Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual award that recognizes important advancements made in the field of physics. Widely considered to be the most prestigious award of its kind, it includes a monetary prize, a gold medal, and a diploma. It is one of several honors jointly referred to as the Nobel Prizes, which were endowed by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in the late nineteenth century and first awarded in 1901. The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to some of the most famous scientists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including Albert Einstein and Marie Curie.

Background

The Nobel Prizes were created in the will of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Nobel was born in 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden, and began studying science from a young age. His interest in chemistry and experimentation led him to create a number of different explosives, most notably including dynamite. His success with inventions and business made him very wealthy.

At the end of his life, Nobel drafted a will that included the creation of five prizes meant to recognize people “who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Nobel never publicly explained his reasoning behind starting the awards, but some believe that he wanted to leave a positive impact on the world after creating such destructive inventions during his lifetime. Today, the Nobel Prizes are considered among the most prominent awards in their respective fields.

Overview

The Nobel Foundation, which is the organization that oversees the award process, was created in 1900 as a provision of Nobel’s will. The first physics prize in was awarded in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death. It was awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, which also confers the Nobel Prizes in economics and medicine. The first winner of the physics prize was German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen who won the award because of research he had done identifying X-rays and other types of electromagnetic radiation. Marie Curie won in 1903 for her work on radiation, making her the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. (Curie also became the first person to win a second Nobel Prize in 2011, when she received the chemistry award.)

Many of the most important scientific discoveries of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have been recognized by their discoverers winning the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1921 one of history’s most famous scientists, Albert Einstein, won the prize for his work in theoretical physics. While Einstein is better known for his theory of relativity, which deals with the concepts of matter, energy, space, and time, his 1921 Nobel Prize was for his work on the photoelectric effect. Other famous scientists who have received the award include Niels Bohr (1922), who discovered the structure of the atom, and James Chadwick (1935), who discovered the neutron of the atom.

The prize is usually announced each year in October and officially awarded in December in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. However, the process that results in the award begins at the end of the previous year. The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is one of the royal academies of Sweden and was created in the eighteenth century. The academy has hundreds of members, most of whom are from Sweden, but many come from other countries. The academy appoints members of the various Nobel Committees, including the Nobel Committee for Physics. The committee and the academy both take part in the process of choosing the winners in physics.

The first step in the process is nomination. Only people and groups who have been invited may submit nominations. Those who are invited to submit nominations including members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, past Nobel winners in physics, tenured professors in the physics at certain universities and institutions, and other scientists and professionals that are approved by the academy. The committee sends out nomination forms to these individuals at the end of each year. The nomination forms must be completed and returned to the academy before January 31 of the following year.

The Nobel Committee for Physics then reviews the nominations and consults with experts to learn more about the nominees and their accomplishments. From March to May, the committee creates a preliminary list of candidates for the award. Then from June to August, the committee narrows the list and writes a report that recommends a list of people and includes research and information about the candidates. All members of the committee sign the report and send it to the academy. Members of the academy review the reports and have discussions about choosing a final winner. The group then votes on a final winner or final winners. When the winner or winners have a majority of the votes, the decision is finalized. The official winners are announced in October before the ceremony in December. At the ceremony, the person or people who win get a diploma, a gold medal, and a monetary prize.

Bibliography

“All Nobel Prizes in Physics.” The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-physics. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

“First Nobel Prizes Awarded.” History.com, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-nobel-prizes-awarded. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

“The Nobel Committee for Physics.” The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-committee-for-physics. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

“Nobel Prize in Physics: 1901-Present.” Live Science, 8 Oct. 2024, www.livescience.com/16362-nobel-prize-physics-list.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

“Nomination and Selection of Physics Laureates.” The Nobel Prize, www.nobelprize.org/nomination/physics/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"The Swedish Nobel Prize." Sweden.se, Swedish Institute, sweden.se/work-business/study-research/the-swedish-nobel-prize. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Yong, Ed. “The Absurdity of the Nobel Prizes in Science.” Atlantic, 3 Oct. 2017, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/the-absurdity-of-the-nobel-prizes-in-science/541863/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2020.