OCTOBER 28, 2009 | THE MEREDITH HERALD • Educating Women to Excel \ VOL XXVI • ISSUE VIII
A History of
Halloween
(see page 2)
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BEHIND THE SCENES
NOBEL PRIZE
Elisabeth Lynne Bjork
StaffWriter
Recently, the Norwegian Nobel
Committee awarded the prestigious
Nobel Peace Prize to United States
President Barack Obama. According
to cnn.com, the committee chose him
because of his "extraordinary efforts
to strengthen international diplomacy
and cooperation between peoples."
' However, numerous people
believe it is premature and unwise to
award President Obama the Nobel
Peace Prize, considering he has not
yet actually earned out his promises
• of hope, says John Feehery in a
commentary bn cnn.cpm. In fact, the
dfeadtine for Peace Prize nominations
was February—just weeks after he
had been sworn in as president. Ap
parently someone must haye really
liked his inaugural address, says
Feehery.
But whether or not President
Obama deserves the prize, he has
broken records by winning it. The
most obvious one is, since he is the
first African-American in the White
IHouse, he Is also the first African-
American president to win a Nobel
Prize. He is the fourth United States
president to win a Nobel Prize and
the third president to sit'in office
While receiving the award, accord- .
ing to nobelprizes.com. He is also
the twelfth African-American to win a
Nobel Prize. t
While there have not been many
Nobel Prizes awarded to African-
Americans, women also have not
received many prizes compared
to men. The first woman Nobel
Prize winner was Marie Curie, who
received a Nobel Prize in Physics
In 1903, the third year of the Nobel
Prizes. However, no more Nobel
Prizes in Physics were given to
women until Maria Mayer received
one in 1963. Another area short in
women Nobel Prize whners is chem-,
istry. Fascinatingly, Marie Curie was
also the first woman awarded a prize
in chemistry (1911). Three other
' women, including this year's winner,
Ada E. Yonath, have won the Nobel
Prize In cheriilstry. But the Nobel
Prize category with the'least amount
of women is the economics category.
This Is the first year a woman, Elinor
Ostrom, has won in the economics
category, according to nobelprizes.
. com. '
But the economics prize has
not had neariy as Ipng a life as the
other prizes. Technically, it is not
actually a Nobel Prize. According
. tanobelprize.org, Alfred Nobel, the
Photo courtesy: httpMg2bh.files.wordpress.eom/2009/10/fg2bh-pKsident-barack-obama-
nobel-peace-prize-2009'.png?w=468&h=282 .
Inventor of dynamite, and the person
who founded—and funded—the
Nobel Prizes; wrote his last will in
1895, the year before his death. In
his will, Alfred Nobel designated
roughly the amount of two hundred
fifty million dollars tb be^'islfri’buted
throughout the years to winners in
five categories: chemistry, phys
ics, literature, peace, and medicine;
economics was not included. But
Nobel’s great-grandnephew, Peter
Nobel, asked the Bank of Sweden to
support an award In economics, the
Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic
Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel,
or the Nobel Prize in Economics for
short, Since the first ecoriomics prize
was awarded in 1969, no woman .
has ever won the prize in economics
until 2009, making this'year a very
interesting year of firsts.
Even though not as many women
have won the prize as men, the
very fact that Marie Curie won the
Nobel Prize as eariy as 1903 shows
the judges’ interest in the scientific
breakthroughs themselves, not just
the gender of the person making the
breakthroughs.. While occasionally
there will be great controversy as
to whether or not the Nobel Prize
wjnner deserved the prize—as in
President Obama's case—the Nobel
Prize Committees have tried to stick
to the intentions of Alfred Nobel as
stated in his last will and testament.
As Nobelprize.org says, “In his last
will and testament, Alfred Nobel spe
cifically designated the institutions
responsible for the prizes he wished
to be established: The Royal Swed
ish Academy of Sciences for the
Nobel Prize in Physjcs and Chernis-
try, Karolinska Institute for the Nobel
Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the
Swedish Academy for the Nobel
Prize in Literature, and a Committee of
five persons to be elected by the Nonwe-
glan Pariiament (Storting) for the Nobel
Peace Prize. In 196Q, tire Sveriges Riks
bank established the Sveriges Riksbank
Prize in Economics in Memory of Alfred
Nobel. The Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences was given the task to select
the Economics Prize Laureates starting
In 1969.” Since the beginning of the
twentieth century, the Nobel Prizes have
been decided by these committees in
the way he Intended.
Most of the Nobel Prize winners
have greatly deserved the prize, which,
consists of a gold medal, a plaque, and
well over one million dollars. They have
'made groundbreaking discoveries in
medicine, DNA, deep literature, technol
ogy, today’s Economy, and numerous
other topics that impact regular life.
Many of the Nobel Prizewinners are the
best in their field worldwide.
How are the winners nominated for
this coveted award? First o^ all, one
cannot nominate oneself. Every year,
each Nobel committee invites thousands
of academic and university professors,
members of pariiament, Nobel Laure
ates, and scientists across the globe to
nominate someone they deem fit to be
a new Nobel Laureate. The committees
try to include as many different countries
as possible In their quest for the next
Nobel Prize winners. Each year, the .
cortimlttees try to expand the range of
nominators.
However, this year we did not have to
look far for the Nobel Peace Prize win
ner. President Barack Obama has now
been awarded the sought-after prize.'
Although'ihe ;eason for his earning the
distinguished award is puzzling, he has
now joined the ranks of the Not>el Laure
ates, and we all watch and wait for his
plans to be carried out.
‘r
Green Tip for
the Week of
October 28
Light your drive-way witli solar
powered night lights.
They will recharge for free dur
ing the day and automatically
brighten your night.