10th December: The Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies and Banquets
Every year the 10th of December, the day when the prestigious Nobel Prizes are awarded in a glittering ceremony in Stockholm, marks a significant day in the lives of the Swedish people, who commemorate the day - the death anniversary of their fellow countryman, Alfred Nobel - with as much spectacle and bling as the festivities of Diwali are celebrated by Indians in India. Over the years the Nobel Award ceremony is drawing more and more eye balls across the world. This year the Nobel Prize award ceremony was special to India. Indian born Abhijit Banerjee was one of the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize (The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel) in Economics. What was more pleasing the Indian audience was that Dr Banerjee chose to wear traditional Indian attire - a black bandh gala paired with an off-white gold bordered quint essential Indian Dhoti – for receiving his coveted Nobel Prize. Icing on the cake for the Indians was Banerjee shared his Nobel Prize with his French American wife Esther Duflo and their colleague Michael Kerner. Esther Duflo too sported Indian attire for the prestigious Nobel Award ceremony and chose to wear a blue Saree and a red blouse and sported on her forehead, traditional Indian Red Bindi.
The week before the award ceremony day, all the Nobel Prize winners of 2019 - the newest members of the most elite club of Nobelists - travel to Stockholm to receive their coveted Nobel Prize (A Diploma and a Medal) at the hands of the King of Sweden. The laureates are treated with nobility all through their stay in Stockholm, where they are accommodated at the historic Stockholm's Grand Hotel, a 145-year-old luxe waterfront accommodation in the city's Old Town. From the time of their arrival in Stockholm, the laureates are treated with great respect and participate in several public functions and a wide ranging programs and schedule that include press conferences, champagne receptions, lectures, a concert, school visits, Nobel Museum visit, and a trip to the Swedish Riksdag (parliament), all leading up to the grand finale - the Award ceremony - which was held on the 10th of December at the majestic Stockholm Concert Hall.
The Nobel Prizes have come to be recognised as the most prestigious awards in the world, which are awarded to those who ‘during the preceding years, have conferred the greatest of benefit to humankind’ in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Peace and Literature. These Prizes, which are an outcome of that extraordinary will of Alfred Nobel - a Swedish born businessman, chemist, engineer, and inventor known for the discovery of dynamite - have been in existence since 1901. The Nobel prizes for Physics and Chemistry are selected by the Swedish Academy of Sciences; and that for Physiological or Medicine by the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. The literature Nobel Prize is selected by the Academy in Stockholm; and the Peace Nobel Prize is selected by a committee of five persons to be selected by the Norwegian Starting. All the Nobel Prizes except the Peace prize are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway.
The Nobel Laureates are a select exclusive club of people, who enjoy an elite status and goodwill in society. Ever since the beginning of the Nobel Prizes till date a mere 919 individuals and 27 organizations have been awarded the coveted Nobel Prize during the period 1901 and 2019, which also includes 84 Laureates in Economic Sciences. Four of the Nobel Laureates have been awarded two Nobel Prizes each.
The legendary Marie Curie and her husband Pierre Curie were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1903, for their study into the spontaneous radiation discovered by Becquerel, who shared the award with them. She was awarded her second Nobel Prize in the year this time in Chemistry in the year 1911, in recognition of her work on radioactivity. Linus Pauling is the only Nobel Laureate, who has won two Nobel Prizes without the award being shared with others. He won his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 for his research into the nature of the chemical bond and its application to the elucidation of the structure of complex substances. He won his second Nobel prize for Peace in the year 1962. He however received the Peace Nobel Prize in 1963. Theoretical physicist, John Bardeen won his first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956, for his work as a co-inventor of the transistor. He shared his Nobel Prize with William Shockley and Walter Brattain. Bardeen got his second Nobel Prize again for Physics in the year 1972 for developing a theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory. He shared his second Nobel Prize with Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer. Frederic Sanger was awarded two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry. He was awarded his first Nobel Prize in 1958, for his work on the structure of proteins, especially that of insulin. He was awarded his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in the year 1980, which he shared with Walter Gilbert. They were awarded the prize for their contributions concerning the determination of base sequences in nucleic acids.
For the past three years, I have been writing about the science Nobel Prizes on my FB posts, immediately after these prizes are announced in early October. This year too I wrote about all the three Science Nobel Prizes, Physics, Chemistry and Physiology or Medicine and posted them on my FB post in October. Subsequent to creating my Blog, I have posted my articles on this year’s Nobel Prize in Sciences on my blogpost. For those who have missed my FB posts earlier, may like to see my articles on the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Medicine in the links given below;
Physics
Chemistry
Physiology or Medicine
The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony is the most spectacular ceremony in Sweden, which has now become an integral part of the popular culture of that country. This international spectacle provides the science Nobel laureates - who are normally more accustomed to their respective sombre, research ambience in their university and research lab corridors - to witness a rare glimpse of the royalty, organised in one of the best celebrity lifestyle functions in the world, that is graced by His Majesty the King of Sweden. Ever since the beginning of the coveted Prizes in 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremonies in Stockholm on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. This was stipulated in the will of Swedish-born Alfred Nobel, by which he bequeathed major portions of his wealth for the Nobel Prizes. His will was opened after his death in 1896. The Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, while the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway. Since 1969 an additional prize has been awarded at the ceremony in Stockholm, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which was established in 1968 on the occasion of the Riksbank’s 300th anniversary. The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm has almost always taken place at the historic Stockholm Concert Hall.
The very first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony was held on 10th December in 1901 with a banquet at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. The Nobel Prizes are now in their 119th year and over the years’ global awareness of these coveted prizes and so also the Nobel Banquet, has become an international affair, which is followed globally with great interest. The event gets a major coverage across the world and almost every country has a large number of people who follow this event very closely and watch the event live from their television sets at home, reading about it in the print and electronic media. The Nobel Prize Award ceremony includes presentation speeches, which extoll the Laureates and their discovery or work, after which His Majesty the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, hands each Laureate their Diploma and a Medal. This is followed by a banquet at the Stockholm City Hall. This year an estimated 1300 people, including 250 students attended the Nobel Spectacle in the City Hall.
Interestingly enough the very Majesty, the King of Sweden, Carl XIV Gustaf, who presides this unmatched spectacle of opulence, showed the other side of the Majesty - simplicity exemplified - when he recently visited India with his wife - Queen Silvia recently. King Carl XVI made headlines in India and won the hearts of millions of Indians after he was spotted carrying his own briefcase at the airport during his recent five days, official visit. The Twitter was abuzz with this news which soon went viral. For all Indians, who are tired of seeing the VIP culture practiced by all and sundry - specially in corridors of power - the King carrying his own bag was more than a miracle for Indians. His Majesty, Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, King of Sweden and Her Majesty Silvia Renate Sommerlath travelled by Air India AI 168 from Stockholm to Delhi. They had to travel by Air India since their aircraft developed some technical snag in the last minute. While getting down at Delhi from the Air Craft The King was spotted carrying his own suit case. Their stay in India included their visit to Delhi, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra including our city Mumbai.
I was one of those millions who were overwhelmed by the simplicity of the King, who had no hesitation in carrying his own suit case. I earnestly hope that the hype created by the media over the simplicity of His Majesty the King of Sweden, who was the key figure at the Nobel Award Ceremony, where he handed over the Nobel Prizes to this year’s laureates will motivate those so called VIPs of India to learn from the Kind but will also help in reducing the so called VIP culture in our country. I also hope that it will send out the right signal to the people and will motivate hundreds of thousands of young students to aspire to receive the Nobel Prize at the hands of the simple King of Sweden and bring glory to this nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment