What Is the Story Behind the Nobel Prize?

What Is the Story Behind the Nobel Prize?By Farhana

The Nobel Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable awards. It is named in honor of the noted chemist Alfred Nobel.

The prize in literature goes to the most deserving recipient for a body of work, rather than a lifetime achievement.

Today, the Nobel Prize is still awarded in Stockholm to whoever is deemed as the most significant contributor to the development of peace, chemistry, physiology, or medicine.

It is awarded to those individuals who have made the most significant discoveries or created the most useful inventions for mankind. In this article, we will consider the story of the Nobel Prize and try to provide you with a little knowledge regarding the Nobel Prize.

How did the Nobel Prize begin?

The Nobel Prize was first awarded on December 10, 1901, in Stockholm in memory of Alfred Nobel, following his last will. He was so named because he was the inventor of the ‘inventions relating to dynamite’, ‘explosives’, ‘lubricants’, and the ‘piston-and-cylinder-gun'. The Nobel Foundation, which is now the Nobel Prize organization, was established on December 14th, 1901 to ensure the future functioning of the prize.

Now, there is no Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Foundation administers the awards. The organization is run by the Swedish Academy and is in turn supervised by three Nobel Prize Committees; one for Peace, one for Chemistry, and one for Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Prize is usually given to distinguished individuals for their outstanding work in any of the fields of chemistry, medicine, physiology, or physics. It is awarded by the prize committees based on the recipients' merit, rather than their standing in his or her field.

In 1901 the prize was given to Emil von Behring and later on to Paul Ehrlich, who discovered the existence of “Magic Bullets” (i.e. a vaccine). In 1902 the prize was given to Robert Koch and later to Louis Pasteur, who discovered the disease germs. The first winners of a Nobel Prize were honored on the centennial of the birth of Alfred Nobel by the Swedish Academy on April 9, 1901.

Emil von Behring and Richard Pfeiffer (1853-1931) won the first Nobel Prize in December 1901 for their discovery of the first ‘immunizing’ vaccines.