Probably, only humanity’s desire for self-expression and heroic deeds contributes to the emergence of unusually tenacious initiatives. So a gentleman named Nobel took it and decided to leave his money to his descendants in order to reward gentlemen who had distinguished themselves in one field or another. He rested in the damp earth for a long time, but the people remember him. The population is waiting (some impatiently) for the next lucky ones to be announced. And the candidates try, set goals, even intrigue, trying to ascend to this Olympus of glory. And if everything is clear with scientists and researchers - they receive their awards for real achievements or discoveries, then what makes the Nobel Peace Prize laureates stand out? Interesting? Let's figure it out.

Who awards the prize and for what?

There is a special committee whose main task is to select and approve
candidates for the field's highest honor. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to people who have distinguished themselves in promoting security and stability on the planet. It is issued annually. The procedure takes place in Oslo, on the tenth of December. At the same time, both international organizations and national governments can nominate a candidate to become a laureate. They are listed in the Committee Charter. Any person who was or is a member of the Nobel Committee is also eligible to participate in the nomination process. In addition, the Charter grants such privileges to university professors involved in politics or history.

When studying who received the Nobel Peace Prize, they inevitably come across the name of another political figure whose activities do not cause criticism. Such a person is Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama. This is an absolutely outstanding personality. From an early age he was forced to take on spiritual leadership. Buddhists recognized the boy as the incarnation of the deceased lama. Subsequently, he had to take on political responsibility for Tibet (at the age of sixteen). All his work is based on kindness, tolerance and love (from the formulation of the Nobel Committee). It should be added that he was unable to reach an agreement with the Chinese government. Now he lives and pursues his ideas in exile.

It turns out that not everything is so simple!

There are also very controversial winners of this high award. The committee is often criticized for being too politicized. Residents of the post-Soviet space see Mikhail Gorbachev as such a figure. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to such a controversial figure from the point of view of the world community as Yasser Arafat.

This decision of the Committee is considered scandalous on the grounds that this laureate did not deny military ways to achieve his goals. On his account not only battles, but also terrorist attacks. He himself declared his goal to be the destruction of an entire sovereign state (Israel). That is, despite the fact that Arafat fought for the well-being of the people of the Middle East, it is difficult to assign him the title of peacemaker. Another scandalous figure is Barack Obama. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to him in 2009. It must be said that the Committee had to come to terms with a barrage of criticism regarding this decision.

More about Obama

There is still an opinion in the world press that the President of the States was awarded the award “in advance.” At that time, he had just taken office and had not yet distinguished himself in anything significant. And the initiatives and decisions that he subsequently made do not at all explain why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama is considered the president who started the most military conflicts. Their victims are incalculable due to the “hybrid nature” of these clashes (a term that has appeared quite recently). He had to make decisions about bombing and ground operations. He is criticized for the invasion of Syria, unrest in Iraq and Ukraine. Nevertheless, Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize and is among its laureates.

This “advance reward” leads to more and more scandals. As tensions arise, some politicians have argued in favor of revoking the award. There is an opinion that such unpeaceful behavior disgraces the high bonus. In the Russian Federation, naturally, they believe that V.V. Putin is a more worthy candidate. The Nobel Peace Prize may yet be awarded to him for the true tenacity he shows in resolving conflicts.

About money

People are often interested not so much in the achievements of the individuals awarded this award, but in its amount. The Nobel Peace Prize can truly boggle the mind. The fact is that all the Committee’s funds do not just sit in financial institutions. They “work” by increasing in size. According to the will, the profit is divided into five parts. They are not the same and are becoming more and more impressive in size from year to year. Thus, the very first amount awarded in 1901 was equal to forty-two thousand dollars. In 2003, the amount was already 1.35 million. Its size is influenced by the state of the world economy. Dividends that go towards payments can not only increase, but also decrease. For example, in 2007 the bonus amount was 1.542 million, and by 2008 it “melted” ($1.4 million).

These funds are distributed in five equal shares according to nominations, and then according to the number of laureates, in accordance with the rules according to which the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. How much money will be spent on awards each year is determined by the Committee, having carried out appropriate calculations of earnings from securities and other assets.

Russian laureates

Our fellow citizens have received such an award only twice. In addition to Gorbachev, the scientist Andrei Sakharov was awarded this honor. However, it was not his scientific works that became the reason for awarding the prize. Sakharov was considered a human rights activist and a fighter against the regime. During Soviet times, he was subjected to harsh criticism and persecution. The scientist worked on the creation of hydrogen weapons. Despite this, he openly advocated a ban on testing weapons of mass destruction and against the arms race. His ideas were very popular in society and were not at all liked by the ruling elite.

Sakharov is generally considered a passionate advocate of peace who suffered for his views. The Nobel Committee used the wording: “for courage in the fight against abuse of power...”. Nevertheless, he was rather an idealist, a kind and non-aggressive person (according to the recollections of his colleagues). More Russians have never received a high award, which does not mean that there are no worthy individuals living in our country. Rather, this fact can be perceived as the Committee’s political engagement, the use of the award in geopolitical competition.

Who didn't receive the award, but deserves it?

Many politicians believe that Mahatma Gandhi, more than any other figure, deserved a high award. This man was involved in organizing the struggle of Indians against the colonialists. Gandhi not only had to come up with ways in which a weak and unarmed population could resist the British army, but they also had to be related to the peculiarities of the local religion. This method was invented by him. It was called nonviolent resistance and is often used today. Mahatma Gandhi was proposed to the Committee five times. Only there were “more worthy” candidates (which again can be explained by the politicization of this organization). Subsequently, officials responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize expressed their regret that Gandhi never became a laureate.

Incidents of the Nobel Committee

There are such incredible things in the history of this organization that today can only be perceived anecdotally. So, as you know, none other than Adolf Hitler was nominated for this award in 1939. Fortunately, he did not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. And it's not about money. What would be the prestige of an organization that would call a peacemaker a person responsible for the death of millions of people on our planet? The Nobel Committee refused to award it, motivating its decision by the Nazis' attitude towards Jews.

Nevertheless, during his nomination, Hitler’s activities looked quite progressive to the German intelligentsia. He had just concluded two major peace agreements, was boosting industry, and caring about the development of science and art. Nowadays people understand to what extent Hitler's claims to the award were absurd and unfounded. But at that time, the people of Germany perceived him as a real leader, leading them to a bright life. Yes, to some extent this was true. He really cared about the Germans, only at the expense of people of other nationalities. To the credit of the members of the Nobel Committee, they understood this and rejected his candidacy for the prize.

Collective laureates

This award has been awarded three times to organizations associated in one way or another with the Red Cross. If we take into account the first laureate - its organizer, then four. It should be noted that this international organization undoubtedly deserves such high praise. Its representatives always find a field for activity. Whether in areas of bloody conflicts or epidemics, they often find themselves at the center of events, lending a much-needed hand of support to unfortunate people in distress. By the way, the UN won the prize once (2001); its peacekeeping forces (1988) and its refugee service (1981) were previously recognized. Among the not very well-known laureate organizations is the International Labor Organization (1969). Perhaps we don’t hear about the wave because a lot of time has passed since its influence in the world was so great that it received an award.

There are many winners of this serious award. The names of some went down in history with courage and bravery, others with scandals and intrigues. Still others are not remembered at all. Nevertheless, people want this award to fall into the hands of truly worthy individuals, regardless of the political situation.

On December 10, 1933, King Gustav V of Sweden awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to the writer Ivan Bunin, who became the first Russian writer to receive this high award. In total, the prize, established by the inventor of dynamite Alfred Bernhard Nobel in 1833, was received by 21 people from Russia and the USSR, five of them in the field of literature. True, historically it turned out that for Russian poets and writers the Nobel Prize was fraught with big problems.

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin distributed the Nobel Prize to friends

In December 1933, the Parisian press wrote: “ Without a doubt, I.A. Bunin - in recent years - the most powerful figure in Russian fiction and poetry», « the king of literature confidently and equally shook hands with the crowned monarch" The Russian emigration applauded. In Russia, the news that a Russian emigrant received the Nobel Prize was treated very caustically. After all, Bunin reacted negatively to the events of 1917 and emigrated to France. Ivan Alekseevich himself experienced emigration very hard, was actively interested in the fate of his abandoned homeland, and during the Second World War he categorically refused all contacts with the Nazis, moving to the Alpes-Maritimes in 1939, returning from there to Paris only in 1945.

It is known that Nobel laureates have the right to decide for themselves how to spend the money they receive. Some people invest in the development of science, some in charity, some in their own business. Bunin, a creative person and devoid of “practical ingenuity,” disposed of his bonus, which amounted to 170,331 crowns, completely irrationally. Poet and literary critic Zinaida Shakhovskaya recalled: “ Returning to France, Ivan Alekseevich... in addition to money, began to organize feasts, distribute “benefits” to emigrants, and donate funds to support various societies. Finally, on the advice of well-wishers, he invested the remaining amount in some “win-win business” and was left with nothing».

Ivan Bunin is the first emigrant writer to be published in Russia. True, the first publications of his stories appeared in the 1950s, after the writer’s death. Some of his works, stories and poems, were published in his homeland only in the 1990s.

Dear God, why are you
Gave us passions, thoughts and worries,
Do I thirst for business, fame and pleasure?
Joyful are cripples, idiots,
The leper is the most joyful of all.
(I. Bunin. September, 1917)

Boris Pasternak refused the Nobel Prize

Boris Pasternak was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature “for significant achievements in modern lyric poetry, as well as for continuing the traditions of the great Russian epic novel” every year from 1946 to 1950. In 1958, his candidacy was again proposed by last year's Nobel laureate Albert Camus, and on October 23, Pasternak became the second Russian writer to receive this prize.

The writing community in the poet’s homeland took this news extremely negatively and on October 27, Pasternak was unanimously expelled from the Union of Writers of the USSR, at the same time filing a petition to deprive Pasternak of Soviet citizenship. In the USSR, Pasternak's receipt of the prize was associated only with his novel Doctor Zhivago. The literary newspaper wrote: “Pasternak received “thirty pieces of silver,” for which the Nobel Prize was used. He was awarded for agreeing to play the role of bait on the rusty hook of anti-Soviet propaganda... An inglorious end awaits the resurrected Judas, Doctor Zhivago, and his author, whose lot will be popular contempt.”.

The mass campaign launched against Pasternak forced him to refuse the Nobel Prize. The poet sent a telegram to the Swedish Academy in which he wrote: “ Due to the importance that the award given to me has received in the society to which I belong, I must refuse it. Don't take my voluntary refusal as an insult.».

It is worth noting that in the USSR, until 1989, even in the school literature curriculum there was no mention of Pasternak’s work. The first to decide to introduce the Soviet people to Pasternak’s creative work was director Eldar Ryazanov. In his comedy “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!” (1976) he included the poem “There will be no one in the house”, transforming it into an urban romance, which was performed by the bard Sergei Nikitin. Later, Ryazanov included in his film “Office Romance” an excerpt from another poem by Pasternak - “Loving others is a heavy cross...” (1931). True, it sounded in a farcical context. But it is worth noting that at that time the very mention of Pasternak’s poems was a very bold step.

It's easy to wake up and see clearly,
Shake verbal trash out of the heart
And live without getting clogged in the future,
All this is not a big trick.
(B. Pasternak, 1931)

Mikhail Sholokhov, receiving the Nobel Prize, did not bow to the monarch

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965 for his novel “Quiet Don” and went down in history as the only Soviet writer to receive this prize with the consent of the Soviet leadership. The laureate's diploma states "in recognition of the artistic strength and honesty that he showed in his Don epic about the historical phases of the life of the Russian people."

Gustav Adolf VI, who presented the prize to the Soviet writer, called him “one of the most outstanding writers of our time.” Sholokhov did not bow to the king, as prescribed by the rules of etiquette. Some sources claim that he did this intentionally with the words: “We Cossacks do not bow to anyone. In front of the people, please, but I won’t do it in front of the king...”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was deprived of Soviet citizenship because of the Nobel Prize

Alexander Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, commander of a sound reconnaissance battery, who rose to the rank of captain during the war years and was awarded two military orders, was arrested by front-line counterintelligence in 1945 for anti-Soviet activity. Sentence: 8 years in camps and lifelong exile. He went through a camp in New Jerusalem near Moscow, the Marfinsky “sharashka” and the Special Ekibastuz camp in Kazakhstan. In 1956, Solzhenitsyn was rehabilitated, and since 1964, Alexander Solzhenitsyn devoted himself to literature. At the same time, he worked on 4 major works at once: “The Gulag Archipelago”, “Cancer Ward”, “The Red Wheel” and “In the First Circle”. In the USSR in 1964 the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” was published, and in 1966 the story “Zakhar-Kalita”.

On October 8, 1970, “for the moral strength drawn from the tradition of great Russian literature,” Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize. This became the reason for persecution of Solzhenitsyn in the USSR. In 1971, all the writer’s manuscripts were confiscated, and in the next 2 years, all his publications were destroyed. In 1974, a Decree was issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, which deprived Alexander Solzhenitsyn of Soviet citizenship and deported him from the USSR for systematically committing actions incompatible with belonging to USSR citizenship and causing damage to the USSR.

The writer’s citizenship was returned only in 1990, and in 1994 he and his family returned to Russia and actively became involved in public life.

Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky was convicted of parasitism in Russia

Joseph Alexandrovich Brodsky began writing poetry at the age of 16. Anna Akhmatova predicted a hard life and a glorious creative destiny for him. In 1964, a criminal case was opened against the poet in Leningrad on charges of parasitism. He was arrested and sent into exile in the Arkhangelsk region, where he spent a year.

In 1972, Brodsky turned to Secretary General Brezhnev with a request to work in his homeland as a translator, but his request remained unanswered, and he was forced to emigrate. Brodsky first lives in Vienna, London, and then moves to the United States, where he becomes a professor at New York, Michigan and other universities in the country.

On December 10, 1987, Joseph Brosky was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry.” It is worth saying that Brodsky, after Vladimir Nabokov, is the second Russian writer who writes in English as his native language.

The sea was not visible. In the white haze,
swaddled on all sides, absurd
it was thought that the ship was heading towards land -
if it was a ship at all,
and not a clot of fog, as if poured
who whitened it in milk?
(B. Brodsky, 1972)

Interesting fact
At various times, such famous figures as Mahatma Gandhi, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt, Nicholas Roerich and Leo Tolstoy were nominated for the Nobel Prize, but never received it.

Literature lovers will definitely be interested in this book, which is written with disappearing ink.

Briton Kazuo Ishiguro.

According to Alfred Nobel's will, the award is given to "the creator of the most significant literary work of an idealistic orientation."

The editors of TASS-DOSSIER have prepared material about the procedure for awarding this prize and its laureates.

Awarding the Prize and Nominating Candidates

The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. It includes 18 academicians who hold this post for life. The preparatory work is carried out by the Nobel Committee, whose members (four to five people) are elected by the Academy from among its members for a three-year period. Candidates may be nominated by members of the Academy and similar institutions in other countries, professors of literature and linguistics, award winners, and chairmen of writers' organizations who have received special invitations from the committee.

The nomination process lasts from September until January 31 of the following year. In April, the committee draws up a list of 20 most deserving writers, then narrows it down to five candidates. The laureate is determined by academicians in early October by majority vote. The writer is informed about the award half an hour before his name is announced. In 2017, 195 people were nominated.

The winners of the five Nobel Prizes are announced during Nobel Week, which begins on the first Monday in October. Their names are announced in the following order: physiology and medicine; physics; chemistry; literature; peace prize The winner of the State Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced next Monday. In 2016, the order was violated; the name of the awarded writer was made public last. According to Swedish media, despite the delay in the start of the laureate election procedure, there were no disagreements within the Swedish Academy.

Laureates

Over the entire existence of the prize, 113 writers have become its laureates, including 14 women. Among the recipients are such world-famous authors as Rabindranath Tagore (1913), Anatole France (1921), Bernard Shaw (1925), Thomas Mann (1929), Hermann Hesse (1946), William Faulkner (1949), Ernest Hemingway (1954), Pablo Neruda (1971), Gabriel García Márquez (1982).

In 1953, this award “for the excellence of works of a historical and biographical nature, as well as for the brilliant art of oratory with which the highest human values ​​were defended,” was awarded to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill was repeatedly nominated for this prize, in addition, he was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, but never won it.

As a rule, writers receive a prize based on their total achievements in the field of literature. However, nine people were awarded for a specific piece. For example, Thomas Mann was recognized for his novel Buddenbrooks; John Galsworthy - for The Forsyte Saga (1932); Ernest Hemingway - for the story "The Old Man and the Sea"; Mikhail Sholokhov - in 1965 for the novel "Quiet Don" ("for the artistic strength and integrity of the epic about the Don Cossacks at a turning point for Russia").

In addition to Sholokhov, our other compatriots are among the laureates. Thus, in 1933, the prize was received by Ivan Bunin “for the strict skill with which he develops the traditions of Russian classical prose,” and in 1958 by Boris Pasternak “for outstanding services in modern lyric poetry and in the field of great Russian prose.”

However, Pasternak, who was criticized in the USSR for the novel Doctor Zhivago, published abroad, refused the award under pressure from the authorities. The medal and diploma were presented to his son in Stockholm in December 1989. In 1970, Alexander Solzhenitsyn became the laureate of the prize (“for the moral strength with which he followed the immutable traditions of Russian literature”). In 1987, the prize was awarded to Joseph Brodsky “for his comprehensive creativity, imbued with clarity of thought and passion of poetry” (he emigrated to the USA in 1972).

In 2015, the award was awarded to the Belarusian writer Svetlana Alexievich for “polyphonic works, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.”

American poet, composer and performer Bob Dylan became the 2016 laureate for “creating poetic images in the great American song tradition.”

Statistics

The Nobel website notes that of the 113 laureates, 12 wrote under pseudonyms. This list includes the French writer and literary critic Anatole France (real name François Anatole Thibault) and the Chilean poet and political activist Pablo Neruda (Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes Basoalto).

The relative majority of awards (28) were awarded to writers who wrote in English. For books in French, 14 writers were awarded, in German - 13, in Spanish - 11, in Swedish - seven, in Italian - six, in Russian - six (including Svetlana Alexievich), in Polish - four, in Norwegian and Danish - each three people, and in Greek, Japanese and Chinese - two each. Authors of works in Arabic, Bengali, Hungarian, Icelandic, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian, Turkish, Occitan (Provençal French), Finnish, Czech, and Hebrew have each been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature once.

Most often, writers working in the genre of prose were awarded (77), poetry was in second place (34), and drama was in third place (14). Three writers received the prize for works in the field of history, and two for philosophy. Moreover, one author can be awarded for works in several genres. For example, Boris Pasternak received a prize as a prose writer and as a poet, and Maurice Maeterlinck (Belgium; 1911) - as a prose writer and playwright.

In 1901-2016, the prize was awarded 109 times (in 1914, 1918, 1935, 1940-1943, academicians were unable to determine the best writer). Only four times the award was shared between two writers.

The average age of the laureates is 65 years old, the youngest is Rudyard Kipling, who received the prize at 42 years old (1907), and the oldest is 88-year-old Doris Lessing (2007).

The second writer (after Boris Pasternak) to refuse the prize was the French novelist and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1964. He stated that he “does not want to be turned into a public institution,” and expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that when awarding the prize, academicians “ignore the merits of revolutionary writers of the 20th century.”

Notable candidate writers who did not receive the prize

Many great writers nominated for the prize never received it. Among them is Leo Tolstoy. Our writers such as Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Maxim Gorky, Konstantin Balmont, Ivan Shmelev, Evgeny Yevtushenko, Vladimir Nabokov were not awarded either. Outstanding prose writers from other countries - Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Mark Twain (USA), Henrik Ibsen (Norway) - also did not become laureates.

Every year, for many years, the Nobel Prize is awarded in Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway).

The award is very prestigious and is awarded only to the most worthy representatives who have achieved significant achievements that play an important role in the development of all humanity. In the article we grouped Nobel Prize laureates from Russia and the USSR by field of science.

History of the Nobel Prize

The prize was invented by Alfred Nobel, after whose last name it is called. He was also the first laureate to receive the award for the invention of dynamite in 1867. In 1890, the Nobel Foundation was founded to pay prizes to awarded laureates. His initial capital was the savings of Alfred Nobel, accumulated throughout his life.

The size of the Nobel Prize is quite high, for example in 2010 it was about one and a half billion dollars. Prizes are awarded in the following fields: medicine and physiology, physics, chemistry and literature.

Additionally, the Peace Prize is awarded for active actions in establishing peace throughout the world. Our compatriots have been nominated more than once for the prestigious Nobel Prize in all respects and often become laureates.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Physics

1958 - Igor Tamm, Ilya Frank and Pavel Cherenkov became the first Nobel Prize laureates. The award was presented for collective research in the field of gamma radiation and its effects on various liquids.

During the experiments, a blue glow was discovered, later called the "Cherenkov effect". The discovery made it possible to use new techniques in measuring and detecting the velocities of nuclear, high-energy particles. This was a huge breakthrough for experimental nuclear physics.

In 1962 - Lev Landau. A legendary figure in the history of the development of physics. He conducted a lot of research in various fields of physics and mechanics. He made a huge contribution to the development of many branches of science.

He received his prize for the creation and detailed description of the theory of quantum liquid, as well as for experimental studies of various condensed matter. The main experiments were carried out with liquid helium.

In 1964 - Alexander Prokhorov and Nikolai Basov. The award was received for joint developments in the field of radiophysics and quantum electronics. These studies made it possible to invent molecular generators - masers, as well as special amplifiers that concentrate radiation into one powerful beam.

1978 - In 1978, using the example of helium, he discovered the phenomenon of superfluidity - the ability of a substance that is in the state of a quantum liquid and in temperature conditions close to absolute zero to penetrate through the smallest holes without any friction.

2000 - Zhores Alferov- awarded for the development of fundamentally new semiconductors that can withstand enormous energy flows and are used in the creation of ultra-fast computers. In DVD drives, which are equipped with all modern computers, laser recording to disk uses precisely these technologies.

2003 - trio: Vitaly Ginzburg, American Anthony Leggett and Alexey Abrikosov- for a theory explaining two phenomena of quantum physics - superfluidity and superconductivity of various materials.

In modern science, they are used to create superconductors used in ultra-precise diagnostic medical equipment, in scientific equipment involved in research related to particle acceleration and many other physical phenomena.

2010 - Andrey Geim and Konstantin Novoselov(former citizens of Russia, now subjects of the Kingdom of Great Britain) received a prize for the discovery of graphene and the study of its properties. It captures and converts light into electrical energy 20 times more than all previously discovered materials and increases the speed of Internet connections.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Chemistry

1956 - Nikolay Semenov author of many scientific achievements. However, his most famous work, for which he received this prestigious prize, was his studies of various chain reactions that occur at high temperatures. This discovery made it possible to gain control over all ongoing processes and predict the final outcome of each process.

1977 - Ilya Prigozhi n (a native of Russia, lives in Belgium) received the prize for the theory of dispassive structures and for research on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, which made it possible to eliminate many gaps between biological, chemical and social research fields.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Medicine and Physiology

1904 - Ivan Pavlov, the first Russian academician-physiologist to receive a Nobel Prize. He studied the physiology of digestion and the nervous regulation of the processes occurring during this process. Awarded by the Nobel Committee for his research into the main digestive glands and their functions.

It was he who divided all reflexes of the digestive tract into conditioned and unconditioned. Thanks to these data, a clearer understanding of the vital aspects of what is happening in the human body has been obtained.

1908 - Ilya Mechnikov– made many outstanding discoveries that made it possible to continue the development of experimental medicine and biology in the 20th century. I. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize together with the German biologist P. Ehrlich for developing the theory of immunity.

Research in this area and the creation of the theory took the academician 25 years. But it was thanks to these studies that the phenomena by which the human body becomes immune to many diseases became clear.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Economics

1975 - Leonid Kantorovich- the only Soviet economist and mathematician who earned the highest assessment of his economic activities. It was he who put mathematics at the service of production and thereby simplified the organization and planning of all production processes. Received an award for his great contribution to the theory of optimal resource allocation.

Nobel Prize Laureates in Literature

1933 - Ivan Bunin- received the title of laureate for two books: “The Life of Arsenyev” and “The Gentleman from San Francisco.” And, of course, for his contribution to the development of traditional Russian culture. The author's artistic talent, artistry and truthfulness made it possible to recreate a typically Russian multifaceted character in lyrical prose.

1958 - Boris Pasternak- many times claimed to be a Nobel Prize laureate, even before the release of his world-famous novel Doctor Zhivago, which became the decisive argument in choosing the winner.

The prize was presented with the wording: “for the greatest achievements in poetry and for maintaining the traditions of the great, mighty Russian novel.”

However, Pasternak, being recognized in his homeland as an “anti-Soviet” element, and under heavy pressure from the Soviet authorities, was forced to refuse. The son of the great writer received the medal and diploma 30 years later.

1965 - Mikhail Sholokhov- unlike Pasternak and Solzhenitsyn, he was actively supported by the government of his native country, his stories describing the life and way of life of the settlers of the writer’s small homeland - the Don Cossacks - were repeatedly published in all popular publications.

M. Sholokhov's books were popular among Soviet readers. In addition to the “Cossack” theme, the author repeatedly wrote about the Great Patriotic War, the echoes of which were still alive in the memory of the entire Soviet people. However, he received recognition from his foreign colleagues by writing the novel “The Quiet Don,” which tells about the Don Cossacks during a difficult period of life, full of revolutions and wars. For this novel he was awarded the Nobel Prize.

1970 - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was a banned author before the collapse of Soviet power. He served time in prison for criticizing the leadership of the USSR. His works were considered openly anti-Soviet and were not published in the countries of the USSR. The most famous works, such as “In the First Circle”, “The Gulag Archipelago” and “Cancer Ward”, were published in the West and enjoyed very high popularity there.

For his contribution to the development of the traditions of Russian literature and the highly moral strength of his works, Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize. However, he was not released for presentation, forbidden to leave the territory of the USSR. Representatives of the committee who tried to present the award to the laureate in their home country were also denied entry.

After 4 years, Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the country and only then, with great delay, could he be awarded a well-deserved prize. The writer was able to return to Russia after the collapse of Soviet power.

1987 - Joseph Brodsky, who was an outcast in the USSR and deprived of citizenship under pressure from the authorities, received the Nobel Prize as a US citizen. With the wording: “for clarity of thought, for intense poetic and literary creativity.” After receiving the prize, the poet’s works were no longer boycotted in his homeland. For the first time, in the USSR, they were published in the popular publication “New World”.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates

1975 - Andrei Sakharov Russian physicist, fighter for human rights. As one of the creators of the first Soviet hydrogen bomb, he actively fought for the signing of a moratorium to ban the testing of nuclear weapons, provoking an arms race. In addition to his many other merits, Sakharov is the author of the draft constitution of the USSR.

Being the leader of the human rights movement defending human rights and freedoms, he was recognized as a dissident and, for his active work, was deprived of all awards and prizes awarded previously.

For the same activity he received the title of laureate in the Peace Prize category.

1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev is the first and only president of the USSR. During the period of his activity, the following large-scale events took place that influenced the whole world:

• The so-called “Perestroika” is an attempt to reform the Soviet system, to introduce the leading signs of democracy into the USSR: freedom of speech and press, openness, the possibility of free democratic elections, reforming the socialist economy towards a market economic model.
• End of the Cold War.
• Withdrawal of Soviet troops from the territory of Afghanistan.
• Refusal of all communist ideologies and further persecution of all dissidents.
• The collapse of the USSR as a result of its transition to democracy.

For all these merits, Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Prize with the wording: “for his leading role in peace processes that form an important part of the life of the entire international society.” Today, the personality of Mikhail Gorbachev is perceived by Russian society very ambiguously, and his activities during the collapse of the USSR cause a lot of heated debate. Whereas in the West his authority was and continues to be undeniable. He received recognition as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in Western society, but not in Russia.

1. THE PRIZE WAS BORN TO DRIVE EYES AWAY FROM NOBEL’S DISCOVERIES

The creator of the prize, Alfred Nobel, was an avid pacifist, which did not stop him from amassing an impressive capital from the arms trade and the invention of dynamite. He believed that the very presence of dangerous weapons should intimidate the enemy, preventing wars, terrorist attacks and bloodshed. The epiphany was painful. When the newspapers buried Alfred Nobel ahead of schedule, confusing him with his brother Ludwig, who died in St. Petersburg, he was greatly surprised by the morning headlines: “Death Merchant,” “Bloody Rich Man,” “Dynamite King.” In order not to go down in history as a millionaire on blood, Alfred Nobel immediately called a lawyer and rewrote his will, which stated that after death, all multimillion-dollar property should be placed in a reliable bank and entrusted to a foundation that would divide the income from investments into five equal parts and award them annually as a bonus . The idea was a success: now few people remember who invented dynamite, but even a child knows about the Nobel Prize.

2. ECONOMY WAS NOT INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF PRIZES

Initially, the prize was awarded in five categories: chemistry, physics, medicine, literature and achievements in peacekeeping. Later, in 1969, the Swedish Bank also added an economics bonus to this list. Since the field of economics was not listed in the will, it is awarded not from the Nobel Foundation, but from the Swedish Bank Foundation, but at the Nobel Prize ceremony. Nobel's descendants do not support adding an economic field to the prize. “Firstly,” they say, “the whole meaning of the prize is destroyed. If it is named after Nobel, then it should be awarded only in those areas that Nobel himself listed in his will. Secondly, Nobel simply did not like economists and bypassed their attention in the will is not accidental."

3. PREMIUM IS DROPPING IN PRICE

In terms of current exchange rates, when converting Nobel's movable and immovable property into cash equivalent, the fund received about $250 million. Part of the capital was immediately invested in securities, and prizes were awarded to the laureates from the profits. The fund's current wealth is $3 billion. Despite the growth of the capital of the Nobel Prize fund, in 2012 it was decided to cut it by 20% (from 1.4 million to 1.1 million dollars). Such a move, according to the directors of the fund, will help create a reliable financial cushion and ensure a high monetary level of the bonus for many years.

4. UNUSUAL WINNERS AND NOMINEES

The prize was very rarely awarded to anyone a second time. In all the years of its existence, this happened only 4 times. Federic Segner received both prizes in chemistry, John Bardeen - in physics, Linus Pauling - in chemistry and the Peace Prize. The only woman to receive two Nobel Prizes was Marie Skłodowska-Curie.

Maria Skłodowska-Curie

Stanley Williams, leader of the Crips gang, was nominated for the Nobel Prize 9 times: as a writer and as a humanitarian. Initially, the Crips group opposed police lawlessness on the streets of Los Angeles, but when it grew, it was responsible for several police deaths and, for some reason, a bank robbery. Stanley Williams was arrested and sentenced to death. The books that Stanley wrote while in prison became bestsellers, and he even received a US Presidential Award. This still did not pity the heart of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and in 2005 the leader of the Crips gang was executed.

5. PRIZE IN MATHEMATICS

Many people know that the Nobel Prize is not awarded in the field of mathematics. Many are also sure that the reason for this is Nobel’s beloved, who went to see the mathematician. Indeed, in the will, mathematics was initially included in the list of fields in which the prize was awarded, but was later crossed out by Nobel himself. In fact, there is no evidence of a romantic story associated with Nobel's refusal to give a prize to mathematicians. It is more likely that the main contender for the prize in mathematics before Nobel's death was Mittag-Leffler, whom the founder of the prize had long disliked for his annoying solicitation of donations for Stockholm University. Deciding to be true to himself and not give Mittag-Leffler money, Nobel crossed mathematics off the list and replaced it with the Peace Prize.

6. BANQUET AFTER THE PRIZES

The banquet is held immediately after the awards ceremony in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall. The chefs from the town hall restaurant and the best chefs, who were awarded the title “Chef of the Year” in the year of the award, are involved in preparing the festive dinner. Three months before the banquet, members of the Nobel Committee taste three types of menu and decide which one is worthy of being treated to guests at the banquet. Ice cream is traditionally served for dessert, but its type is kept a closely guarded secret until the evening of the ceremony.

The hall is decorated with more than 20,000 flowers from San Remo, and the movements of the waiters are rehearsed down to the second. Exactly at 7 pm, the guests of honor, led by the monarchs, descend into the Blue Hall. The Swedish king is holding a Nobel laureate on his arm, and if there is none, then the wife of a physics laureate.

The banquet service has its own unique design: it is made in three colors of the Swedish Empire style: blue, green and gold and consists of 6750 glasses, 9450 knives and forks, 9550 plates and one tea cup for Princess Liliana, who did not drink coffee. After the princess's death, the cup was kept in a special mahogany box with the princess's monogram. The saucer from the cup was stolen not long ago.

7. NOBEL IN SPACE

Most often, the name of Alfred Nobel is immortalized by astronauts. In 1970, the International Astronomical Union named a crater on the Moon after Alfred Nobel, albeit on its dark side. And in 1983, asteroid number 6032 was named in his honor.

8. WHEN PRIZES ARE NOT AWARDED

If there are no worthy candidates for a prize in any field, it is simply not awarded. This happened five times with the medicine prize, four times with the physics prize, and most of all with the Peace Prize. According to the rules adopted in 1974, the prize can only be awarded during the lifetime of the laureate. The rule was broken only once, in 2011, when medical laureate Ralph Stayman died of cancer two hours before the presentation.

9. CASH EQUIVALENT OF THE PRIZE AND STRANGE WAYS TO SPEND IT

The cash equivalent of the award is variable, but usually amounts to more than a million US dollars. Not every scientist spends such a sum on the development of his scientific research. Ivan Bunin, with all the scope of his Russian soul, spent money on parties. The poet René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme organized his own prize, which was not as successful as the Nobel Prize, but existed for six years and was awarded to masters of poetry. The Hungarian writer Irme Kertész gave his prize to his wife, thus appreciating her heroic loyalty to him in difficulties and poverty. “Let her buy herself dresses and jewelry,” the writer commented on his decision, “she deserves it.”

Paul Greengard, who researched the relationship between nerve cells, which later led to the creation of antidepressants, used the award money to create his own Pearl Meister Greengard award. It is often presented as an analogue of the Nobel Prize for women, because in the scientific world, according to Greenard, there is enormous discrimination against women. The scientist dedicated the prize to his mother who died during childbirth.

10. PEACE PRIZE

The most controversial and politically charged of the six areas in which the prize is awarded is the Peace Prize. At different times, such undisputed villains as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin were nominated for the award.

Last year, in 2014, Vladimir Putin was nominated for it. Seventeen-year-old Malala Yusufai from Pakistan, who took victory from Putin, became the youngest Nobel Prize winner. Her fight for girls' education in Islamic countries led to worldwide recognition and a prestigious award. Radical Islamic groups declared jihad (holy war) on the girl and immediately after the award they tried to kill her, but Malala survived and continues to fight for women’s rights to education.

Unlike all other regions, the Peace Prize is awarded not in Stockholm, but in Oslo.