The Nobel Committee announced this year's laureates in chemistry, physics, economics, medicine and biology, and also presented the Peace Prize. At the same time, the essence scientific discoveries, awarded the Nobel, is often unclear to people far from the world of science. The Village asked a physicist, biologist, chemist, economist and country specialist Latin America V simple words explain why they gave the Nobel this year and how these discoveries can be useful for you and me.
French scientists win Nobel Prize in Chemistry Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.
When we talk about molecular machines, we are talking about the so-called catenan molecules linked to each other in the form of a chain. It turned out that if you create many such cyclic pairs, that is, a long chain, then the rotation of these rings one relative to the other leads to the movement of the molecule forward. This is how the molecular machine is created.
This year, the Nobel Prize was awarded to three laureates who worked independently of each other. One first synthesized a simple combination of two rings and showed that, moving relative to each other, they can go forward. The second took one molecule in the form of a rod and put a few more rings on this rod. And it turned out that at right conditions rings rotating around this rod can rise up. And the third researcher created a combination, and his molecular machine can move in different directions like a helicopter that rises due to the rotation of the propeller. The molecular machine will work on the same principle.
Imagine a microwave. We put a cup of water on a stand, and it starts spinning from the energy that an electrical device gives. It turned out that molecular machines can also set objects in motion, and those objects that exceed the weight of these machines by thousands and even millions of times.
Molecular machines will not be put into practice either today or next year. But these discoveries will give impetus to new research to create more powerful mechanisms. It's like the discovery of a laser beam that can charge a mobile phone at a distance of two to three kilometers. It would seem that this is not such a discovery. And then it turned out that with the same laser beam with a different power it is possible to charge spaceships. Several years have passed from one experiment to another, and it will certainly be the same with molecular machines.
Molecular machines can be used in any device that will move heavier objects. One of the scientists demonstrated the movement of a liter flask on a device that moved thanks to catenanes. We are talking about the prospect of using these machines in a variety of fields - in biology, and in medicine, and in Food Industry. For example, with the help of molecular machines, we will be able to deliver drugs to the body. Such a small molecule, consisting of only two rings, will be able to deliver the drug exactly to the target.
Valery Petrosyan
professor of the department organic chemistry, Head of the Laboratory of Physical Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Lomonosov Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov
The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was awarded to a professor at the Tokyo technological university Yoshinori Osumi for discoveries in the field of cell autophagy
Nikolai Kontarov
Candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Researcher medical university named after Sechenov
Autophagy is the degradation of proteins resulting in cell death. It is associated with a process such as apoptosis, that is, programmed cell death. If death occurs as a result of some external causes, this is called necrosis. For example, inflammation occurs and the cell dies because of it. But there are times when a cell decides to leave on its own - this is something like suicide, and one of the methods for such cellular suicide is autophagy.
There comes a time when the cell simply cannot provide for itself and begins to work for wear and tear. At this point, it should leave with the help of the autophagy mechanism. But sometimes apoptosis happens for unknown reasons, and this leads to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. If the autophagy mechanism is impaired in a person, the cells degrade rather slowly and eventually become redundant. And in such cells, harmful changes can occur. For example, a cell cannot provide itself with enzymes that ensure DNA repair, and this can provoke mutations and breaks, and subsequently a tumor.
There are two ways of autophagy. The first is due to the presence of protosomes, that is, protein complexes that are involved in the degradation of other cellular proteins. Thus, when all proteins are degraded, the cell dies.
For the study of this mechanism, the Nobel Prize was given in 2004.
At the same time, studies were underway on the problem of protein degradation in membrane-coated structures, that is, in lysosomes. Protein degradation occurs in them, which also leads to cell death. That is, the end goal is the same, but the process is different. In one case, proteins in the protosomes take part in the process, and in the other, proteins are degraded inside the membrane structure of the lysosome. Actually, the current Nobel is dedicated to the latter.
Practical Application This discovery applies primarily to medicine, in particular the study of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. It is believed that in these diseases, the formation of similar structures occurs in nerve cells, but why nerve cells decide to die themselves is still unclear.
The scientific community is hopeful that the new mechanism of autophagy will shed light on this. On the other hand, the discovery can be applied in embryology. This is important in light of the growing popularity of in vitro fertilization. Knowing the mechanism of autophagy means that we will be able to control the process of embryo formation.
Nobel Prize in economics went to the British Oliver Hart and Finn Bengt Holmstrom for contributions to the development of contract theory
The concept of "contract theory" looks unusual for those who are not professionally involved in this problem. In essence, we are talking about how the parties to the contract approach the definition of its essential conditions, without having all the necessary information. Interestingly, the laureates were able to present in the form mathematical model that part of the contract that is known to the participants by default, but for various reasons cannot be put on paper and, accordingly, is not the subject of litigation.
Many believe that the topic of contracts is more related to jurisprudence than to economics, but trust in this moment- one of the key economic categories. Higher risks and, accordingly, a lower degree of trust between the parties to the contract implies a higher price. For example, in Russian conditions, due to lack of trust, interest rates on loans remain very high, projects are not implemented on the basis of public-private partnerships, and demand for state-owned objects planned for privatization is low.
Practical use The research results of the nominees Oliver Hart and Bengt Holström will help improve the conditions for the implementation of contracts for each of the participants, that is, increase the level of trust between them. The widespread use of these principles can lead to a reduction in contract prices and become one of the factors in reducing inflation.
Nevertheless, the choice of winners was rather unexpected. Most experts were inclined to believe that the Nobel Prize in Economics would be given for fundamental macroeconomic research or for the development of the theory of motivation.
Andrey Margolin
Vice-Rector of RANEPA, Doctor of Economics
An American won this year's Nobel Prize in Physics David Thouless, British Duncan Haldane and Scot Michael Kosterlitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
Alexander Golubov
Head of the Laboratory of Topological Quantum Phenomena in Superconducting Systems, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Kosterlitz and Thouless and independently of them, the Soviet theoretical physicist Vadim Berezinsky in the early 1970s described a model of the state of a two-dimensional film in a superconducting system - that is, in a metal that loses electrical resistance at very low temperatures. Prior to this, it was believed for a long time that superconductivity is impossible in a two-dimensional system.
The scientists proved the possibility of existence of superconductivity in a two-dimensional system and showed an interesting topological phase transition between the superconducting phase at low temperatures and the normal phase at high temperatures. They differ in that vortices are spontaneously generated at low temperatures. magnetic flux- more precisely, a pair of vortices that are destroyed at high temperature and form single vortices.
What is a topological phase transition? The very mathematical definition of “topological” means the continuity of various objects during deformation: for example, if we use the terminology of donuts and holes, then a clay ball and a bowl molded from it are objects of the same topology that can be transferred from one to another by transformation without breaks.
But a clay ball and a clay donut are bodies of different topologies: in order to get a donut, you need to make a hole in the ball.
The usual phase transition can be observed, for example, during the melting of metals, when they pass from a solid to a liquid state. This transition changes crystal lattice metal and slightly moves its atoms, but does not make any cardinal changes in its internal state, does not change the topology. The topological phase transition changes geometric properties systems, and this is a rather unusual phenomenon. And just the vortices shown by Kosterlitz and Thouless change the topology of the object.
The discovery of topological phase transitions could lead to the creation of a quantum computer, which could be much more powerful than today's computers. An ordinary computer works in a binary system: information in it is encoded by the numbers 0 and 1. A quantum processor is an analog system, it obeys not only zeros and ones, but has a large degree of freedom. Thus, there are additional methods of encoding information and parallel computing. In addition, a conventional computer runs on silicon conductors, while a quantum one needs a different material base, which scientists have not yet been able to find.
A lot of work is being done on the quantum computer different groups scientists, and some have almost created it, but there is a problem with the time of work. Scientists who design qubits - the smallest elements of information storage in quantum computer- think about how to keep their quantum state for a long time, because it is easily destroyed by interaction with the external environment. And this leads to calculation errors.
It's been 52 years now Colombia is engulfed in a real civil war. Rather, it is not so much Civil War how much confrontation between the ruling forces of the country on the one hand and a number of terrorist organizations on the other, which at first covered themselves with the Marxist-Leninist banner, and after the fall of the USSR began to trade in weapons, drugs and kidnapping. From time to time they tried to conduct a dialogue with them, but there was no result.
In the end, the entire world community demanded that Colombia resolve this issue, especially since the conflict between the state armed forces and terrorists claimed more than 200 thousand lives, and more than 4 million Colombians were forced to move to other places. Neighboring states also suffered because terrorist organizations violated the borders, and this is a fundamental problem, given the local landscape. In addition, the terrorists made a lot of money from drugs and arms smuggling, so it was easy for them to support themselves and recruit young people into their ranks. Imagine a young poor Brazilian who is given 20 thousand dollars and a rifle in his hands. Of course, he will agree to join the ranks of the radicals.
The last president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, tried to put an end to this. For four years in neutral territory, in Cuba, the Colombian government and the country's largest terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, negotiated. In the end, they reached an agreement that the terrorists would lay down their arms and cease their activities. They were even offered a few seats in the Colombian Congress to establish their own political party there. After that, the President decided to hold a referendum on this agreement - for the Colombian citizens to speak out whether they agree or not.
At the same time, the majority of Colombians said "no" in the referendum. The fact is that this longstanding confrontation has affected every Latin American family, because so many people died. And those who said “no” in the referendum actually spoke out against the impunity of criminals: these people considered that particularly cruel terrorists should still be punished.
The fact that the truce was achieved at the cost of enormous efforts gave the President of Colombia the right to receive the Nobel Peace Prize deservedly. But on the other hand, the second phase of negotiations is just beginning, where options for punishing the leaders of terrorist organizations will be discussed.
Vladimir Sudarev
Deputy Director of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences
December 10, the day of death Alfred Nobel The Nobel Prize will be awarded at the Stockholm Philharmonic. Each laureate will receive King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden gold medal with a portrait of the founder of the award and a diploma. The amount of the monetary component of the award this year, as in the previous three years, reaches 8 million kroons (about 59 million rubles).
Who is up for the award this year?
Until the last moment, the Nobel committees do not report anything about the contenders for the prize themselves, or about those who nominated them, and experts are trying to make assumptions about the names kept secret.
Each year, Thomson Reuters attempts to predict who will win awards based on the citation rankings of researchers.
- Physics
In the field of physics, an award can be presented for experimental detection gravitational waves. Among the main contenders for the prize are three physicists: Rainer Weiss, professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ronald Drever, Scottish physicist, specialist in the field of lasers, and Kip Thorne, physicist and astronomer, world-renowned expert in the field general theory relativity.
According to the Thomson Reuters citation count, two more teams of scientists claiming the Nobel Prize in Physics are named. So, a possible candidate named professor Marvin Cohen for properties research solids, mathematical methods for calculating their properties and especially for empirical method pseudopotentials. Also among the possible candidates are Celso Grebogi, Edward Ott And James York for contributions to the theory of control of chaotic systems. The OGY method developed by them has found wide application in studying the behavior of chaotic systems in mechanics, laser physics, radiophysics, chemistry, biology and medicine.
Eligible for the Chemistry Prize George Church And Feng Jang who managed to edit the genomes of mice and humans using a system responsible for the production of acquired immunity in bacteria. It turned out to be possible to use the system for editing the genes of animals and humans, in particular, for removing HIV from infected T-lymphocytes.
In addition to them, the reward can count Dennis Lo, who developed a way to detect fetal extracellular DNA in maternal plasma, which would help diagnose certain genetic diseases, and X Iroshi Maeda with Yasuhiro Matsumura who discovered the effect of increased permeability and retention for macromolecular drugs.
- Economy
Among the likely candidates for the award is Edward Lazier for his work in the field of workforce economics, which concerns the development of new models of employee motivation, career development and labor productivity, as well as Olivier Blanchard for contributions to macroeconomics and the study of factors that determine economic instability and employment.
Named third candidate Mark Melitz for his research on the heterogeneity (heterogeneity) of firms in international trade.
- Peace Prize
Eligible for the Peace Prize former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden and Pope Francis.
How many people have received the Nobel Prize since its inception?
Since 1901, 881 individuals and 23 organizations have received the award. It was not awarded during the First and Second World Wars. The United States is the leader in terms of the number of laureates (359 people), the UK is in second place (121 people), and Germany is in third place (104 people). Russia has 27 laureates.
Voluntarily waived French award writer Jean-Paul Sartre and Vietnamese Le Duc Tho politician. Forcibly, three did not receive it. Adolf Gitler banned chemist Richard Kuhn, biochemist Adolf Butenandt and bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk accept the award, and the Soviet writer Boris Pasternak at first he agreed to accept the award, but then, under pressure from the authorities, he refused.
One of the key events in the social and intellectual life of Sweden is Nobel Day - the annual Nobel Prize ceremony, which takes place on December 10 in Stockholm's Studhuset (City Hall).
These awards enjoy international recognition as the most honorable civil distinction. The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economics are presented to the laureates by His Majesty the King of Sweden at a ceremony held on the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel (December 10, 1896).
Each laureate receives a gold medal with the image of the Nobel and a diploma. Currently, the Nobel Prize is 10 million Swedish kronor (about 1.05 million euros or $1.5 million).
The prizes in chemistry, physics and economics are awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the prizes in medicine are awarded by the Karolinska Institute, and the Swedish Academy awards the literature prize. The only "non-Swedish" prize, the Peace Prize, is awarded in Oslo by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
By the way, the last version of the famous will Nobel signed almost a year before his death - November 27, 1895 in Paris. It was announced in January 1897: “All my movable and immovable property must be turned into liquid values by my executors, and the capital thus collected is placed in a reliable bank. The income from investments should belong to the fund, which will distribute them annually in the form of bonuses to those who during the previous year have brought the greatest benefit to mankind ... The indicated percentages must be divided by five equal parts, which are intended: one part - to the one who makes the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics; the other to the one who makes the most important discovery or improvement in the field of chemistry; the third - to the one who will make the most important discovery in the field of physiology or medicine; the fourth - to the one who creates the most outstanding literary work idealistic direction; fifth - to the one who has made the most significant contribution to the rallying of nations, the abolition of slavery or the reduction of the existing armies and the promotion of peace congresses ... My particular desire is that the nationality of candidates should not be taken into account when awarding prizes ... "
Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish inventor, industrial magnate, linguist, philosopher and humanist was born in 1833 in Stockholm to a Swedish family. In 1842 his family moved to St. Petersburg, the capital of what was then Russia. Nobel received an excellent education of international class. He read, wrote, spoke and understood equally well at 5 European languages: Swedish, Russian, English, French and German. Nobel went down in history as the inventor of dynamite, a substance that played an important role in the development of world industry.
Alfred Nobel in his life became the owner of 355 patents, which formed the basis of about 90 enterprises in 20 countries of the world. His brothers Robert and Ludovic, who worked in Russia and later in Baku in the oil fields, contributed to the multiplication of his fortune. Alfred Nobel bequeathed $4 million (the current equivalent of $173 million) to be used as prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine. These areas were close to him, and in them he assumed the greatest progress.
He did not bequeath prizes to architects, musicians and composers. Literature prizes also reflect Nobel's personal interests. In his youth he wrote poetry and poems in English and Swedish, and all his life he was a voracious reader in every language available to him.Prizes in the field of science and literature were supposed to be awarded in Sweden, and the Peace Prize - in Norway. From this will began the history of the Nobel Prize, the fund of which amounted to 31 million crowns.
A year later, on December 10, 1896, Alfred Nobel died in Italy from a stroke. Later this date will be declared Nobel Day. After the opening of the will, it turned out that almost the entire fortune of Nobel was not available to his relatives, who were counting on this money.
Dissatisfaction was shown even by the Swedish king Oscar II, who did not want finances to leave the country, even in the form of world merit awards. There were also objective bureaucratic difficulties. The practical implementation of Nobel's will turned out to be a very difficult task, and under certain conditions the awards could not take place.
But soon all obstacles were overcome, and in June 1898 Nobel's relatives signed an agreement to renounce further claims to capital. Received the approval of the Government of Sweden and the main provisions related to the awarding of prizes. In 1900, the Charter of the Nobel Foundation and the rules governing the activities of the created Nobel structures were signed by the King of Sweden. The prize was first awarded in 1901.
The Nobel Prize has become the most prestigious prize in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, economics, literature and peace efforts among nations. It is paid once a year from the funds of the fund created according to the will of Alfred Nobel. More than 600 people have become Nobel Prize winners during the 20th century.
Awarding of prizes is not always universally approved. In 1953, Sir Winston Churchill received a literary prize, while the famous American writer Graham Greene never received it.
Each country has its own national heroes and often the award or no award is disappointing. The famous Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren has never been nominated for the award, and the Indian Mahatma Gandhi has never won the award. But Henry Kissinger won the Peace Prize in 1973, a year after the Vietnam War. There are known cases of refusal of the award for reasons of principle: the Frenchman Jean Paul Sartre refused literary prize in 1964, and the Vietnamese Le Dik Tho did not want to share it with Kissinger.
Nobel Prizes are unique awards and are especially prestigious. The question is often asked why these awards attract so much more attention than any other awards of the 20th century. One reason may be the fact that they were introduced in a timely manner and that they marked some fundamental historical changes in society. Alfred Nobel was a true internationalist, and from the very beginning of the awards named after him, the international nature of the awards made a special impression. Strict rules for the selection of laureates, which have been applied since the inception of the awards, have also played a role in recognizing the importance of the awards in question. As soon as the election of the current year's laureates ends in December, preparations begin for the election of the next year's laureates. Such a year-round activity, in which so many intellectuals from all over the world participate, orientates scientists, writers and public figures to work for the development of society, which precedes the awarding of awards for "contribution to human progress."
The first Nobel Banquet took place on December 10, 1901, at the same time as the first award ceremony. Currently, the banquet is held in the Blue Hall of the City Hall. 1300-1400 people are invited to the banquet. Dress code - tailcoats and evening dresses. The chefs of the Town Hall Cellar (town hall restaurant) and chefs who have ever received the title of Chef of the Year are involved in the development of the menu. In September, three menu options are tasted by members of the Nobel Committee, who decide what will be served "at the Nobel table." Only dessert is always known - ice cream, but until the evening of December 10, no one, except for a narrow circle of initiates, knows what kind.
For the Nobel banquet, a service and tablecloths with a specially designed design are used. Nobel's portrait is woven on the corner of each tablecloth and napkin. Handmade dishes: along the edge of the plate there is a strip of three colors of the Swedish Empire - blue, green and gold. The leg of a crystal wine glass is decorated in the same range. The banquet service was commissioned for $1.6 million for the 90th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes in 1991. It consists of 6750 glasses, 9450 knives and forks, 9550 plates and one tea cup. The last one is for Princess Liliana, who doesn't drink coffee. The cup is stored in a special beautiful wooden box with the princess's monogram. The saucer from the cup was stolen.
The tables in the hall are arranged with mathematical precision, and the hall is decorated with 23,000 flowers sent from San Remo. All movements of the waiters are strictly timed to the nearest second. For example, the ice cream ceremonial takes exactly three minutes from the moment the first waiter appears with a tray at the door until the last of them stands at his table. Serving other dishes takes two minutes.
Exactly at 19:00 on December 210, guests of honor, led by the king and queen, descend the stairs to the Blue Hall, where all the guests are already sitting. The Swedish king leads the Nobel laureate by the arm, and if there is none, the wife of the Nobel laureate in physics. The first is a toast to His Majesty, the second - in memory of Alfred Nobel. After that, the mystery of the menu is revealed. The menu is printed in small print on the maps attached to each place, and is decorated with a gold-embossed profile of Alfred Nobel. Music plays throughout the dinner - very famous musicians are invited, including Rostropovich and Magnus Lindgren in 2003.
The banquet ends with the removal of ice cream topped like a crown with a chocolate monogram-monogram "N". At 22:15, the Swedish king gives a sign to start dancing in the Golden Hall of the Town Hall. At 1:30 the guests disperse.
Absolutely all dishes from the menu, from 1901 onwards, can be ordered at the restaurant of the town hall of Stockholm. Such a meal costs a little less than $200. Every year they are ordered by 20 thousand visitors, and traditionally the menu of the last Nobel banquet is the most popular.
The Nobel Concert is one of the three components of the Nobel Week, along with the awarding of prizes and the Nobel Dinner. It is considered one of the main musical events of the year in Europe and the main musical event of the year in the Scandinavian countries. The most prominent classical musicians of our time take part in it. In fact, there are two Nobel concerts: one is held on December 8 of each year in Stockholm, the second - in Oslo at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. The Nobel Concert is broadcast on several international TV channels on December 31 every year.Quote from Vladimir_Grinchev
Nobel Prize
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded for the greatest Scientific research, contribution to the culture and development of society.
The rewarding of those who received this year's most famous and illustrious service to humanity award has begun. That's who was awarded the prize in the last few days.
Medicine and physiology
The award went to Yoshinori Ohsumi, molecular biologist from Japan, who investigated the mechanism of cell autophagy. Autophagy is the mechanism by which a cell digests its own internal components. In other words, it eats itself. Mammalian cell lysosomes contain enzymes and acid, like the stomach. With the help of this "cellular stomach" digestion occurs. In yeast cells, a similar process occurs in vacuoles.
Self-eating is a natural process, so the cell is freed from unnecessary, and the body as a whole - from cells that have become obsolete.
Autophagy is especially important during the formation of the embryo, when destroyed cells must be removed in time, and new ones must be formed. If something goes wrong, the new organism does not survive.
Cells in which old, poorly functioning parts linger become a source of danger to the body. The old "stuffing" (used proteins and organelles, dead bacteria) can cause inflammatory processes. Disturbances in the normal course of such intracellular harvesting are the cause of tumors and neurodegenerative diseases.
The phenomenon has been known since the middle of the 20th century, but Yoshinori Osumi studied it with the help of experiments conducted on baker's yeast. Thanks to this, the Japanese scientist and his assistants managed to understand which genes and proteins trigger the process of “self-eating”.
Why is this needed?
By understanding the principles of autophagy, in the future we will be able to stimulate cell renewal in living organisms, stop degradation or stimulate the destruction of “bad” cells that grow where they are not supposed to.
Chemistry
Scientists from Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Bernard Feringa and Fraser Stoddart (France, USA and the Netherlands) received an award for nanotechnology - development of molecular machines.
They created the smallest machines in the world, the working parts of which are interconnected molecules. Using this principle, it was possible to design a tiny motor that drives ultraviolet radiation, a microscopic elevator and molecular "muscles".
Physics
The Nobel Prize was shared by David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and John Kosterlitz, whose research is devoted to unusual states of matter - topological phases.
In general, phase changes are, for example, a change state of aggregation matter (when liquid becomes gaseous or solid becomes liquid). This year's award-winning researchers are working on phase transformations that have been little studied before, as well as what properties matter acquires in "strange states."
They work in a field called condensed matter physics, which studies the behavior of complex, tightly coupled systems. These include ordinary liquids, and crystals, and amorphous bodies, and quantum liquids - for example, the contents of neutron stars and atomic nuclei. The research of this year's laureates relates to the description of the Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BCT) phase transition associated with such phenomena as superconductivity, superfluidity and magnetism.
Topology studies the continuity of object states. Perhaps the most famous object of consideration in this area of \u200b\u200bknowledge is the Möbius strip.
Topological or phase transition is the transformation of matter from one object to another, and it is carried out continuously or with breaks.
According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize is given for the most important discoveries or inventions in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, as well as for an outstanding literary work and contribution to the strengthening of the commonwealth of nations. Who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize will be known in the coming days.
You can follow the news of the award and get acquainted with the details on the official website -
According to the will of Nobel himself, the honor to be awarded the peace prize should be the person who made the “most significant contribution” to the destruction of slavery, the cause of uniting nations, “facilitating the holding of peace congresses” and reducing the number of world armies.
The Nobel Committee, based in Oslo, awards this prize by choosing a laureate from among the nominees proposed by members of the committee itself - current and former, governments of various states, the International Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Institute of International Law, other peace prize winners, professors of reputable universities. The selection has been made for more than a year, and the potential owner of the award is in his status, and the data on the candidates for the award are not disclosed for another half a century.
Special nomination
The Nobel Peace Prize is the only award that can be claimed not only by a person, but also by a public organization.
The maximum number of awards to date, awarded to one laureate, has been issued in the nomination "Peace Prize" - the achievements of the International Committee of the Red Cross have been noted three times.
The largest number of women laureates is represented precisely in the field of peacekeeping and legal activities.
Fifteen times the Peace Prize was not awarded to any of the nominees, because the Nobel Committee did not see any truly worthy candidates among them.
Peace Prize Winners
The first award in this nomination in 1901 was shared between two figures at once. The first is Henri Dunant, a philanthropist, the actual founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who opposes slavery, defends the rights of prisoners of war - "for his contribution to the peaceful cooperation of peoples." The second is Frederic Passy, a political economist who opposes any armed conflicts due to their economic inefficiency, calling for the resolution of international conflicts through arbitration - "for many years of peacekeeping efforts."
the Nobel Peace Prize in different years received Martin Luther King, Andrei Sakharov, Mother Teresa, Henry Kissinger, Dalai Lama, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat, Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Barack Obama. Organizations that have received this award include UNICEF, IAEA, Doctors Without Borders, UN Peacekeeping Forces, the EU, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
