Hello Guys! Hope you’re doing well.
The Nobel Prize is the greatest prize in the field of Physics, Chemistry, Peace, Literature, Medicine/ Physiology and Economics awarded annually.
How is your prep for RRB NTPC GK going on?
Today in this blog, we will discuss an important topic for RRB NTPC General Awareness, The Nobel Prize.
Do you know about the interesting story behind the foundation of the Nobel Prize?
Well, No problem if you don’t. We will discuss about it in this blog.
- Alfred Nobel (Born: 21st October 1833, Stockholm, Sweden) was a Swedish inventor.
- His most famous invention was Dynamite, the most successful explosive.
- After his brother’s death, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred’s obituary. It condemned him for his invention of Military Explosives. The obituary stated ‘The merchant of death is dead’ and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.
- Alfred (who never had a wife or children) was disappointed with what he read and concerned with how he would be remembered.
- Consequently, on 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually in certain fields without distinction of nationality.
The Nobel Foundation was constituted for fulfilling the Nobel’s will.
The Awards were given for the first time on 10th December, 1901
Table of Contents
The Organizations responsible are:
- PHYSICS – The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- CHEMISTRY – The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- LITERATURE – The Swedish Academy
- PHYSIOLOGY/MEDICINE – The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute
- PEACE – A committee of 5 persons elected from Norwegian Parliament.
- ECONOMICS – Started by Sveriges Riksbank in memory of Nobel in 1968. However, it is awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1969 onwards.
As given below, a question was asked in General Awareness for RRB NTPC
Q. The Nobel Prize for Economics was instituted in
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- 1968
Ans. D.1968
Nobel Prize Ceremony
The Ceremony for all prizes takes place in Stockholm, Sweden while for the peace prize it’s held in Oslo, Norway.
On December 10, 1901, the Nobel Prizes were awarded for the first time in Stockholm and in Christiania (now Oslo) respectively.
The Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm took place at the Old Royal Academy of Music during the years 1901-1925. Since 1926, the ceremony has taken place at the Stockholm Concert Hall.
The King of Sweden hands over the Prize to the laureate/s.
- In Norway, during the years 1901-1904, the decision on the Peace Prize was announced at a meeting of the Starting on 10 December, after which the recipients were informed in writing. During 1905-1946 the Prize Award Ceremonies were held at the Nobel Institute building, during 1947-1989 in the auditorium of the University of Oslo and since 1990 at the Oslo City Hall. The King of Norway is present, but it is the Chairman of the Nobel Committee who hands over the Prize to the laureate/s
The First Nobel Prize Winners for various fields were:
Chemistry – Jacobus H. van‘t Hoff (1901)
Medicine – Emil Vin Behring (1901)
Physics – Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen (1901)
Peace – Henry Dunant (1901)
Literature – Sully Prudhomme (1901)
Economics – Ragnar Frisch and Jan (1969)
- Each recipient receives A Nobel Diploma, A Nobel Medal and Prize Money = 9 million Swedish kronors ( SEK)
Information about Recipients:
- The youngest recipient is Malala Yousafzai, Age 17 years.
She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016
Youngest Nobel Laureates
| Category | Name | Year | Age |
| Physics | William Lawrence Bragg | 1915 | 25 |
| Chemistry | Frédéric Joliot | 1936 | 35 |
| Physiology | Frederick Banting | 1923 | 32 |
| Literature | Rudyard Kipling | 1917 | 41 |
| Peace | Malala Yousafzai | 2014 | 17 |
| Economic Sciences | Esther Duflo | 2019 | 46 |
Oldest Nobel Laureates
| Category | Name | Year | Age |
| Physics | Arthur Ashkin | 2018 | 96 |
| Chemistry | John B. Goodenough | 2019 | 97 |
| Physiology | Peyton Rous | 1966 | 87 |
| Literature | Doris Lessing | 2007 | 88 |
| Peace | Joseph Rotblat | 1995 | 87 |
| Economic Sciences | Leonid Hurwicz | 2007 | 90 |
- Till now a total of Six Couples received Nobel Prize
- Marie and Pierre Curie being the first
- Abhijeet Banerjee and Esther Duflo being the latest.
Indian Nobel Laureates include
1. Rabindranath Tagore (1913) – Literature
2. Sir CV Raman (1930) – Physics
3. Mother Teresa (1979) – Peace
4. Hargobind Khorana (1968) – Medicine
5. S. Chandrasekhar (1983) – Physics
6. Veni Ramkrishnan (2009) – Chemistry
7. Amartya Sen (1998) – Economic Sciences
8. Kailash Satyarthi (2014) – Peace
9. Abhijeet Banerjee (2019) – Economic Sciences
- Mahatma Gandhi was nominated 5 times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Here we come to the end of this blog about the Nobel Prizes.
Hope you enjoyed reading this.
In our next blog, we will be discussing other current issues of national and international importance. If you don’t want to miss out on the next important blog, click here!
ALL THE BEST
