The Nobel prizes

It appears that the total value of the personal estate of the late Mr Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, is over £434,000. After the paying of certain specific legacies, none of them of very large amount, the whole of the remainder is to be capitalised, and the interest is to be divided annually into five equal parts, to be given as prizes to those who during the preceding year have done most for the benefit of humanity. One of these prizes is to be given to him who has made the most important discovery in the department of physiology or medicine. This prize will be awarded by the Carolinian Institution in Stockholm, but Mr Nobel distinctly directs that in the distribution of the prizes “no regard is to be paid to any kind of nationality, so that the most worthy competitor may receive the prize whether he be a Scandinavian or not.” The other prizes are to be given for discoveries in natural philosophy, in chemistry, for the most excellent idealistic literary work and for the best work promoting peace between nations. (BMJ 1898;i:40)