In his will Swedish industrialist Alfred Bernhard Nobel left the bulk of his fortune in trust to establish what are considered the world's most prestigious and scholarly awards—the Nobel Prizes. Each December 10, on the anniversary of Nobel's death, the prize-awarding bodies—the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Physics, Economics, and Chemistry), the Swedish Academy (Literature), the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute (Physiology or Medicine), and the Norwegian Nobel Committee (Peace)—present recipients with a financial award, a diploma, and a gold medal.
Britannica congratulates the 2007 recipients of the Nobel Prize:
- Chemistry: Gerhard Ertl (“for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces”)
- Economics: Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin, Roger B. Myerson (“for having laid the foundations of mechanism design theory”)
- Literature: Doris Lessing (“that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”)
- Peace: Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (“for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”)
- Physics: Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg (“for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance”)
- Physiology or Medicine: Mario R. Capecchi, Sir Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies (“for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells”)
Encyclopædia Britannica is proud to feature the work of Nobel Prize winners. More than 100 Nobelists have contributed writings to Britannica, and some of the contributions of these luminaries are reproduced here.
Encyclopædia Britannica's Guide to the Nobel Prizes features entries on every individual and institution that was awarded the honour since the program's inception in 1901. This feature focuses on Alfred Nobel the man, his will that established the award, and the prizes named for him. It details the selection process and the various prize-awarding bodies and provides tables that list the recipients alphabetically, by year, and by prize category.
We invite you to examine the Nobel Prizes with us. Just use the links on the left to find out more.
