Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine

Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine The Nobel Prizes were established in 1901 by the Nobel Foundation, which was endowed by the Swedish industrial chemist and philanthropist, Alfred Bernhard Nobel (1833–96).

Alfred was born in Stockholm, the son of an industrialist and inventor Immanuel Nobel, who used explosives extensively in his construction business. After schooling and private tutors in Stockholm and St Petersburg, where his father moved after a business failure, Alfred travelled extensively in Western Europe, learning languages and attending chemistry lectures and demonstrations. Throughout his life he was to retain a special fondness for English literature and poetry. He returned to St Petersburg just before the Crimean War (1853–56), and worked in the family's munitions company, manufacturing naval mines that prevented the British Navy from entering St Petersburg. Immanuel went bankrupt in 1859, and the family returned to Sweden. During the next few years father and son both worked on the newly-discovered explosives, gun cotton and nitroglycerin. A tragedy hit the family in 1864 when their nitroglycerine factory blew up, killing several people, including Alfred's younger brother. From that time on, Alfred Nobel tried to devise a safer way to deal with nitroglycerine, and in 1867 patented ‘dynamite’, a more stable form of the chemical. Further developments and inventions, including synthetic rubber and artificial silk, contributed to Alfred Nobel's personal wealth, and by the time of his death he held over 350 patents.

After his death his Will of November 27, 1895 specified that the bulk of his estate should be deposited in a fund, the interest from which should be divided into five parts to be used for five annual Prizes, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. A close friend, Countess Bertha von Suttner, had become increasingly critical of the late nineteenth-century arms race, and correspondingly active in the peace movement, and she may well have influenced Nobel's decision to include in his Will an award to individuals or organizations who promoted peace. In 1905 Bertha was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps not surprisingly, several of Nobel's relatives contested the Will.

One of the five shares was to be awarded to the person ‘who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of Physiology or Medicine’. The Royal Caroline Medico-Surgical Institute in Stockholm, today the Karolinska Institute, was entrusted with the task of selecting the winners of the award. Why did Nobel select this field for attention? During much of his life, he had suffered from poor health, complaining of indigestion, headaches, and the occasional bout of depression. He was known to be interested in medical science and was absolutely fascinated when the medical use of nitroglycerine became well known for relieving pain in angina pectoris. In 1890 his own doctors suggested its use, which prompted Nobel to write to a friend ‘isn't it the irony of ironies that I have been prescribed N/G 1 [nitroglycerine], to be taken internally.’

The awards became newsworthy almost immediately — their monetary value was substantially more than any other prize, and even at the end of the twentieth century, when other sources of spectacular awards are more common, a Nobel Prize carries unique cachet and prestige. Some of the greatest names in twentieth century medical science have received awards. Conversely, other great names have not. The restriction that the award can be shared by a maximum of three individuals in any one year, and cannot be awarded posthumously, has helped to fuel some bitter controversies over the apportioning of credit and priority for discoveries.

E. M. Tansey

Bibliography

Fox, D. M., Meldrum, M., Rezak, I. (ed) (1990). Nobel Laureates in Medicine or Physiology: a biographical dictionary. Garland Publishing, New York.
Sohlman, R. (1983). The legacy of Alfred Nobel. The Bodley Head Ltd, London.
Zuckerman, H. (1977). Scientific elite: Nobel laureates in the United States. The Free Press, New York.

See also the web site of the Nobel Foundation at: http://www.nobel.se/index.html