Nobel Prize

Every year, prizes called Nobel Prizes are given to people who have done very well in different areas. These areas include Literature, Science and Peace. They were established by the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, which dictates that the awards should be administered by the Nobel Foundation. For many people, winning a Nobel Prize is a very special thing in their lives. People who have won a Nobel prize are called "Nobel laureates".

Each prize winner gets a medal, a diploma and a sum of money that has changed over the years. In 1901, the winners of the first Nobel Prizes were given 150,782 SEK, which is equal to 7,731,004 SEK in December 2007. In 2008, the winners were awarded a prize amount of 10,000,000 SEK. The awards are presented in Stockholm in an annual ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

Prize categories and winners

• Winners of the Nobel Prize in Physics (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
• Winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)
• Winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (decided by Karolinska Institutet)
• Winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature (decided by the Swedish Academy)
• Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (decided by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, Stortinget)
• Winners of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (decided by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences)

The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, sometimes called the Nobel Prize in Economics, was not a part of Nobel's will. It was started in 1969 by Sveriges Riksbank, the Bank of Sweden. Since this prize was not in Nobel's will, and is not paid for by his money, it is not a Nobel Prize. However, it is awarded together with the other Nobel prizes.

Specially distinguished laureates

Multiple laureates

Since the establishment of the Nobel Prize, four people have received two Nobel Prizes:

• Marie Curie: in Physics 1903, for the discovery of radioactivity; and in Chemistry 1911, for the isolation of pure radium
• Linus Pauling: in Chemistry 1954, for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances; and Peace 1962, for nuclear test-ban treaty activism; he is the only person to have won two unshared Nobel Prizes.
• John Bardeen: in Physics 1956, for the invention of the transistor; and Physics 1972, for the theory of superconductivity.
• Frederick Sanger: in Chemistry 1958, for structure of the insulin molecule; and in Chemistry 1980, for virus nucleotide sequencing.

As a group, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has received the Nobel Peace Prize three times: in 1917, 1944, and 1963. The first two prizes were specifically in recognition of the group's work during the world wars, and the third was awarded at the year of its 100-Year Anniversary.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has won the Peace Prize twice: in 1954 and 1981.

Family laureates

A number of families have included multiple laureates.

• The Curie family claim the most Nobel Prizes, with five:
  • Marie Curie, Physics 1903 and Chemistry 1911
  • Her husband Pierre Curie, Physics 1903
  • Their daughter Irène Joliot-Curie, Chemistry 1935
  • Their son-in-law Frederic Joliot-Curie, Chemistry 1935
  • In addition, Henry Labouisse, the husband of the Curies' second daughter Ève, was the director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.
• Gunnar Myrdal (Economics, 1974) and wife Alva Myrdal (Peace, 1982)
• J. J. Thomson, awarded the Nobel prize for Physics in 1906, was the father of George Paget Thomson who was awarded the Nobel prize for Physics in 1937.
• William Henry Bragg shared the Nobel prize in Physics in 1915 with his son, William Lawrence Bragg.
• Niels Bohr won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1922, and his son Aage Bohr won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1975.
• Manne Siegbahn, who won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1924, was the father of Kai Siegbahn who shared the Nobel prize in Physics in 1981.
• Hans von Euler-Chelpin shared the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1929 with Arthur Harden. His son, Ulf von Euler, was awarded the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1970.
• C.V. Raman who won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1930, was the uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar who won the Nobel prize in Physics in 1983.
• Arthur Kornberg shared with Severo Ochoa the 1959 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the mechanisms in the biological synthesis of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. Kornberg's son Roger won the 2006 Nobel prize in Chemistry for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription.
• Jan Tinbergen, who won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1969, was the brother of Nikolaas Tinbergen who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch.