Three trends you should know about the Nobel Prizes

Three trends you should know about the Nobel Prizes

“A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so, ” said Albert Einstein. The scientist himself published his thesis on the photoelectric effect when was 21, but received the Nobel prize only two decades later. That would still make him one of the youngest to win the award in physical sciences. Except for the peace prize, Nobel laureates are progressively getting older with every passing decade

The average age for a Nobel winner is 65 years in this century, a full 5 years past the retirement age in countries such as India. That is also a decade and a half more than the average age of laureates in 1901-10. It is not altogether surprising. With a vast expansion in the body of scientific work in the last century, it is but natural that researchers take longer to prove themselves worthy of arguably, the biggest recognition in these subjects.

The oldest laureates are literature prize winners at an average 69 years, but then they have always been older. The literature award is more of a lifetime achievement work than for any singular breakthrough.

Modern winners of the prize also seldom win it alone. The average number of laureates per award in Physics is 2.6 in this century compared to 1.4 in 1901-10. Looking at it another way, a winner earned an average 4 million Swedish Krona (`3.4 crore) last year. That is a comedown from the 6.1 million Krona, or `5.2 crore, winners got in 1901 (in 2013 prices).

One big controversy about the Nobel Prize (apart from the fact that Mahatma Gandhi never won the peace prize) is that most winners come from North America and Europe. Over 80% of laureates were born in these two continents. While the proportion of Nobel Laureates born in the other 5 continents has risen steadily, it stands at a dismal 23% this century. Even that is a bit of hogwash. Most of these laureates accomplished their award winning work in either North America or Europe. For instance, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who shared the 2009 chemistry prize, was born in India but won as a US citizen

 
Rahul kumar Gupta
PGDM,3rd SEM
Source:-MINT

“A person who has not made his great contribution to science before the age of 30 will never do so, ” said Albert Einstein. The scientist himself published his thesis on the photoelectric effect when was 21, but received the Nobel prize only two decades later. That would still make him one of the youngest to win the award in physical sciences. Except for the peace prize, Nobel laureates are progressively getting older with every passing decade.

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