How Many Categories Of Nobel Prize Are There?

Question

How Many Categories Of Nobel Prize Are There?

2 Answers

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Answer 1

The Nobel Prize is awarded in six categories:
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded annually by the 'Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences', to individuals, in recognition of their discoveries or inventions in the field of physics.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the 'Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences', to individuals, for important chemical discoveries, or their contribution to the refinement or improvement of chemical processes.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the 'Karolinska Institutet', to individuals who have made significant discoveries in the fields of medicine or physiology.

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded by the Swedish Academy to an author from any part of the world, whose work has lasting literary merit.

The Nobel Prize in Peace is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals who have made significant contributions and efforts to the promotion of peace.

The Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. This is the only award not willed by Alfred Nobel, but was instituted by the central bank of Sweden.

Answer 2

Until 1991 there were 7 categories of Nobel prizes. These were physics, chemistry, physiology & medicine, literature, peace and economics. These (apart from economics which was introduced in 1969) were all established in 1901.

However, in 1991, several other categories have been introduced and awards have been presented for public health, engineering, biology and inter-disciplinary research.

The peace and literature awards are generally the most famous. Awards are not made every year, for example, during the First World War, 1914 ~ 1918 only one peace award was made, to the International Red Cross Committee, which had been established in 1863.

Similarly during the Second World War the International Red Cross Committee were awarded the single peace award made during the war.

Perhaps the most controversial of the peace awards was Henry Kissenger being awarded the Peace Prize for his work trying to resolve the Middle East crisis. He was given the award in 1973. The other person who was awarded the Peace Prize in that year was Le Duc Theo. He declined the award, apparently in protest over Kissenger's award.