Nancy Hogarth, age 15, of Bellingham, Wash., for her question:
WHO SELECTS NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS?
Nobel Prize awards of cash are presented in Sweden each year in six different fields: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, economics and the most effective work in the interest of international peace. Selecting the winners are experts in each of the six fields.
Members of the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm choose the physics, chemistry and economics winners. The Swedish Academy of Literature in Stockholm awards the prize for literature while the Caroline Institute, the faculty of medicine in Stockholm, awards the prize for medicine.
Awards for the peace prize are made by a special committee of five members. Committee members are elected by the Norwegian Storting, that nation's parliament.
When the Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel died at the turn of the century, he directed in his will that the income from his $9 million estate be awarded as prizes in five categories. The first grants were made in 1901.
The sixth Nobel Prize, established and funded by the Swedish Central Bank, was for the field of economics. The first award in this category was made in 1969.
Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to persons, regardless of nationality, who have made valuable contributions to the good of humanity. The awards are usually given for the most important discovery or invention in the various fields during the previous year.
For the literature prize, the Swedish Academy considers only the works that have appeared in print and have been proved by the test of experience or by the examination of experts. The academy usually selects an author for his complete work rather than an individual book.
The organizations that award the prizes appoint 15 deputies who elect a board of directors. The board holds office for two years and administers the fund.
The peace prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other five are awarded in Stockholm.
Nobel awards are made each year on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel. Two or more persons may share a prize. Occasionally, prizes are not awarded or are awarded in a later year.
More Americans have won prizes in the fields of economics, physics, physiology or medicine and peace than persons of any other country. The Germans lead in chemistry prizes and the French in literature.
Nobel invented dynamite in 1867. He combined nitroglycerin with an absorbent substance that made the explosive safe to handle and ship. Within a few years he became one of the richest men in the world.
Nobel was never in good health. In his later years, he became increasingly ill and nervous. Some say he suffered from a feeling of guilt at having created a substance that caused so much death and injury. He hated the thought that dynamite could be used in war when he had invented it for peace.