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| Photo: Sanchita Sharma |
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| A medal of Alfred Nobel is pictured prior to the beginning of a press conference to announce the winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine on October 2, 2017 in Stockholm. Photo: AFP File |
As the Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace are announced through this week, mathematicians are once again left feeling excluded from the world’s grandest celebration of advancements that bring “the greatest benefit to mankind”.
Why did Alfred Nobel, best known as the inventor of dynamite and the holder of 355 patents, exclude math when he willed his fortune of 31 million SEK (Swedish Kroner, 265 million US$ today ) in 1896 for the creation of the Nobel Prizes?
Here are the most popular theories:
Math too theoretical: The Nobel Prize was created to award outstanding “practical” inventions or discoveries that benefit the world, and as an inventor and industrialist, Nobel may have considered mathematics too theoretical and not bothered to go into its practical application.
Math not interesting: Nobel’s own work was in physics and chemistry, he was interested in literature, and medicine was beginning to come of age at the turn of the last Century. The peace prize was included to improve his public image as a “merchant of death” for inventing dynamite. Math was of no interest or benefit to him.
Existing Math Award: King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, himself a mathematician, had established a prestigious math award for mathematical contributions. Nobel may have thought there was no need to duplicate an established award of his own. Instead, he chose fields that interested him and for which there were no prestigious awards.
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| No awards for lightbulbs, mobile phones, and the internet (or autonomous vehicles, solar panels, and lithium-ion batteries). Photo: Reuters/Danny Moloshok |
Source: Hindustan Times
