The Nobel Prize

There are few of us who will ever get the chance to read our obituaries. And, if we could read them, one wonders what they would contain and would we be able to do something positive from what we read?

Alfred Nobel was reading a newspaper in Paris. The paper had learned of the death of Nobel’s brother, Ludvig, . The paper printed an obituary, but had mistaken Ludvig for his famous brother. So in this mistaken obituary, Alfred learned about himself. The paper had condemned Alfred for his invention of dynamite, and labeled him a “merchant of death”. Nobel, already uneasy about the increasing use of his invention by the military and cringing at the label the paper gave him, decided to do something about his legacy. He rewrote his will, and left 94% of his worth to the formation a prize to be awarded annually to people who have completed outstanding research, invented ground-breaking techniques or equipment, or made an outstanding contribution to society in physics, chemistry, literature, peace, medicine or physiology and economics. They were to become commonly known as the Nobel Prizes. He further stipulated that “It is my express wish that in awarding the prizes no consideration whatever shall be given to the nationality of the candidates, so that the most worthy shall receive the prize, whether he be Scandinavian or not."

Since 1901, the year the first awards were handed out, the small country of Sweden continues the legacy of one of its famous sons. The ceremony is treated with great deference here in Sweden. The winners are discussed and the ideas and inventions that earned the winners their acknowledgement is explained in detail to the curious Swedish populace. The ceremony is covered in depth with all the pomp and ceremony shown in its entirety. The speeches are carried live, as is the following banquet and grand ball. The entire Swedish Royal Family is in attendance and the King personally presents the awards to the winners.

The TV coverage is uninterrupted and does not have the boorish sponsorship that has become inherent to American TV. There is no “The Telia 2006 Nobel Prize Ceremony brought to you by Volvo” for instance. TV adapts to the ceremony in Sweden rather than the other way around.

It was during the coffee and cognac part of the banquet when the Nobel Laureates got up and gave an informal and personal talk about their feelings and emotions during these days of tribute. Some are amusing and some are very proper and polite. Some are poignant and all are heartfelt and personal. During one speech, a winner stated that the Nobel Award does more honor to the country presenting than to the person that receives it. I thought that a very magnanimous and truthful statement.

This small Scandinavian country honors scientific achievement, while its larger ally cuts its endowments to research. Sweden, the country that invented dynamite, celebrates the future of mankind, while the larger United States spends billions in developing ways to utilize the explosive, continuing the past’s bleak history. One country celebrates higher knowledge and exploration, the other the lowest common denominator and exploitation. That all the science recipients were American just underlines the underachievement of the United States. The answer to the question of what could be possible with the full backing of America’s resources to research and exploration is staggering.