The Nobel Prize is an annual award established under the will of the Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel, drawn up on 27 November 1895. The will directs that his remaining estate be invested in safe securities and that the annual interest be distributed in prizes to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”, divided into five parts[2]. The prizes were first awarded in 1901[1].
Fields
The will named five fields: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace[2]. In 1968 Sveriges Riksbank established a prize in economic sciences, which entered the statutes of the Nobel Foundation when the rules were approved by the Crown on 19 December 1968 and has been awarded since 1969[2].
Selection and ceremonies
The Nobel Foundation manages the fund. Laureates are selected by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (physics, chemistry, economic sciences), the Swedish Academy (literature) and the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (physiology or medicine). The statutes set 10 December as the festival day of the Foundation, when the ceremony is held in Stockholm[2].
Coverage
This series records the laureates of the five prizes — physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and economic sciences — year by year, with each edition linked to the preceding one.