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Ankur Dubey
Background of Nobel Foundation
Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Nobel was born on October 21, 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. Nobel, who invented dynamite, endowed a $9 million fund in his will. The interest on this endowment was to be used as awards for people whose work most benefited humanity. He wanted the profit from his invention to be used to reward human ingenuity. First awarded in 1901, the Nobel Prize ,is still the. most honoured in the world.
In 1842 Nobel's family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia where he obtained his education. He travelled widely as a young man, becoming fluent in five languages. Nobel was interested in literature and wrote novels, poetry and plays in his spare time. In the 1860s he began experiments with nitroglycerin in his father's factory. He tried many ways to stabilise this highly volatile material. Nobel discovered that a mix of
nitroglycerin and a fine porous powder called kieselguhr was most effective. He named this mixture as dynamite, and received a patent in 1867.
He set up factories around the world to manufacture dynamite and other explosives. Construction and mining companies, and the military ordered large quantities of this relatively safe explosive. Sales of dynamite brought Nobel great wealth. His other chemical research provided valuable information on the development. of artificial rubber, leather, silk and precious stones.
In 1842 Nobel's family moved to St. Petersburg, Russia where he obtained his education. He travelled widely as a young man, becoming fluent in five languages. Nobel was interested in literature and wrote novels, poetry and plays in his spare time. In the 1860s he began experiments with nitroglycerin in his father's factory. He tried many ways to stabilise this highly volatile material. Nobel discovered that a mix of
nitroglycerin and a fine porous powder called kieselguhr was most effective. He named this mixture as dynamite, and received a patent in 1867.
He set up factories around the world to manufacture dynamite and other explosives. Construction and mining companies, and the military ordered large quantities of this relatively safe explosive. Sales of dynamite brought Nobel great wealth. His other chemical research provided valuable information on the development. of artificial rubber, leather, silk and precious stones.
Background and Establishment of the Nobel Foundation
Alfred Nobel died on Dec. 10, 1 896. The provisions of his will and their unusual purpose, as well as their partly incomplete form, attracted great attention and soon led to skepticism and criticism, also aimed at the testator due to his international spirit. Only after several years of negotiations and often rather bitter conflicts, and after various obstacles had been circumvented or overcome, could the fundamental concepts presented in the will assume solid form with the establishment of the Nobel Foundation.
On. June 29, 1900, after series of alterations, suggestions, modifications, the Statutes of the newly created legatee, the Nobel Foundation, and special regulations for the Swedish Prize-Awarding Institutions were promulgated by the King in Council (Oscar II). The same year as the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, special regulations were adopted on April 10, 1905, by the Nobel Committee of the Storting (known since January 1, 1977 as the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the awarder of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Premises : To create a worthy framework around the prizes, the Board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected as the architect. He presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. On Dee. 19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan 14 was bought for this purpose. After years of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at Norrlandsgatan 6 in 1926 and moved to Sturegatan, 14, where the Foundation has been housed ever since.
Objectives of the Foundation : The Nobel Foundation is a private institution. It is entrusted with protecting the common interests of the Prize Awarding Institutions named in the will, as well as representing the Nobel institutions externally. This includes informational activities as well as arrangements related to the presentation of the Nobel Prizes. The Foundation is not, however, involved in the selection process and the final choice of the Laureates (as Nobel Prize winners are also called). In this work, the Prize-Awarding Institutions are not only entirely independent of all government agencies and organisations, but also of the Nobel Foundation. Their autonomy is of crucial importance to the objectivity and quality of their prize decisions. One vital task of the Foundation is to manage its assets in such a way as to safeguard the financial base of the prizes themselves and of the prize selection process.
Statutes and Significant Amendments during 100 Years : The Statutes, as revised in 2000, assign roles to the different bodies or individuals in the Nobel Foundation's activities.
The first Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation was elected by the Trustees on September 27, 1900 (Hans Forsell, Ragrar Tornebladh, Henrik Santesson, and Ragnar Sdhlman, with Mauritz Salin and Oscar Montelius as Deputies). On the following day, former Prime Minister Erik Gustaf Bostrom was appointed Chairman of the Board by the King in Council with the Justice of the Supreme Court C. G. Hernmarck as Deputy. On October 3, 1900 the Board elected Assistant Circuit Judge Henrik Santesson as the first Executive Director of the Foundation. Effective on January 1, 1901 the Board assumed management of the Foundation's assets.
Financial Management : The main task of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the financial base of the Nobel Prizes and of the work connected to the selection of the Nobel Laureates.
In its role as a financial manager, the Nobel Foundation resembles an investment company. The investment policy of the Foundation is naturally of the greatest importance in preserving and increasing its funds, thereby ensuring the size of the Nobel Prizes.
Then, in 1953, the Government approved a radical liberalisation of the investment rules. The Foundation was granted a more extensive freedom to manage its capital independently, as well as the opportunity to invest in stocks and real estate. Freedom of investment, coupled with tax-exemption and the financial expertise of the Board, led to a transformation from passive to active management. This can be regarded as a landmark change in the role of the Foundation's Board. During the 1960s and I 970s, the value of the Nobel Prizes multiplied in Swedish krona terms but rapid inflation meanwhile undermined their real value, leaving each prize largely unchanged. The same was true of the Foundation's capital.
The first Nobel Prize in 1901 amounted to SEK 150,000, equivalent to SEK 7.4 million in 2006 money.
By 1991, the Foundation had restored the Nobel Prizes to their 1901 real value. Today the nominal fund capital of the Nobel Foundation is about SEK 3.6 billion. In 2006 each of the five Nobel Prizes as well as the Economics Prize was worth SEK 10 million (about USD 1.45 million). This is well above the nominal value of the entire original fund, and higher than the real value of the original prizes. Since January I, 2000, the Nobel Foundation has also been permitted to apply the capital gains from the sale of assets toward the prize amounts.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel : On the occasion of its 300th anniversary in 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) made a large donation to the Nobel Foundation. A Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded since 1969. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is entrusted with the role of Prize Awarding-Institution, in accordance with Nobel Prize rules. The Board of the Nobel Foundation has subsequently decided that it will allow no further new prizes.
Nobel Symposia : An important addition to the activities of the Nobel Foundation is its Symposium program, which was initiated in 1965 and has achieved a high international standing. Approximately
135 Nobel Symposia, dealing with topics at the frontiers of science and culture and related to the Prize categories, have taken place.
Nobel Festivities : The Nobel Foundation is an "investment company" with rather unusual facets. Every year this investment company moves into show business by organising the Nobel Festivities and numerous related arrangements that take place in December. The Nobel Foundation is responsible for organising the Nobel Festivities in Stockholm, while in Norway the Norwegian Nobel Committee is in 'Charge of the corresponding arrangements. On December 10, 1901, the Nobel Prizes were awarded for the first time in Stockholm and in Christiania (now Oslo) respectively.
Christiania / Oslo
On. June 29, 1900, after series of alterations, suggestions, modifications, the Statutes of the newly created legatee, the Nobel Foundation, and special regulations for the Swedish Prize-Awarding Institutions were promulgated by the King in Council (Oscar II). The same year as the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, special regulations were adopted on April 10, 1905, by the Nobel Committee of the Storting (known since January 1, 1977 as the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the awarder of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Premises : To create a worthy framework around the prizes, the Board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected as the architect. He presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. On Dee. 19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan 14 was bought for this purpose. After years of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at Norrlandsgatan 6 in 1926 and moved to Sturegatan, 14, where the Foundation has been housed ever since.
Objectives of the Foundation : The Nobel Foundation is a private institution. It is entrusted with protecting the common interests of the Prize Awarding Institutions named in the will, as well as representing the Nobel institutions externally. This includes informational activities as well as arrangements related to the presentation of the Nobel Prizes. The Foundation is not, however, involved in the selection process and the final choice of the Laureates (as Nobel Prize winners are also called). In this work, the Prize-Awarding Institutions are not only entirely independent of all government agencies and organisations, but also of the Nobel Foundation. Their autonomy is of crucial importance to the objectivity and quality of their prize decisions. One vital task of the Foundation is to manage its assets in such a way as to safeguard the financial base of the prizes themselves and of the prize selection process.
Statutes and Significant Amendments during 100 Years : The Statutes, as revised in 2000, assign roles to the different bodies or individuals in the Nobel Foundation's activities.
The first Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation was elected by the Trustees on September 27, 1900 (Hans Forsell, Ragrar Tornebladh, Henrik Santesson, and Ragnar Sdhlman, with Mauritz Salin and Oscar Montelius as Deputies). On the following day, former Prime Minister Erik Gustaf Bostrom was appointed Chairman of the Board by the King in Council with the Justice of the Supreme Court C. G. Hernmarck as Deputy. On October 3, 1900 the Board elected Assistant Circuit Judge Henrik Santesson as the first Executive Director of the Foundation. Effective on January 1, 1901 the Board assumed management of the Foundation's assets.
Financial Management : The main task of the Nobel Foundation is to safeguard the financial base of the Nobel Prizes and of the work connected to the selection of the Nobel Laureates.
In its role as a financial manager, the Nobel Foundation resembles an investment company. The investment policy of the Foundation is naturally of the greatest importance in preserving and increasing its funds, thereby ensuring the size of the Nobel Prizes.
Then, in 1953, the Government approved a radical liberalisation of the investment rules. The Foundation was granted a more extensive freedom to manage its capital independently, as well as the opportunity to invest in stocks and real estate. Freedom of investment, coupled with tax-exemption and the financial expertise of the Board, led to a transformation from passive to active management. This can be regarded as a landmark change in the role of the Foundation's Board. During the 1960s and I 970s, the value of the Nobel Prizes multiplied in Swedish krona terms but rapid inflation meanwhile undermined their real value, leaving each prize largely unchanged. The same was true of the Foundation's capital.
The first Nobel Prize in 1901 amounted to SEK 150,000, equivalent to SEK 7.4 million in 2006 money.
By 1991, the Foundation had restored the Nobel Prizes to their 1901 real value. Today the nominal fund capital of the Nobel Foundation is about SEK 3.6 billion. In 2006 each of the five Nobel Prizes as well as the Economics Prize was worth SEK 10 million (about USD 1.45 million). This is well above the nominal value of the entire original fund, and higher than the real value of the original prizes. Since January I, 2000, the Nobel Foundation has also been permitted to apply the capital gains from the sale of assets toward the prize amounts.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel : On the occasion of its 300th anniversary in 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) made a large donation to the Nobel Foundation. A Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded since 1969. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is entrusted with the role of Prize Awarding-Institution, in accordance with Nobel Prize rules. The Board of the Nobel Foundation has subsequently decided that it will allow no further new prizes.
Nobel Symposia : An important addition to the activities of the Nobel Foundation is its Symposium program, which was initiated in 1965 and has achieved a high international standing. Approximately
135 Nobel Symposia, dealing with topics at the frontiers of science and culture and related to the Prize categories, have taken place.
Nobel Festivities : The Nobel Foundation is an "investment company" with rather unusual facets. Every year this investment company moves into show business by organising the Nobel Festivities and numerous related arrangements that take place in December. The Nobel Foundation is responsible for organising the Nobel Festivities in Stockholm, while in Norway the Norwegian Nobel Committee is in 'Charge of the corresponding arrangements. On December 10, 1901, the Nobel Prizes were awarded for the first time in Stockholm and in Christiania (now Oslo) respectively.
Christiania / Oslo
The King of Norway is present, but it is the Chairman of the Nobel Committee who hands over the Prize to the Laureate or Laureates. The Nobel Banquet in Norway is a dignified formal occasion, but much less pretentious than the Banquet in Stockholm. It takes place at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, with approximately 250 guests.
A New Century : After more than a hundred years of existence, the Nobel Prizes - as well as the centenarian Nobel Foundation - have become solid institutions, based on a great tradition since their beginning. The original criticisms aimed at the whole idea of the Nobel Prizes have faded into oblivion. Both in Sweden and in Norway, the awarding of the prizes is regarded as an event of national importance. The Nobel Foundation has now entered a new century, with museum and exhibition projects, while being able to look back at its past successes in many fields.
A New Century : After more than a hundred years of existence, the Nobel Prizes - as well as the centenarian Nobel Foundation - have become solid institutions, based on a great tradition since their beginning. The original criticisms aimed at the whole idea of the Nobel Prizes have faded into oblivion. Both in Sweden and in Norway, the awarding of the prizes is regarded as an event of national importance. The Nobel Foundation has now entered a new century, with museum and exhibition projects, while being able to look back at its past successes in many fields.
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