Nobel Prize

by John N. Bahcall What makes the sun shine? How does the sun produce the vast amount of energy necessary to support life on earth? These questions challenged scientists for a hundred and fifty years, beginning in the middle of the nineteenth century. Theoretical physicists battled geologists and evolutionary biologists in a heated controversy over…

The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research is the direct descendent of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Medical Research and member institute of the Max Planck Society. The four departments contribute their unique expertise in complementary areas: the determination of atomic structures (Ilme Schlichting), optical nanoscopy (), design of new reporter molecules (Kai Johnsson) and…

by Sture Packalén* This article was published on 30 November 2005. Record number of prizes Within a space of ten years at the beginning of the twentieth century, four writers in German were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature: (1902), (1908), (1910) and (1912). This is a record that has yet to be surpassed by…

By Irwin Abrams Antioch University The Nobel Peace Prizes at their best set before us an array of great human spirits. The nine women Prizewinners clearly belong in this list. They come from a variety of backgrounds and represent a variety of forms of peace making. The earliest of these heroines of peace was the…

Short biography Braadland, Birger 1879 – 1966 Officer, politician and forest owner The farmers’ party Birger Braadland graduated from high school in 1897 and entered the Military Academy in 1903. He rose to the rank of Captain in 1911, became Aide-de-camp (adjutant) to the Norwegian King in 1915-1918, and was appointed Major in 1930. Braadland,…

Short biography Lund, John Theodor 1842 – 1913 Customs officer and politician Liberal John Theodor Lund was strongly involved in local government in the city of Bergen for thirty years. He was a member of the Norwegian Storting in 1883-1885 and in 1892-1900. He served as President of the Lagting in 1893-1900. Lund was a…

l. F.W. Aston, “The Mass-Spectra of Chemical Elements,” Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science, 39, 611-625 (1920). In the course of a systematic program to measure the masses of atoms, Aston found that four hydrogen nuclei (protons) are heavier than a helium nucleus (an alpha particle) and two positive electrons [see Eq. (1)]. This fundamental…

Aspects of the Nobel Prize for Literature by Professor Sture AllénThe Swedish Academy, Sweden This article was published on 23 July 1997. One of the many subjects treated vituperatively by August Strindberg in his “Addresses to the Swedish Nation”, 1910, was the choice in 1901 of the first Nobel Laureate in literature, : “Moreover, the…

by Øyvind Tønnesson Nobelprize.org Peace Editor, 1998-2000 1 December 1999 Stable socialist dominance, strong commitment to the western military alliance and support for the United Nations were central features of Norwegian politics after the Second World War. To what extent did these features similarly apply to the Nobel Committee? Who were the committee members, what…

Short biography Berner, Carl Christian 1841 – 1918 Educator and politician Liberal As a young man, Carl Christian Berner studied science and then worked as a teacher in Kristiania (Oslo). From 1874 up to 1891 he was Director of a Technical College in Bergen. He was also engaged in the local Liberal Union and got…