Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (Swedish Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin ) is one of the prices of the Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel ( 1833-1896 ), who had come through the development of dynamite to great wealth, donated in his will were. The prize is awarded annually since 1901 by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm to the proviso Nobels to the person who " has made ​​the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine" in the past year.

• 2.1 institutions
• 2.2 schedule
• 2.3 Proposal law

Award criteria

" Physiology or Medicine "

The price is often abbreviated to Nobel Prize in Medicine. This is not correct because of Alfred Nobel in 1895 of deposited last will explicitly includes the physiology. The physiology involved at that time but a much larger area than the medical physiology, areas that would now attributed mainly biology, biochemistry or biophysics. Thus, the Karolinska Institutet, the Swedish medical university has always had near Stockholm, a lot of leeway in the selection of candidates. The price for 1973 Konrad Lorenz includes, for example in the field of Zoology ( Ethology ).

"The greatest benefit to mankind "

By the will of Alfred Nobel, the price should be awarded to the person who has not given in the last year with his discovery of the greatest benefit to mankind. The condition of the "discovery" of course preferred the research-based basic subjects in medicine over the applied subjects. And, in fact, made ​​far more awards to researchers in immunology, genetics or neurobiology than in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, or even the practical therapy.

What discovery has provided the greatest benefit for mankind, is still the subject of many discussions. The development of DDT by the Swiss chemist and Nobel Laureate 1948 Paul Hermann Müller is criticized from today's perspective often. The use of DDT is now banned because of its toxicity to humans and animals, but could by its application the WHO estimates that approximately 25 million people lives will be saved. In addition, the currently known extent of the toxicity of the substance neither the inventor nor the Nobel Assembly was aware at the time of award. For this reason, it may be more appropriate, the criteria for the award of the prize isolated in their historical context to consider, instead of projecting unchanged to the present.

Formal

Institutions

Alfred Nobel had specified in his will that the Karolinska Institute awards the Prize in Physiology or Medicine. 1901 the selection was worried from the nominations from all 19 professors of the medical faculty. They selected their number one Nobel Committee with the President of Karolinska as chairman. 1918 Professor Göran Liljestrand was elected secretary of the Nobel Committee, who retained the post for 42 years.

In 1977, the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute was set up, because the number of teachers was now greatly increased. A change in the law in Sweden that made all the papers public governmental bodies, would also threaten the secrecy of the selection process. The Nobel Assembly is completely independent from the state, it is funded exclusively by the Nobel Foundation, although all 50 members are professors at the Karolinska. With 65 years to go to retirement, new members are elected by the Assembly.

The Nobel Committee is elected by the Nobel Assembly and consists of five members and a managing director. Any member may be elected twice for a period of three years, the CEO three times for a period of four years. In order to ensure the continuity of work, each year only a part of the members are elected, one of the members is for three years chairman.

Once the nominations have been examined by the Committee, an ad hoc committee is determined with ten members who evaluate the nominations for a period of nine months. The members of the ad hoc committee need not be members of the Nobel Assembly.

Schedule

The schedule has remained the same since 1901: In September of the previous year 2500 to 3500, scientists will be selected by medical schools outside of Scandinavia according to a rotating system and asked for their candidate proposals for the next year.

Committee meeting and keep from several meetings during the year, so that the Assembly at the time of the vote on the selection process and the scientific merits of the candidates are well informed. The decision of the Nobel Assembly is carried out in early October, a simple majority is sufficient.

The prize winners in Physiology or Medicine are traditionally announced as the first, usually on a Monday in early October.

Right of proposal

All winners of the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, and all the professors of medicine in the Scandinavian countries have a regular nomination right. The deadline for nominations is January 31. In the spring there is a joint meeting with the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, in order to avoid that a winner receives two awards.

Award winners

The first winner was the German Emil von Behring, more famous winners were Robert Koch, Otto Loewi and the discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick.

The prize was awarded from 1901 to 2009 in a total of 100 years to 195 people, ten of them to women. For the first time he was in 1947 awarded to a woman, as the last of the five original Nobel Prizes. Today, the percentage of women is higher than for the other scientific Nobel Prizes physics and chemistry. It can be awarded to up to three people simultaneously. From 1915 to 1918 in the years 1921 and 1925 and from 1940 to 1942 no ceremony took place, the prize money wandered back into the fund.

The 2011 posthumously, the award is for the Canadian Ralph Steinman created a precedent. According to the original statutes of the Nobel Prize was allowed a proposed person who died after the end of the nomination period will be considered. 1974, the provision was amended; Since then, the prize may be awarded only if the nominee has never experienced the announcement. Steinman was awarded the prize, however, although he had died shortly before the announcement. It was decided to award the prize to Steinman nevertheless, since the scheme from the perspective of the Nobel Foundation had the purpose of preventing an intentional posthumous award. Since the committee was not informed at the time of the decision on Steinman's death in this case was ruled that it had the intention to award the prize posthumously.