Nobel Prize - a million dollar prize and a century journey

Afred Nobel has died twice. He is a rare person in the world who can read his own obituary. The obituary published in a French newspaper was, of course, a mistake, but it turned out that he had "lived" for the second time.

Assigning an explosive inventor the label of "death dealer", the newspaper unexpectedly gave birth to another life for Nobel when he used the proceeds from the wholesale of explosives to build a good world. more beautiful.

1. The will from the "death dealer"

It all starts from a press error. In 1888, the French newspaper published a scientist inventing explosives Alfred Nobel died. But the dead were then his brother, Alfred Ludvig.

"Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by trying to kill people faster than ever, passed away yesterday . " The newspaper devoted the whole page to posting an obituary with sarcastic Nobel, "remembering" him as a "death dealer".

When reading his own obituary, Nobel, 55, had in hand hundreds of patents that were most famous for inventing explosives. It was the dynamite that gave him a huge fortune and the title of death dealer.

It was the dynamite that gave him a huge fortune and the title of death dealer.

Shocked by the assertion, Nobel decided to use the property to reward achievements for the benefit of mankind. In 1897, one year after the death of Nobel, his will was announced to amaze the world. He dedicates 94% of his fortune to honor those who have devoted in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Biomedical, Literature and Peace.

"The fact that a man who invented explosives dedicated to a peace prize has made many people interested," Wired quoted Gustav Källstrand, senior manager of the Nobel Museum.

The Nobel Prize became the focus of attention because of its massive bonus. Previously, scientists were awarded medals, donated money and even trophies, at least since the Renaissance. But there is no "good" award like Nobel.

In the early days, the Nobel Prize, worth about 20 years of a researcher's salary, was considered the first "genius reward" that allowed scientists to pursue their passion.

The person entrusted by the Nobel to carry out the will is two young engineers Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist. They set up the Nobel Foundation to manage the property and award it. The amount of Nobel money left for the prize is 31 million Swedish kronor (equivalent to 1,712 million kronor - about $ 199 million at the present time).

Until now, it was still believed that the obituary of the French newspaper had awakened other people in the Nobel, reviving in his desire to leave a meaningful legacy for society. Historians claim that 'although there are few opportunities to reevaluate their lives, Alfred Nobel has had enough time to change the article's judgment'.

Over 100 years later, the award named him became the prestigious award for human contributions in many fields. The Nobel Prize became the glory of the academic ivory tower, a longing from laboratories. Above all, the bizarre birth of the Nobel Prize and the origin of the bonus continues to be a reminder to mankind about the potential that their intellect can inflict on themselves and the Fruit. land.

2. The key to the future

Focusing only on the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, economics, peace, literature and often towards research projects, works of human value, Nobel motivates scientists Focusing on research with a guideline is a human being.

From a personal perspective, the Nobel Prize can give recipients money, recognition from society and reputation. The research is known, a series of scientific quotations are used, . a scientist can get many opportunities when owning a Nobel prize. Of course, accompanying it is always a hassle.

The important thing is that Nobel creates public interest in science, one of the important foundations for the development of the world. Radioactivity, penicillin, DNA structure . are all great discoveries, contributing to changing human history.

The most famous Nobel prizes in history.

The story of scientist Alexander Fleming and penicillin can be considered a great step forward in the history of world medicine. Before penicillin was born, millions of people died from wound infections and infectious diseases. Thanks to the discovery of a mold from Penicillum, Fleming found the first antibiotic of humanity.

In 2016, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selected the Nobel Prize winner for physics as three British scientists David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz for theoretical findings on topological phase transitions and topological phase of matter.

Reuters quoted the Nobel Committee for Physics of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, saying: 'The winners of this year's Physics Prize have opened the way to a world we have not yet understood, where the material represents in different states ".

That may be far-fetched concepts and not easy to understand with the public, but what is important is that the Nobel Prize always makes many people admire, admire and stimulate the passion of science.

In the context of the industrial revolution 4.0 began to take place with the boom in the fields of biotechnology, digital and physics, scientific research plays an increasingly important role.

Leaps in agriculture, fisheries, medicine, food processing, environmental protection, renewable energy, chemistry and materials, or new generation robots, 3D printers, self-driving cars, new materials . all depends on science, including the owners of prestigious Nobel prizes.

One of Nobel's important items is the Peace Prize. According to the aspiration of the Nobel will, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded "to the people who have made a great contribution to promoting solidarity among nations, in the elimination or restriction of armed forces and in organizing or promoting peace conferences ".

For over a century, hundreds of individuals and organizations have had the opportunity to receive the prestigious Nobel Prize in recognition through their practical contributions on the road to the future.

3. The hidden corner of the prestigious hundred-year award

As the medal sometimes has the wrong side, the noblest Nobel prize for scientists has also been hidden for more than 100 years of existence.

Many unknown rumors spread around the famous scientists' refusal to accept the award because it was unfair, among them the genius Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest icons. about invention and power invention.

In 1915, the press claimed that Tesla refused to accept the Nobel Prize in Physics with Thomas Edison because he thought that Edison had exploited many of his research works when the two worked together. However, Edison always denied Tesla. Finally he died in poverty, 'not a penny' in 1943.

Unlike the Tesla case, female scientist Elsie Rosalind Franklin plays a key role in decoding DNA structure. one of the largest and most important scientific breakthroughs in the twentieth century, but not recognized.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA structure in 1962, four years after Franklin's death, as James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins and not Rosalind Franklin. It is thought that James Watson himself "stole" the X-ray diffraction picture in Franklin's DNA to explain the double-helix structure of DNA.

The Nobel Prize is not only criticized for inequality but also is judged to be inadequate in the current trend of cooperation, diversity and interdisciplinary scientific research.

For example, in 2011, two American scientists Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess, together with US-Australian scientist Brian Schmidt, were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011 for their work on supernovae. These three astronomers work in two groups, but the problem is that the Nobel Committee only restricts the award to no more than three individuals. Many people believe that the prize will be more fair if it is for all members of both groups.

Editor Roger Highfield of Newscience science magazine said that large-scale collaboration is becoming an inevitable trend in modern science. Today's scientific breakthroughs come from dozens or even hundreds of individuals in the collective labor and support of many different science sub-sectors. So is the problem only given to three individuals who are fair?

In addition, the Nobel Prize is not given to other sciences such as oil and gas technology, plastics, pesticides . are useful scientific branches of society, considered the bias of the Committee to consider. Nobel Prize.

Scientists propose that in the context of the scoping of scientific disciplines, becoming increasingly multidisciplinary, the Nobel Prize Committee should introduce new scientific contributions and change every year well suited.

Finally, ironically, the Nobel Prize, which enrolls great scientific achievements, often leads to a decline in research productivity. That's because the prize winner will no longer be simply considered a great scientist, but also a "sage" of the public, according to The Conversation.

Andre Geim, informed by the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences for his Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010, frankly replied: "The Nobel Prize disrupts my work. I'm not sure if it is useful interruption ".

Richard Feynman, a Jewish American physicist who received the Nobel Prize in 1965, wrote in his memoirs that after he was honored, he was very afraid that he would not be able to gain any further notable achievements in his career.

"The Nobel Prize . is like a debt burden. It makes me unable to do a lot of things in an easy way, like an ordinary person. I didn't expect that popularity was so bad," Feynman said.

4. 2017 Nobel and predictions

As usual, items of the Nobel Prize in 2017 will be announced in October. Information about this award is completely kept secret until the last minute.

However, members of the voting council, including government officials, professors, legislators and even Nobel laureates have the right to reveal the name or organization they nominated.

According to Guardian, information from the Nobel Institute shows that there are 319 individuals and organizations nominated for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. These include former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden, Pope Francis, Russian President Vladimir Putin. , former French president Jacquers Chirac, US President Donald Trump.

For the fields of medicine, chemistry and physics, candidates come from many territories such as Denmark, India, Greece, Taiwan, the US and Russia. This is the rare time to predict the Nobel nomination for Russian scientists, including the director of the Max Planck Institute of Astrophysics in Germany and Georgiy Shul'pin, a researcher at the Institute of Semenov Physics Chemistry under the Academy. Russian science.

As usual, items of the Nobel Prize in 2017 will be announced in October.

Meanwhile, the study of human brain imaging data could help Professor Karl Friston at the University of London to win the Nobel Prize for Medicine.

Henry Snaith, Oxford University physics professor will probably receive a Nobel Prize in Physics with two other scientists from Korea and Japan, thanks to findings in the energy sector.

On September 25, the Nobel Foundation decided to increase the bounty for winners to 9 million kronor (US $ 1.1 million), an increase of 20% from the old bonus, which has been adjusted since 2012.

On October 2, the owner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine will be revealed. It could be that the scientist spends his whole life studying cancer, HIV, or any other disease. The money received can be economically viable for the remainder of the recipient's scientific life.

Nobel, like Dickson, Lasker-DeBakey, . are prestigious awards, honoring veteran scientists who often do not need so much fame and money, because they have spent decades for research and widely known by scholars.

Of course, the owners of this year's Nobel prizes deserve to be honored and remembered. However, the most important scientists are those who pursue pursuit of truth, passion and follow the endless spin of human history, not for any prize.

The Nobel Prize or the Nobel Prize is an international award that has been awarded annually since 1901 for individuals who have achieved achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics and peace. ; especially the peace prize can be given to organizations or individuals. In 1968, the Swedish Bank added a prize to the field of economic science, according to the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895.

The Nobel Prize in Physics, Chemistry and Economics was nominated and decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Swedish Academy is in charge of Literature, while the Nobel Council at Karolinska Institute will award the Biomedical Prize.

The Nobel Prize in economics was founded in 1968 by the Swedish central bank (Riksbank) to commemorate Alfred Nobel. A special committee of five members was elected by the Norwegian Parliament in charge of awarding the Peace Prize.

1. Nobel history and things to know
2. What do you know about the prestigious Nobel prize?