How to get the Nobel Prize in physics
Abstract
Every year, on the 10th of December, one piece is added to the history of science. This is the day when the Nobel Prizes are awarded to those scientists who "during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind". The Nobel Prize carries the highest prestige and fame of all distinctions in the world of science. There have been many speculations regarding the prize: What effect does it have on its recipients? Does it boost their research activities or does it kill them? Is it merely an after-the-fact recognition of important steps in the history of science, or does it also create history by changing the directions along which science develops? What role does it play in the sociology of science? Is it a prize for leaders of big research teams or is there a preference for the genius working completely on his own? Are there equal opportunities for men and women, for Swedes and Russians, for black and white? Where does one find the track that leads to Stockholm?
- Publication:
-
Physica Scripta Volume T
- Pub Date:
- January 1995
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0031-8949/1995/T59/001
- Bibcode:
- 1995PhST...59...21N