Saturday, February 11, 2006
Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?
Six Nobel Prizes are awarded each year, one in each of the following categories,
Nobel prizes were created by the will of Alfred Nobel (Shown in picture, Inventor of Dynamite and founder of Bofors defence) a notable Swedish chemist.
A common legend states that Nobel decided against a prize in mathematics because a woman he proposed to (or his wife, or his mistress) rejected him or cheated on him with a famous mathematician, often claimed to be Gösta Mittag-Leffler (Swedish mathamatician) . There is no historical evidence to support the story, and Nobel was never married.
Another theory is, Nobel did not create a prize in mathematics simply because he was not particularly interested in mathematics or theoretical science. His will speaks of prizes for those ``inventions or discoveries'' of greatest practical benefit to mankind. (Probably as a result of this language, the physics prize has been awarded for experimental work much more often than for advances in theory.)
Why did he create Nobel prizes?
The erroneous publication in 1888 of a premature obituary of Nobel by a French newspaper, condemning his invention of dynamite, is said to have made him decide to leave a better legacy to the world after his death.
Nobel prizes were created by the will of Alfred Nobel (Shown in picture, Inventor of Dynamite and founder of Bofors defence) a notable Swedish chemist.
A common legend states that Nobel decided against a prize in mathematics because a woman he proposed to (or his wife, or his mistress) rejected him or cheated on him with a famous mathematician, often claimed to be Gösta Mittag-Leffler (Swedish mathamatician) . There is no historical evidence to support the story, and Nobel was never married.
Another theory is, Nobel did not create a prize in mathematics simply because he was not particularly interested in mathematics or theoretical science. His will speaks of prizes for those ``inventions or discoveries'' of greatest practical benefit to mankind. (Probably as a result of this language, the physics prize has been awarded for experimental work much more often than for advances in theory.)
Why did he create Nobel prizes?
The erroneous publication in 1888 of a premature obituary of Nobel by a French newspaper, condemning his invention of dynamite, is said to have made him decide to leave a better legacy to the world after his death.
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