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The Story of Nobel Prize
Syed Fattahul Alim
10/8/2005
The world would not have remembered the Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel with such fervour had he not contributed his entire fortune for the purpose of man's creative endeavour and peace. Ironically, Nobel was famous for inventing dynamite, a chemical substance notorious for its destructive power. But Nobel, unlike many common mortals, was a farsighted person. He knew that the fortune worth $9 million that he had amassed from his numerous inventions (for example, synthetic rubber, artificial silk and synthetic leather along with some 350 patents) in addition to dynamite would be simply wasted by his heirs after his death. So, he decided to do something extraordinary to the dismay of his family members. The Nobel Prize was the outcome of this great decision. Winning Nobel Prize is now the ultimate dream of any scientist, litterateur or peace worker.
The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901, five years after the death of Alfred Nobel (1833-1896). The areas of scientific research for which the prize is awarded are physics, chemistry and physiology/medicine. Other areas of human endeavour for which the great prize goes are peace, economics and literature. The giving of the prize in economics, however, started rather recently since 1968, by the Swedish Bank, Riksbank on the 300th anniversary of its coming into being.
The Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the prizes in Physics and Chemistry, while the Royal Caroline Medical Institute awards the prize in Medicine. The prize for Literature is the preserve of Swedish Academy, but the Norwegian parliament or Storting awards the prize for peace. Since 1901 till 2004, 751 persons and organisations had won Nobel Prize in different areas of human endeavour for the advancement of knowledge and world peace. Until 2004, of the individuals, who had won this most coveted prize in the world, 33 were women, the rest 718 being men. This is certainly not a good piece of news for those who are fighting for gender parity. This, however, does not mean that women are less talented than men or that the Swedish Academy of Sciences that awards this rare honour to individuals of talent and dedication is anyway biased towards men. On the contrary, this unpleasant reality points to a very simple truth. The women are yet to go a long way to claim their rightful place in the arena of scientific and literary excellence.
One can find yet other interesting features of the recipients of Nobel Prize. For example, who was the youngest person to receive the Nobel Prize so far, that is, until 2004? One still does not know if after all the prizes are distributed among the recipients of the Nobel Prize for 2005, the past record in this respect will be broken. But until last year this time, the youngest recipient of the prize was Lawrence Bragg, who at 25 bagged the prize in Physics with his father in 1915. By the same token, the oldest man to receive this great prize was Raymond Davis Jr. He got it in Physics at the age of 88 in 2002.
Again, there were some rare personalities, who for some reasons or other, did not or could not receive the prize. The French existentialist philosopher and litterateur, Jean Paul Sartre, was one such individual who refused the prize for literature in 1964, for he was against any kind of official honour in his life. On the other hand, the Vietnamese peace negotiator declined the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, because she or her government thought that the then situation of war-ravaged Vietnam was not auspicious for her accepting the prize.
There were other cases in which the intervention of authoritarian governments did not allow the awardees to receive the prize. Three Germans-Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk-were not allowed to receive the prize because that was the era of Hitler, who forbade them to do so. Similarly, Boris Pasternak, though he first accepted the 1958 Nobel Prize for literature, had to decline it later as the Communist government of Russia of that time did not allow him to receive the prize.
What about receiving the great prize more than once? Yes, there were some very fortunate organisations and individuals who received this rare honour twice or even thrice. The International Red Cross, for instance, won this prize three times. Interestingly, the founder of this organisation, Henry Durant, received the prize in the very first year of its launching. The chemist Linus Pauling got the prize for his contribution in this particular field of research in 1954. Eight years later he again bagged this prize, but for a different field of human endeavour, peace.
The awarding of the prize for the year 2005 for researchers in medical science, physics, chemistry and other subjects has just begun. The names of the winners of this prize in medicine, physics and chemistry have been announced. Soon the names of the fortunate ones in other disciplines will be publicised one after another.
The Nobel Prize in medicine has gone to two Australians-Barry J. Marshall, 54, and J. Robin Warren, 68. They have shed a new light on the cause of peptic or duodenal ulcer or more generally gastrointestinal disorder. Earlier, there was a misconception that stress was responsible for this condition in the stomach and intestine that leads to ulcer. Microorganisms such as bacteria had no role to play in the guts to cause these disorders. But these two medical researchers have proved beyond doubt that a particular kind of bacterium called Helicobacter pylori works to cause the medical condition leading to ulcers in the intestine.
The discovery of the bacterium in 1982 by Dr. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren has revolutionised the treatment of gastritis and duodenal ulcers, which were traditionally thought to be related to mental stress triggering excessive secretion of acid in the stomach. Previously it was strongly believed in the scientific circles that stomach was sterile because no bacterium could survive there because of the digestive juice. But the two diligent Australians have debunked the misconception and the orthodoxy that discouraged any suggestion to the contrary. The condition can now be cured by a short regimen of antibiotics and other medicines.
In the fascinating world physics, two Americans and one German have shared the prize this year. The American winners of the prize are rather old-Harvard professor of Physics Roy J. Glauber, 80, and John L. Hall, 71, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulders and University of Colorado. Compared to the Americans, Theodor W. Hänsch, 63, of Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, Germany and Physics professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, who also shared the prize with the other two, can be considered as the younger member among the three. The eldest of the three physicists, Roy J. Glauber actually put an end to the application of classical electromagnetic theory in explaining the behaviour of light. On the other hand, he made full use of quantum mechanics and developed it to the level necessary to explain in 1963 the pattern of bunching of light quanta, called coherence, as it travels to earth from Sirius.
The names of prizewinners for another important branch of the exact sciences, chemistry, have also been announced. They are Yves Chauvin, 74, of the French Petroleum Institute (Chauvin is by now a retired person); Robert H. Grubbs, 63, professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, and Richard. R. Schrock, 60, professor of chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in USA. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences while announcing this year prize for chemistry said, " This represents a great step forward for 'green chemistry,' reducing potentially hazardous waste through smarter production." In fact, the work of these celebrated chemists explained that the molecules change places like square-dance partners, a process that promises to revolutionise the manufacture of plastics, drugs and other materials.
As it happened in the earlier times, this year, too, many dark horses in the field of scientific research, literature and other fields of human endeavour may grab the limelight and win the coveted prize. Things have just begun to unfold.
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