Publisher Description

The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive. The Prize is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and the award ceremonies receive extensive media coverage. The awards are often politically controversial, and many winners use their acceptance speech to further favourite causes. Along with background information, the book provides a look at the 200 most famous and most interesting Nobel winners. The profiles are arranged by prize and by year. A photo or illustration appears with each profiled Laureate. Other illustrations help to explain complex subjects in science and make it easier for the reader to appreciate the accomplishments for which the prize has been awarded. A number of fascinating facts emerge from this lively account. For example, only 40 of the 829 Nobel Laureates have been women, among them Marie Curie, who won twice. Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes in different categories, the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. The youngest Laureate is Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 years old when he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his father in 1915. The oldest is Leonid Hurwicz, who was 90 years old when he received the 2007 Economics Prize. Two Laureates have declined the Nobel Prize: Jean-Paul Sartre, and Le Duc Tho. Other famous names include Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, James Watson and Francis Crick, Paul Krugman, Charles Kao, Elizabeth Blackburn and Barack Obama. Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners is sure to find a readership among the millions who follow the awards each year and want to understand more about the most important prize in the world. illustrated

Notes

The story of the winners of the world's most prestigious prize, now updated to include the 2009 recipients.

Author Biography

Michael Worek is an editor and publisher with a background in international history.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Introduction 1901--1909 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Sully Prudhomme Jean Dunant Emil Fischer Svante Arrhenius Henri Becquerel Pierre Curie Ivan Pavlov Robert Koch Bertha von Suttner Ramon y Cajal Theodore Roosevelt Rudyard Kipling Ernest Rutherford Guglielmo Marconi Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1901--1909 1910--1919 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Wilhelm Wien Marie Curie Allvar Gullstrand Maurice Maeterlinck Elihu Root Alexis Carrel Rabindranath Tagore Henri La Fontaine Theodore Richards Robert Barany International Committee of the Red Cross Max Planck Fritz Haber Erik Karlfeldt Johannes Stark Jules Bordet Woodrow Wilson Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1910--1919 1920--1929 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Anatole France Albert Einstein Frederick Soddy Niels Bohr Fridjtof Nansen Frederick Banting Gustav Hertz George Bernard Shaw Austen Chamberlain Aristide Briand Arthur Compton Charles Wilson Henri Bergson Adolf Windaus Thomas Mann Frank Kellogg 1920--1929 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1930--1939 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Thomas Morgan Harold Urey Luigi Pirandello James Chadwick Irene Joliot-Curie Peter Debye Eugene O''Neill Carlos Lamas Norman Haworth Paul Karrer Robert Ceci Pearl Buck Erinco Fermi Ernest Lawrence Gerhard Domagk 1930--1939 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1940--1949 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Wolfgang Pauli Artturi Virtanen Gabriela Mistral Alexander Fleming Cordell Hull Hermann Hesse Emily Balch John R. Mott Edward Appleton Carl & Gerty Cori Andre Gide Patrick Blackett Arne Tiselius T.S. Eliot Egas Moniz 1940--1949 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1950--1959 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Bertrand Russell Ralph Bunche John Cockcroft Ernest Walton Glenn Seaborg Edwin McMillan Max Theiler Winston Churchill George Marshall Linus Pauling Ernest Hemingway UN High Commissioner for Refugees Lester Pearson John Bardeen Albert Camus Boris Pasternak Arthur Kornberg 1950--1959 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1960--1969 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Albert Lutuli Willard Libby Dag Hammarskjold James Watson John Steinbeck Martin Luther King, Jr. Jean-Paul Sartre Charles Townes UNICEF Peyton Rous Luis Alvarez Rene Cassin Samuel Beckett Murray Gell-Mann International Labour Organization Ragnar Frisch Jan Tinbergen 1960--1969 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1970--1979 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Alexandr Solzhenitsyn Paul Samuelson Dennis Gabor Earl Sutherland Pablo Neruda Willy Brandt Simon Kuznets Heinrich Boll Henry Kissinger Le Duc Tho Gunnar Myrdal Andrei Sakharov Milton Friedman Vicente Aleixandre Mother Teresa Amnesty International Menachem Begin Allan Cormack 1970--1979 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1980--1989 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Adolfo Esquivel James Tobin Gabriel Marquez S. Chandrasekhar Barbara McClintock William Golding Lech Walesa Desmond Tutu Elie Wiesel James Buchanan Susumu Tonegawa Tenzin Gyatso United Nations Peacekeeping Forces 1980--1989 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 1990--1999 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Octavio Paz Edward Thomas Georges Charpak Mikhail Gorbachev Frederik de Klerk Toni Morrison Nelson Mandela Yasser Arafat Mario Molina Robert Lucas Carlos Belo Dario Fo Gunter Grass 1990--1999 Complete List of Nobel Laureates 2000--2010 Selected Profiles of Nobel Laureates Jack Kilby Zhores Alferov V.S. Naipaul Kofi Annan Koichi Tanaka Daniel Kahneman Jimmy Carter Shirin Ebadi Irwin Rose Elfriede Jelinek Robert Aumann Mohamed ElBaradei Al Gore Doris Lessing Paul Krugman Martti Ahtisaari Harald zur Hausen Charles Kao Barack Obama Elizabeth Blackburn 2000--2010 Complete List of Nobel Laureates

Review

(review of the first edition) The story of the Nobel prizes and the man who chose to use his fortune in this way is fascinating, and this collection of profiles of prize recipients is equally interesting and inspiring.... This book can be used as a reference tool or simply to browse out of interest.-- (05/01/2009)
[Review of previous edition: ] Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners groups winner in annotated lists by decade and then by year... It's all fascinating.-- (12/01/2008)
[Review of previous edition: ] This handy reference profiles about 200 of the most famous past winners (by prize and by year). A great fact-checker to consult and learn from.-- (11/15/2008)
[Review of previous edition: ] This volume offers a general readership brief profiles of 308 of the approximately 800 people and organizations who have received the Nobel Prize for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, peace, and economics since its inception in 1901. The selected profiles are organized by decade each a page long, with an additional page accompanying some of the science honorees that illustrates a major discovery. Chapter conclusions contain a complete list of winners from that decade. A brief profile of Alfred Nobel is included.-- (02/01/2009)
Generally regarded as the world's most prestigious award, the Nobel Prize has been given to over 800 writers, artists, and scientists since 1901. Organized by decades, this book contains short profiles of the 200 most famous and most interesting prize winners, explaining why they were awarded the prize and, in the case of winners in science and medicine, explaining the significance of their research.... A book that can be dipped into or read straight through, this volume will have wide appeal.-- (06/01/2011)
This current to 2009 title is thorough well written and interesting. The text is broken down by discipline--science, literature, peace and economics. The works of each Nobel laureate (they are not referred to as winners) are explained. Photographs pepper the book and time lines of awards and an extensive index complete the text. This is a fine effort especially useful for reports.-- (03/01/2011)
[Review of previous edition: ] Knowing we have shared the planet with Nobelists like these can in itself be uplifting.--John Kalbfleisch"Montreal Gazette" (12/15/2008)
The book is well organized and especially good for quick reference.--Beverly Rowan"INFOLINK" (02/05/2009)
[Review of previous edition: ] This volume will be a welcome addition in any public or academic library reference collection.--Bradford Lee Eden "American Reference Book Annual "

Review Quote

This current to 2009 title is thorough well written and interesting. The text is broken down by discipline--science, literature, peace and economics. The works of each Nobel laureate (they are not referred to as winners) are explained. Photographs pepper the book and time lines of awards and an extensive index complete the text. This is a fine effort especially useful for reports.

Introduction or Preface

Excerpt from the Introduction Since 1901, the first year the award was given, until the present day, nearly 800 individuals and organizations have been recognized with the Nobel Prize. This group includes some of the greatest scientists, writers, economists and peacemakers in the world. The five original Nobel awards were expanded in 1968 to include the Economic Sciences (normally known as the Nobel Prize in Economics). Prizes are awarded every December 10th to coincide with the anniversary of Alfred Nobel''s death. Often controversial -- as was Alfred Nobel himself -- and at other times a nearly unanimous choice, the winners chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee (Peace), the Swedish Academy (Literature), the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Physics, Chemistry and Economics) and the Karolinska Institute (Physiology or Medicine) don''t make history, but they do help write it. On the October 21, 1833, Alfred Bernhard was born in Stockholm, Sweden, third son of Immanuel and Andriette Nobel. Although in the coming years the young Alfred was pampered by his older brothers, the instability of the family''s financial situation was always apparent, and a threat of prison hung over Immanuel Nobel because of his debts. In 1837 Immanuel Nobel moved to Finland and then to the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, where he was finally able to rebuild his capital and the family''s honor. Alfred Nobel''s father found his son had a melancholic, idealistic side, and he ordered him at just 17 to embark on an extensive educational journey to expand his horizons and increase his interest in business. He also intended to expose his son to developments in the field of engineering, and explosives in particular. Alfred certainly benefited from studying abroad, meeting the brightest scientific minds of his day. In Paris he spent time with the inventor of nitroglycerin, the Italian Ascanio Sobrero, and in the United States he received lessons from the Swedish engineer John Ericsson. In 1852 his father called him home to become more involved in the family business, which was booming at the time because of orders from the Russian military. Immanuel Nobel had first come into contact with the world of explosives through civil construction and believed that his future in Russia lay in this rapidly changing field. His inventions include deadly land and sea mines, and he was responsible for the most important Russian armaments factory during the Crimean War. The end of this conflict, however, brought another wave of difficulties to Immanuel and, in 1863, facing bankruptcy once again, he left his elder sons, Robert and Ludvig, to run the Russian businesses and returned with his wife and two younger sons, Alfred and Emil, to Stockholm. While the family industries experienced a boom during the Crimean War, Alfred had devoted himself to studying explosives, particularly nitroglycerin. This compound was as dangerous as it was powerful, since its explosion could be set off by shock or heat. Nobel knew that if he could somehow "tame" nitroglycerin, it would become an unbeatable commercial product. One of the first experiments, performed in 1864, went horribly wrong and several people died in the explosion, including the young Emil Nobel. The Swedish authorities put an immediate stop to any new experiments within Stockholm, but neither this, nor the loss of his brother, could stop Alfred Nobel. He moved his research center to the banks of Lake Malaren and went back to producing nitroglycerin, experimenting with different types of additives as a way of taming it. He finally achieved his goal in 1866 by mixing nitroglycerin with kieselguhr, thus producing a malleable and safe paste. Months later, on September 19, 1867, Alfred Nobel registered a patent for the new explosive, which he named "dynamite." Nobel''s first factories were in Kremmel, Germany, and very remote, allowing him to experiment without risk to the local population. Between 1865 and 1873 Nobel lived in a simple house between Kremmel and Hamburg, where the family''s offices were located. During World War I Kr

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