Nobel Prizes - 2023

Nobel Prize season is upon us once again. Every October, committees in Sweden and Norway name laureates in a variety of prizes in the sciences, literature and economics, as well as peace work. In total, six prizes were awarded.

Physiology or Medicine: Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their discoveries that led to the development of effective mRNA vaccines against Covid-19.

Physics: Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier — for experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter (Atto Second - 1×10⁻¹⁸ of a second)

Chemistry: Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles so small that their size determines their properties.

Literature: Norwegian author Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”

Peace work: Narges Mohammadi, a jailed Iranian activist, “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”

Economic science: Claudia Goldin, a Harvard professor, for research that uncovered the reasons for differences in labour force participation and earnings for women. She is the third woman to win the economics Nobel.

About the prize:

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist most famously known for the invention of dynamite. He died in 1896.

In his will, he bequeathed all of his "remaining realisable assets" to be used to establish five prizes which became known as "Nobel Prizes."

Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901.

Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace (Nobel characterized the Peace Prize as "to the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses").

In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) funded the establishment of the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, to also be administered by the Nobel Foundation.

Nobel Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in their respective fields.

The prize ceremonies take place annually.

Each recipient (known as a "laureate") receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a monetary award. In 2023 the Nobel Prize monetary award is 11 million Swedish krona, or about $989,000 in current exchange rates.

A prize may not be shared among more than three individuals, although the Nobel Peace Prize can be awarded to organizations of more than three people.

Although Nobel Prizes are not awarded posthumously, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, the prize is presented.

List of India noble prize winners:

Rabindranath Tagore - The Nobel Prize in Literature, 1913

CV Raman - The Nobel Prize in Physics, 1930

Har Gobind Khorana – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1968

Mother Teresa - The Nobel Prize in Peace, 1979

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – The Nobel Prize in Physics 1983

Amartya Sen - The Nobel Prize in Economic Studies, 1998

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan – The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2009

Kailash Satyarthi - The Nobel Prize in Peace, 2014

Abhijit Banerjee - The Nobel Prize in Economic Studies, 2019