新编英语教程5Unit3背景知识之NobelPrizeCategories.docVIP

Nobel Prize Categories [ Physics ] [ Chemistry ] [ Literature ] [ Peace ] [ Economics ] [ Physiology Medicine ] Nobel Prizes, annual monetary awards granted to individuals or institutions for outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, international peace, and economic sciences. The Nobel prizes are internationally recognized as the most prestigious awards in each of these fields. The prizes were established by Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel, who set up a fund for them in his will. The first Nobel prizes were awarded on December 10, 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel’s death. In 1900 the Nobel Foundation was established to manage the fund and to administer the activities of the institutions charged with selecting winners. The fund is controlled by a board of directors, which serves for two-year periods and consists of six members: five elected by the trustees of the awarding bodies mentioned in the will, and the sixth appointed by the Swedish government. All six members are either Swedish or Norwegian citizens. In his will, Nobel stated that the prizes for physics and chemistry would be awarded by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, the prize for physiology or medicine by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, the literature prize by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, and the peace prize by a five-person committee elected by the Norwegian Storting (Parliament). After the economics prize was created in 1968, the Swedish Academy of Sciences has held the responsibility of selecting the winners of that award.