NOBELLAUREATESOFHUNGARIANORIGIN.PDF

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BUDAPEST No. 5/2000 HONOURED CREATIVITY NOBEL LAUREATES OF HUNGARIAN ORIGIN On the verge of the third millennium, science is playing an increasingly the Nobel centenary is a process cover- important role in shaping our world. The future belongs to a knowledge- ing four main stations. These stages are based society. As such, support for scientific activity, the assessment of its immortalised by the centenary series of performance, its material and moral recognition, in other words motivat- stamps of four face values, of which the ing scientists to achieve new results, is vital. In this respect a system of first depicts the Nobel testament of 1895 and the last shows the first prize prizes is of key importance. In the field of sciences, the best known honour awarding ceremony in 1901. given for outstanding performance is the Nobel Prize. The first Nobel Nobel founded five prizes, to be Prizes were awarded in 1901. The centenary in 2001 will be celebrated awarded in physics, chemistry, physiol- with a large exhibition that places the emphasis on the culture of creativi- ogy or medicine, literature and peace. ty, the creative individual and the milieu supporting this creativity. During These categories were complemented the anniversary, attention is - quite rightly - being focused on the remark- able achievements of Hungarian scientists and also Budapest, the capital of Hungary. In his Neumann-biography published in 1992, Norman Macrea, former editor-in-chief of The Economist and the researcher of the Japanese economic miracle, wrote about Budapest at the time the first Nobel Prizes were awarded: “Early in this century, Budapest was the fastest developin