma virus (HPV).
• Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women, affecting some
500,000 women per year. 250,000 women of this disease die every year, mainly in
developing countries.

Benefit
• Harald zur Hausen made his research available to the
scientific community, so other scientists were able to
develop vaccines.
• By June 2017, more than 70 countries had started a
vaccination programme against HPV infection.

Achievement – the 1993 Literature Prize 1993

• The Nobel Prize in Literature has mainly been
awarded to authors who have written works of
fiction – such as novels, short stories, poetry
collections and theatrical plays. The Prize has also
been awarded to authors in other literary genres,
such as essays and song lyrics.
• What was it like to be an African-American girl in the
1940s? Why was the strongest wish of the main character Pecola to have blue eyes?
The Bluest Eye, a novel by Literature Laureate Toni Morrison, tells us about Pecola
and her childhood, surrounded by poverty, alcoholism and racism.
• Toni Morrison depicts the history of the African-American minority. One of her
most famous novels, Beloved, is about Sethe, who escaped slavery, and would rather
see her two-year-old daughter dead than sold as a slave. The book was inspired by
true events and also became a film.
• The stories are narrated with a poetical style and with humour, despite the often
serious topics.
Benefit
• The work of Toni Morrison helps us understand how
oppression and racism can affect people.
• She is described as a literary artist and has given the
joy of reading both to critics and to the wider public.

Achievement – the 2014 Peace Prize

• Important categories that have been rewarded with
the Nobel Peace Prize are disarmament, mediation
and work aimed at a better organised world. In
recent decades, efforts to promote democracy,
human rights and environmental work have also
been rewarded.
• When Malala Yousafzai was 10 years old, the Taliban
took control in the area of Pakistan where she lived, restricting the ability of girls to
go to school. She refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education.
• At age 15, she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban.
• At age 17, she became the youngest Nobel Laureate ever.

Benefit
• Malala Yousafzai has become a leading voice for
girls’ right to education, as well as an important role
model for both children and adults all over the world.
• She has shown by example that children and young
people, too, can contribute to improving their own
situations.
• Her struggle has led to an awakening concerning the
lack of education for about 60 million children in the world.

Achievement – the 1998 Prize in Economic Sciences

• The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics Sciences
is awarded to a person or persons who have
produced works of outstanding importance in the
field of economic sciences.
• Democracy can prevent famine, according to
economist Amartya Sen, who has studied famines
and found more causes than a simple lack of food
supplies. For example, there are areas exposed to famine that, at the same, export
food.
• He claims that famines have never occurred in democratic countries. Why? In a
democracy there is public debate, and the people can make the government answer
to misdoings. The government needs to face responsibility and make changes.
• Sen’s research includes how resources are allocated and ideas about how welfare
and poverty can be measured.
Benefit
• Amartya Sen has helped us to understand the
economic reasons behind famine and poverty. His
research has created a better basis for developing
measures to prevent famines, or to reduce their
dismal consequences.