Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Official website of the State –
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On December 10, 1901, the first ceremony of awarding the Nobel Prizes, international awards established by the will of the Swedish inventor, industrialist, and philanthropist Alfred Nobel, took place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway.
For the good of man
Nobel wrote his will in 1895, a year before his death. In it, he expressed his wish that his fortune serve as a reward to those who had brought the greatest benefit to humanity. According to the document, the income from the capital was to be distributed annually by a specially established fund in five equal parts for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and diligence in the cause of peace.
Implementing the will required several years of legal, diplomatic, and organizational efforts. It was only in 1900 that the Nobel Foundation was officially established and the institutions responsible for selecting the laureates were appointed: the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and the Norwegian parliamentary Nobel Committee. It is worth noting that the Prize in Economic Sciences was established at the initiative of the Bank of Sweden in 1968 and has been awarded since 1969. The first awards ceremony took place on December 10, 1901—the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. This date has remained the same since then.
From the very beginning, a clear geography and protocol was established:
The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, in the presence of the King of Norway and members of the royal family, by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The best winners in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine, literature, and economics are personally honored by the King of Sweden in Stockholm. That same evening, the Nobel Banquet takes place in Stockholm—a gala event attended by the King and Queen of Sweden, members of the royal family, laureates, the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, leading scientists, and public figures. This tradition has been maintained for over 120 years.
With faith in the best
Among the first laureates in 1901 were: physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen for the discovery of X-rays, chemist Jacobus van't Hoff for discoveries in chemical dynamics and osmotic pressure, physician Emil von Behring for his work on serum therapy, especially against diphtheria, writer Sully-Prudhomme in recognition of his poetic works, which display a lofty idealism, and peacemakers Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy for the founding of the Red Cross and the creation of the League of Peace.
Since then, Nobel Prizes have been awarded to dozens of the greatest minds and activists of the 20th and 21st centuries: Marie Curie and Albert Einstein, Ivan Pavlov and Ilya Mechnikov, Pyotr Kapitsa and Lev Landau, Henryk Sienkiewicz and Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak and Joseph Brodsky, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, and many others.
The Nobel Prize remains more than just an award, but a symbol of service to humanity—to science, peace, justice, and culture. And with each passing year, it acquires new meaning, remaining true to the legacy of the man who, having created dynamite to help miners and construction workers, was horrified by its military use and bequeathed to humanity the dream of world peace.
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