●Alfred Bernhard Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel(October 21,1833,Stockholm,Sweden—December 10,1896,Sanremo,Italy) was a Swedish chemist,engineer,innovator,armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite.He owned Bofors,a major armaments manufacturer,which he had redirected from its previous role as an iron and steel mill.In his last will,he used his enormous fortune to institute the Nobel Prizes.The synthetic element Nobelium was named after him.
Personal background
Nobel,a descendant of the seventeenth century scientist,Olaus Rudbeck (1630-1708),was the third son of Immanuel Nobel (1801-1872).Born in Stockholm on October 21,1833,he went with his family in 1842 to St.Petersburg,where his father (who had invented modern plywood) started a "torpedo" works.Alfred studied chemistry for professor Nikolay Nikolaevich Zinin.In 1859 the factory was left to the care of the second son,Ludvig Nobel (1831-1888),by whom it was greatly enlarged,and Alfred,returning to America with his family and his father after the bankruptcy of their family business,devoted himself to the study of explosives,and especially to the safe manufacture and use of nitroglycerine (discovered in 1847 by Ascanio Sobrero,one of his fellow-students under Théophile-Jules Pelouze at the University of Torino).Several explosions were reported at their family-owned factory in Heleneborg,and a disastrous one in 1864 killed Alfred's younger brother Emil and several other workers.
Since 1901,the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics,chemistry,medicine,literature,and for work in peace.The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will,leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.
Alfred Nobel also wrote Nemesis,a prose tragedy in four acts about Beatrice Cenci,partly inspired by Percy Bysshe Shelley's blank verse tragedy in five acts The Cenci,was printed when he was dying,and the whole stock except for three copies was destroyed immediately after his death,being regarded as scandalous and blasphemous.The first surviving edition (bilingual Swedish-Esperanto) was published in Sweden in 2003.The play has been translated to Slovenian via the Esperanto version.
Alfred Nobel is buried in Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.
●Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are prizes awarded annually to people (and,in the case of the Peace Prize,sometimes to organizations) who have completed outstanding research,invented ground-breaking techniques or equipment,or made an outstanding contribution to society in physics,chemistry,literature,peace,medicine or physiology and economics.They are widely regarded as the supreme commendation in their respective subject areas.Those honored with a prize are known as Nobel Laureates.
The Prizes were instituted by the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel through his will.They were first awarded in 1901,five years after Nobel's death.The prize in economics,instituted by the Bank of Sweden,has been awarded since 1969.
As of October 2006,a total of 781 Nobel Prizes have been awarded,763 to individuals (34 of these to women) and 18 to organizations.A few Prize winners have declined the award.There are years in which one or more Prizes are not awarded; during World War II,for instance,no Prizes were awarded in any category between 1940 and 1942.Each Prize stipulates,however,that it must be awarded at least once every five years.
Prizes cannot be revoked.Since 1974,no award may be made posthumously,i.e.nominees must be alive at the time of their nomination.
■List of Chinese Nobel Prize Laureates
·Tsung-Dao Lee,Physics,1957 - Chinese American
·Edmond H.Fischer,Physiology or Medicine,1992 - Swiss-American (born in China)
·Daniel C.Tsui*,Physics,1998 - Chinese American
·Gao Xingjian,Literature,2000 - French Emigre
·Chen Ning Yang,Physics,1957 - Chinese American - See Photo Above
·Samuel C.C.Ting,Physics,1976 - Michigan-born Chinese American