Background

Nobel was interested in experimental physiology and set up his own laboratories.

Alfred Nobel was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden into a family of engineers.^[2] He was a chemist, engineer and inventor who amassed a fortune during his lifetime, most of it from his 355 inventions of which dynamite is the most famous.^[3] He was interested in experimental physiology and set up his own labs in France and Italy to conduct experiments in blood transfusions. Keeping abreast of scientific findings, he was generous in his donations to Ivan Pavlov's laboratory in Russia, and was optimistic about the progress resulting from scientific discoveries made in laboratories.^[4]

In 1888, Nobel was surprised to read his own obituary, titled ‘The merchant of death is dead’, in a French newspaper. As it happened, it was Nobel's brother Ludvig who had died, but Nobel, unhappy with the content of the obituary and concerned that his legacy would reflect poorly on him, was inspired to change his will.^[5] In his last will, Nobel requested that his money be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature.^[6] Though Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime, the last was written a little over a year before he died at the age of 63.^[7] Because his will was contested, it was not approved by the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) until 26 April 1897.^[8]

After Nobel's death, the Nobel Foundation was set up to manage the assets of the bequest.^[9] In 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly created statutes were promulgated by Swedish King Oscar II.^[10][11] According to Nobel's will, the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, a medical school and research center, is responsible for the Prize in Physiology or Medicine.^[12] Today the prize is commonly referred to as the Nobel Prize in Medicine.^[13]

Nomination and selection

It was important to Nobel that the prize be awarded for a "discovery" and that it was of "greatest benefit on mankind".^[14] Per the provisions of the will, only select persons are eligible to nominate individuals for the award. These include members of academies around the world, professors of medicine in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland, as well as professors of selected universities and research institutions in other lands. Past Nobel laureates may also nominate.^[15] Until 1977, all professors of Karolinska Institutet together decided on the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. That year, changes in Swedish law forced the Institute to make any documents pertaining to the Nobel Prize public and it was considered necessary to establish a legally independent body for the Prize work. Therefore, the Nobel Assembly was constituted, consisting of 50 professors at Karolinska Institutet. It elects the Nobel Committee with 5 members who evaluate the nominees, the Secretary who is in charge of the organization, and each year 10 adjunct members to assist in the evaluation of candidates. In 1968, a provision was added that no more than three persons may share a Nobel prize.^[16] The 2011 winners were announced 3 October 2011.^[1]

True to its mandate, the Committee has selected researchers working in the basic sciences over those who have made applied contributions. Harvey Cushing, a pioneering American neurosurgeon who identified Cushing's syndrome never was awarded the prize, nor was Sigmund Freud, as his psychoanalysis lacks hypotheses that can be tested experimentally.^[17] The public expected Jonas Salk or Albert Sabin to win the prize for their development of the polio vaccines, but instead the award went to John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins whose basic discovery that the polio virus could reproduce in monkey cells in laboratory preparations was a fundamental finding that led to the elimination of the disease of polio.^[18]

Through the 1930s, there were frequent prize winners in classical Physiology, but after that the field began dissolving into specialties. The last classical physiology winners were John Eccles, Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley in 1963 for their findings regarding "unitary electrical events in the central and peripheral nervous system."^[19]

Prizes

A Medicine or Physiology Nobel Prize laureate, earns a gold medal, a diploma bearing a citation, and a sum of money.^[20] These are awarded at the Nobel Banquet.

Medals

The Nobel Prize medals, minted by Myntverket^[21] in Sweden are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. Each medal features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse (front side of the medal). The Nobel Prize medals for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death (1833–1896). Before 1980, the medals were made of 23K gold; since then the medals are of 18K green gold, plated with 23K gold.^[22]

The medal awarded by the Karolinska Institute displays an image of "the Genius of Medicine holding an open book in her lap, collecting the water pouring out from a rock in order to quench a sick girl's thirst." The medal is inscribed with words taken from Virgil's Aeneid and reads: Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes, which translates to "inventions enhance life which is beautified through art."^[23]