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The annual Nobel Prize award winners were announced this week. As I’m sure you’ve heard already, President Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The announcement led to many questions about the Nobel Prize background and process .
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. He intended it to be used for road construction, but it was too often used for destructive purposes. When he realized that his product would be seen as his life’s crowning achievement, he established the Nobel prizes through his will. The first prizes were awarded in 1901.
In his will, Nobel established the Nobel Foundation to manage the prizes and named a committee to choose the winner of each prize. Those committees are:
· the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, for the prizes in Physics and Chemistry
· the Karolinska Institute, for the prize in Physiology or Medicine
· the Swedish Academy, for the prize in Literature
· In 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the winner.
· A committee of five people selected by the Norwegian Parliament chooses the Peace Prize recipient.
According to the Nobel Prize Web site, “Each year the respective Nobel Committees send individual invitations to thousands of members of academies, university professors, and scientists from numerous countries, previous Nobel Laureates, members of parliamentary assemblies and others, asking them to submit candidates for the Nobel Prizes for the coming year. These nominators are chosen in such a way that as many countries and universities as possible are represented over time.” The announcements are made the same day that the winners are chosen.
· Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath for chemistry
· Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith for physics
· Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak for physiology or medicine
· Herta Müller for literature
· The prize for economics will be announced on Monday, October 12.
Obama will receive his Peace Prize December 10 at the Oslo city hall in Norway. The others will receive their prizes in Stockholm from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Those conditions are stipulated in Nobel’s will. Each winner actually receives three prizes – the Nobel Prize medal, a diploma noting their achievement, and a cash award of more than $1 million. Obama has said that he will donate his cash prize to charity.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee honored Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". The nomination process began last September and closed in February, but the actual decision was made only today. There were 205 nominations, including 33 organizations. While we all may wonder at and debate the decision, the committee had eight months to consider, evaluate, and debate all of the nominees’ qualifications. I’m sure the decision wasn’t made lightly.
There has been controversy surrounding the Nobel prizes before. Mahatma Gandhi was nominated several times, yet never won the prize. Nobel Foundation statutes forbid public disclosure of any other nominations for 50 years after the prize is awarded.
As I said earlier this week, if you want peace, work for justice. Everything President Obama has done, and plans to do, demonstrate his commitment to peace and justice. Everyone in the world was surprised at the announcement, especially Obama. But the only people who actively oppose it are those who actively oppose peace and justice. Gee. Maybe they’ll boycott dynamite.
At noon on January 20, Americans celebrated and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief as Barack Obama was inaugurated the 44thpresident of the United States and cheneybush was finally laid to rest. I believe that this prize is an acknowledgment that the world still believes in America and Americans, and that Barack Obama is not George W. Bush. And for that, the world is profoundly grateful.
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