Nobel Prize...

...And Bad Norwegian Postal Service

But I thought Nobel Prizes were “Swedish”, well they are except for the Nobel Peace Prize which is presented by the Norwegians. All this lead me to tell you that the Obamas are in town (well Oslo obviously, not Stavanger) and my invitation must have got lost in the mail. Chinese postal service was much better (exhibit A, exhibit B and exhibit C and a few more but I don't want to brag!)

The Nobel Prize (Swedish: Nobelpriset) is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. An associated prize, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was instituted by Sweden's central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969. The Nobel Prizes in the specific disciplines (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature) and the Prize in Economics, which is commonly identified with them, are widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive in those fields. The Nobel Peace Prize conveys social prestige and is often politically controversial.[…]

The Nobel laureates are selected by their respective Nobel Committees. For the Prizes in Physics, Chemistry and Economics, a committee consists of five members elected by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; for the Prize in Literature, a committee of four to five members of the Swedish Academy; for the Prize in Physiology or Medicine, the committee consists of five members selected by The Nobel Assembly, which consists of 50 members elected by Karolinska Institutet; for the Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee consists of five members elected by the Norwegian Storting (the Norwegian parliament). In its first stage, several thousand people are asked to nominate candidates. These names are scrutinized and discussed by experts in their specific disciplines until only the winners remain. This slow and thorough process is arguably what gives the prize its importance. Despite this, there have been questionable awards and questionable omissions over the prize's century-long history. (Wikipedia)

BTW there is no Nobel Prize in Mathematics (and it has nothing to do with a woman and her lover!) but at the 1924 International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) in Toronto, a resolution was adopted that at each ICM, two gold medals should be awarded to recognize outstanding mathematical achievement.

Photo: Susan Walsh/Associated Press