As you’ve probably noticed, it’s the 2008 Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset) time right now. Today the prize in chemistry was announced. Yesterday it was physics, and the day before – medicine. Too bad these days each prize has to be split among three people – 10 million kronor per prize is not that much to begin with, and even less if you have to share it with other folks.

I was surprised to hear that many foreigners (and one of those foreigners was a history teacher in a certain English-speaking country, shame on you, lady!) didn’t know that the guy who started it all, Alfred Nobel, was a real person. Yep, the prize is named after a real guy. He’s long dead, of course, but before he died he wrote in his will that he wanted his wealth to be used to establish a prize honoring men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for work for peace (fysik, kemi, medicin, litteratur och fredsarbete).

Because Mr. Nobel happened to be a rich guy, a very rich guy in fact (why was he so rich? – he was smart, invented dynamite and ran and bunch of successful companies), and because he died without producing an heir (legitimate or otherwise), his nephews decided to challenge the will and grab some of his cash for themselves. Mr. Nobel didn’t exactly help either – in his will he did not specify just how this whole prize business was supposed to be set up, who was going to oversee it, and how the recipients were to be selected. So, as you can imagine, it took quite some time to sort it all out. The guy died in 1896 (he wrote his will in 1895) and the first prizes were awarded in 1901.

Then in 1968, the Swedish Central Bank (Sveriges Riksbank) established and began funding the Nobel Prize in Economics. Officially called in Swedish “Sveriges Riksbanks pris i ekonomisk vetenskap till Alfred Nobels minne.”

So, how does this prize business work? You watched “The Beautiful Mind,” you know there is a trip to Stockholm involved and a fancy banquet, right? The king shows up and the whole shindig is shown on TV, right?

That’s correct. Even though the winners are being announced now, on December 10th, which the anniversary of Mr. Nobel’s death, they will all put their fancy party dresses on, look all somber and dignified and shake hands with the king and the queen at the Stockholm Concert Hall, and then munch on some high-class chow during the Nobel Banquet held at the Stockholm City Hall. Nice! Too bad you have to be either super smart or super famous to attend. Sadly, that disqualifies me on both accounts.

Oh yes, what about the Peace Prize, you ask? Well, the Peace Prize is handled and handed out in Oslo. “Wait, a sec,” I hear you say, “isn’t that in Norway?” Yes it is. But back in the olden days of Mr. Nobel, Norway was a part of Sweden.

So, there you have it. Of course, come December 10th, I will give you a detailed report on the Nobel Ceremony telecast.

PS. And here’s a blurb from the Svenska Akademien website about this year’s literature prize:

Nobelpriset i litteratur 2008
Svenska Akademien har beslutat tillkännage namnet på årets Nobelpristagare i litteratur torsdagen den 9 oktober kl. 13.00 i Börssalen.

So, they will tell us tomorrow, Thursday at 1PM who the winner is.

Alfred Nobel image: wikipedia