Noble Prizes of 2012

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed in a number of categories by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and/or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish philanthropist inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The Nobel Foundation was founded as a private organization on 29 June 1900, to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901.

The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award available in the fields of literature, medicine, physics, chemistry, peace, and economics.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; the Swedish Academy grants the Nobel Prize in Literature; and the Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded by a Swedish organization but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Each recipient receives a gold medal, a diploma and a sum of money, which is decided by the Nobel Foundation, yearly. As of 2012, each prize was worth 8 million SEK. The prize is not awarded posthumously; however, if a person is awarded a prize and dies before receiving it, the prize may still be presented. Though the average number of laureates per prize increased substantially during the 20th century, a prize may not be shared among more than three people. The Nobel Foundation is exempt from all taxes in Sweden (since 1946) and from investment taxes in the United States (since 1953).

The recipient of the noble prizes (2012):

Medicals – Yamanaka and Gardan

(For the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent)

Physics – Serge Haroche of France, David Wineland of USA

(For ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems)

Chemistry – Robert J. Lefkowitz & Brian K. Kobilka (Both of USA)

(For the studies of G-protein-coupled receptors)

Literature – Mo Yan (China)

(He with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary)

Peace Prize – European Union

(For the contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe for over six years)

Economic – Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley