Partners in science Drs. Carl and Gerty Cori in their laboratory at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, 1947. “One without the other would not have gone as far as in combination” Gerty and Carl Cori went through medical school together, graduated, married, and emigrated from Vienna to Buffalo, sensing the…

by Øivind Stenersen* From the very beginning the Norwegian Nobel Committee chose to define humanitarian efforts as an essential part of promoting “fraternity among nations”. In awarding half of the 1901 Peace Prize to the founder of the Red Cross, , the committee focused on a basic aspect of the word “humanitarian”: helping victims of…

by Øyvind Tønnesson Nobelprize.org Peace Editor, 1998-2000 A committee of five Since the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, the Peace Prize has, in accordance with Alfred Nobel’s , been awarded by a committee of five, appointed by the Storting (the Norwegian Parliamant), but without the committee being formally responsible to the Storting. According…

by Erik B. Karlsson What is physics? Physics is considered to be the most basic of the natural sciences. It deals with the fundamental constituents of matter and their interactions as well as the nature of atoms and the build-up of molecules and condensed matter. It tries to give unified descriptions of the behavior of…

by Jan Lindsten and Nils Ringertz* Introduction “…The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: The capital shall be invested by my executors in safe securities and shall constitute a fund, the interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during…

Alfred Nobel and his will. Prizes for “the greatest benefit to humankind” Alfred Nobel’s interest in science, culture and society is evident in his will. In the third and last will that he signed in Paris on 27 November 1895, he declared that the major portion of his fortune should go toward prizes in physics,…

by Per Olof Hulth Introduction Mankind has studied the universe for thousands of years by looking at the fascinating night sky, guided by the visible light emitted from myriads of stars and other phenomena. During the last century new pictures of the night sky have been discovered by scientists using different wavelengths of light which…

1901-2010 The Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have rewarded several breakthroughs that revealed the way in which our bodies protect us against microscopic threats of almost any description. Each of these breakthroughs have provided us with a better understanding of how the immune system senses an attack, how it recognizes and deals with intruders…

1906-2000 The Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine have rewarded several achievements that helped to reveal the mysterious complexities of the nervous system. The breakthroughs made by each of the Nobel Laureates below have provided us with a better understanding of how nerves are made up, and how they create and transmit information in the…

The first third of the 20th century was a period of major revolutionary developments in physics. It began with d tearing down the reigning paradigm of Newtonian physics. Milestones in experimental work on the atom by the likes of , Hans Geiger, and soon followed. During the 1920s, , , , , and others laid…