Alfred Nobel. © Nobel Media AB. Photo: A. Mahmoud
On 21 October 1833, Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He grew up in Russia, studied chemistry and technology in France and the U.S., and established the Nobel Prizes - for the greatest benefit to mankind.
Learn more about Alfred Nobel
Meet the Laureates and get insights into what gives them their drive and creativity. Discover what future challenges they are passionate about, and what it is really like being awarded the Nobel Prize. There are 29 episodes to explore.
Nobel Prize Talks Podcast
The Nobel Week 2015 – Information for media
15 October 2015
Ill: © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 was awarded jointly to Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald "for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass".
Read more about the prize
An interview with Takaaki Kajita immediately following the announcement of the Physics Prize. Hear how he reacted when he got the call that he has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Interview and transcript
"It's ironic, in order to observe the sun you have to go kilometers under ground. That's not what you would expect." says Arthur B. McDonald, awarded the 2015 Physics Prize.
Interview and transcript
The discovery that neutrinos are not massless makes a difference, says Professor Olga Botner, Member of the Nobel Committee for Physics, when interviewed about the importance of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics.
Watch the interview
Ill: © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar "for mechanistic studies of DNA repair".
Read more
Tomas Lindahl. Photo: Cancer Research UK
"I'm not a politician. I’m not used to talk on two phones at the same time." Life is getting busy for Tomas Lindahl, awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In this short interview, Tomas Lindahl also talks about his research and early days in Sweden.
Interview and transcript
Paul Modrich. Photo: K. Wolf/AP Images for HHMI
Paul Modrich was on vacation in his little cabin in the woods in New Hampshire when he got the news through e-mail that he had been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. "I’m in the right place at the right time."
Interview and transcript
Aziz Sancar. Photo: M. Englund, UNC-School of Medicine
"My wife took the call and woke me up". Chemistry Laureate Aziz Sancar on being awarded the Nobel Prize.
Interview and transcript
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015 was awarded with one half jointly to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites and the other half to Youyou Tu for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria.
Read more
Listen to an interview with William C. Campbell, one of the three new Nobel Laureates in Physiology or Medicine. He was asleep when he got the prize call.
Interview and transcript
An interview with Satoshi Ōmura on golf, great scientists, and being awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Interview and transcript
Listen to a short interview with Youyou Tu following the announcement of the 2015 Medicine Prize (Chinese and English).
Interview and transcript
Photo: Margarita Kabakova/Ersatz AB.
The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2015 is awarded to the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich "for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time".
Interview with Svetlana Alexievich, awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Literature, while the taxi waited outside to take her to the press conference.
Transcript of the interview
Not familiar with Svetlana Alexievich's work? Here, you can read an excerpt from her book Voices from Chernobyl.
Read the excerpt
Svetlana Alexievich writes in Russian. Most common languages for the Literature Laureates:
The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.
Press release
Listen to telephone interviews with the four representatives for the awarded key organizations in the National Dialogue Quartet.
Interviews and transcripts
After the announcement of the Prace Prize, Kaci Kullmann Five of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, was interviewed about the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet.
Watch the video interview
Ill. N. Elmehed. © Nobel Media AB 2015.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2015 was awarded to Angus Deaton "for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare".
Press releaseAngus Deaton on being awarded the 2015 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Transcript of the interview
Jakob Svensson, Member of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, answers question about this year's Prize.
Video interview
Ill: © Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
The consumption of goods and services is a fundamental part of people’s welfare. This year's Laureate in Economic Sciences, Angus Deaton, has deepened our understanding of different aspects of consumption.
Read more in the Popular Science Background (pdf)
Chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel left 31 million SEK (today about 265 million dollar) to fund the Nobel Prizes.
Alfred Nobel's life and work
An entirely new industry grew up, based on Alfred Nobel's patents and with Alfred as the initiator.
Alfred Nobel's dynamite companies
In his will of 27 November 1895 signed in Paris, Alfred Nobel specified that the bulk of his fortune should be used for prizes.
Excerpt of Alfred Nobel's will
Jean-Paul Sartre and Le Duc Tho both declined the Nobel Prize.
More about the Literature Prize to Jean-Paul Sartre
Alfred Nobel wanted most of his fortune to be used for prizes to award those who had "conferred the greatest benefit to mankind". See who Nobelprize.org's visitors thought were worthy of a Nobel Prize.
Read the suggestions
No person can nominate herself/himself for a Nobel Prize. But who can? And how are these persons chosen?
Read more about how the Nobel Laureates are nominated
Search among the names of the nominees and nominators, as well as additional information about the nominations 1901-1964.
Search in the archive
Here you can discover the individuals who have nominated others for a Nobel Prize, those who were nominated for a Nobel Prize and those who later became Nobel Laureates.
Explore the mapThe Nobel Center will be the home for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm, Sweden. Here the architect of the Nobel Center, David Chipperfield, explains how the building will be used all year around. The Center is expected to open in 2019.
Read more about the Nobel Center
Franz Welser-Möst conducting. Credit: Roger Mastroianni.
One of today's most celebrated conductors, Franz Welser-Möst, will lead the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert. Soloist is the young pianist Daniil Trifonov. Tickets are now on sale at Konserthuset.se.
More about the concert
Richard F. Heck, awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 "for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis", passed away on 9 October, 84 years old.
Biography of Richard F. Heck
Yoichiro Nambu, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2008 for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics, passed away on 5 July, 94 years old.
Biography
Irwin Rose, 2004 Chemistry Laureate, died on 2 June, 88 years old. His research made it possible to understand at molecular level how the cell controls a number of central processes by breaking down certain proteins and not others.
Biography
John F. Nash Jr., awarded the 1994 Prize in Economic Sciences together with John C. Harsanyi and Reinhard Selten for "pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games", died on 23 May in a car crash, 86 years old.
Biography of John F. Nash Jr.