Who nominates candidates for the Nobel Prize?

The Nobel Prize is one of the greatest distinctions a person can dream of in their career. It is an international award, given each year to selected individuals who have brought great benefits to humanity as a whole. Personalities like Barack Obama, Marie Curie, and associations like the Red Cross received the Nobel Prize, and receive, in addition to the distinction, an endowment of 11 million Swedish crowns (about $950,000). Who nominates candidates for the Nobel Prize? Who is responsible for awarding these prizes? Discover the short history of the Nobel Prize in this article.

Nobel Prize winner: who nominates and chooses people for the Nobel Prize?

Nobel Prizes are always awarded by different separate committees for each field. The best known, the Nobel Peace Prize, is awarded by five members elected by the Norwegian Parliament. As for other prizes, such as those for physics, chemistry, medicine or literature, Swedish institutions are the decision-makers (the Royal Academy of Sciences, the Karolinska Institute, the Swedish Academy, etc.). On the other hand, thehe candidates are first chosen by experts, made up of academic institutions, former winners, university professorsas well as other important figures recognized for their knowledge in specific fields.

Founder and history: who created the Nobel Prize and why?

At the origin of the Nobel Prize, we find Alfred Nobel. This Swedish chemist and inventor is known for being the inventor of dynamite. His invention earned him the nickname “merchant of death“, which pushed him to bequeath his entire fortune with the aim of rewarding those who have rendered the greatest services to humanity, mainly in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. In 1900, the creation of the Nobel Foundation launched the implementation of his last wishes, and the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901 to Henry Dunantthe founder of the Red Cross, as well as Frédéric Passy, ​​an ardent peace activist.

Nobel Peace Prize: who are the people (men and women) who have received the Nobel Peace Prize? List

Since its creation, more than 110 individuals and 29 organizations have been awarded a Nobel Prize for their work or their benevolent impact on humanity. The Red Cross is one of the institutions that has won the most Nobel Prizes (3). In 2009, United States President Barack Obama also received the Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, in 2021, journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize. Stranger proposals were also made to the Nobel committee, such as Michael Jackson, but also dictators like Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, even Adolf Hitler, which surprised the whole world.

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