by Birgitta Lemmel*
29 June 2000
(updated January 2007)
On June 29, 2000, the Nobel Foundation celebrated its 100th anniversary. The Foundation and especially the Nobel Prizes - which were first awarded in 1901 - are closely linked to the history of modern science, the arts, and political development throughout the 20th century.
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| The testator and his will. The
superimposed photo of Alfred Nobel was taken in 1896, the
year he died. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
The will was now settled. The task of achieving unity among all the affected parties on how to put its provisions into practice remained. The final version of the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation contained clarifications of the wording of the will and a provision that prizes not considered possible to award could be allocated to funds that would otherwise promote the intentions of the testator. The Statutes provided for the establishment of Nobel Committees to perform prize adjudication work and Nobel Institutes to support this work, as well as the appointment of a Board of Directors in charge of the Foundation's financial and administrative management.
On June 29, 1900, the Statutes of the newly created legatee, the Nobel Foundation, and special regulations for the Swedish Prize-Awarding Institutions were promulgated by the King in Council (Oscar II). The same year as the political union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, special regulations were adopted on April 10, 1905, by the Nobel Committee of the Storting (known since January 1, 1977 as the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the awarder of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| A century old. The cover of the
Statutes of the Nobel Foundation when it was promulgated on
June 29, 1900. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
To create a worthy framework around the prizes, the Board decided at an early stage that it would erect its own building in Stockholm, which would include a hall for the Prize Award Ceremony and Banquet as well as its own administrative offices. Ferdinand Boberg was selected as the architect. He presented an ambitious proposal for a Nobel Palace, which generated extensive publicity but also led to doubts and questions. World War I broke out before any decision could be made. The proposal was "put on ice" and by the time the matter was revived after the war, Ivar Tengbom was busily designing what later became the Stockholm Concert Hall. Meanwhile the Stockholm City Hall was being built under the supervision of Ragnar Östberg. Boberg, Tengbom, and Östberg were probably the most respected architects in Sweden at that time. Because it would have access to both these buildings for its events, the Nobel Foundation now only needed space for its administrative offices. On December 19, 1918, a building at Sturegatan 14 was bought for this purpose. After years of renovation there, the Foundation finally left its cramped premises at Norrlandsgatan 6 in 1926 and moved to Sturegatan 14, where the Foundation has been housed ever since.
The Nobel Foundation is a private institution. It is entrusted with protecting the common interests of the Prize Awarding Institutions named in the will, as well as representing the Nobel institutions externally. This includes informational activities as well as arrangements related to the presentation of the Nobel Prizes. The Foundation is not, however, involved in the selection process and the final choice of the Laureates (as Nobel Prize winners are also called). In this work, the Prize-Awarding Institutions are not only entirely independent of all government agencies and organizations, but also of the Nobel Foundation. Their autonomy is of crucial importance to the objectivity and quality of their prize decisions. One vital task of the Foundation is to manage its assets in such a way as to safeguard the financial base of the prizes themselves and of the prize selection process.
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The Statutes, as most recently revised in 2000, assign roles to the following bodies or individuals in the Nobel Foundation's activities:
Over the past 100 years, there have been a
number of changes in the relationship between the Foundation's
Board of Directors and the Swedish State. Their links have
gradually been severed.
According to paragraph 14 of the first Statutes from 1901, the
Foundation was to be represented by a Board with its seat in
Stockholm, consisting of five Swedish men. One of these, the
Chairman of the Board, was to be
designated by the King in Council. The Trustees of the Prize
Awarding Institutions would appoint the others. The Board would
choose an Executive Director from among its own members. An
alternate (deputy) to the Chairman would be appointed by the King
in Council (effective in 1974, by the Government), and two
deputies for the other members would be elected by the Trustees.
Since 1995 the Trustees have appointed all members and
deputies of the Board. The Board chooses a Chairman, Deputy
Chairman and Executive Director from among its own members.
The first Board of Directors of the Nobel Foundation was elected
by the Trustees on September 27, 1900 (Hans Forsell, Ragnar
Törnebladh, Henrik Santesson, and Ragnar Sohlman, with
Mauritz Salin and Oscar Montelius as Deputies). On the following
day, former Prime Minister Erik Gustaf Boström was appointed
Chairman of the Board by the King in Council with the Justice of
the Supreme Court C. G. Hernmarck as Deputy. On October 3, 1900
the Board elected Assistant Circuit Judge Henrik Santesson as the
first Executive Director of the Foundation. Effective on January
1, 1901 the Board assumed management of the Foundation's
assets.
Until 1960 the Chairman was chosen from the small group of
"Gentlemen of the Realm" - prime ministers, ministers for foreign
affairs and other high officials. In 1960 for the first time, a
renowned scientist was chosen: Arne Tiselius,
Professor of Biochemistry at Uppsala University and 1948 Nobel
Laureate in Chemistry. Since then the Chairman has been chosen
from among members of the Prize-Awarding Institutions. It has
also become a rule that the Deputy Chairman as well as one of the
members of the Board elected by the Trustees should be persons
with financial expertise. This custom began in 1951, when senior
banker and industrialist Jacob Wallenberg was elected to the
Board by the Trustees. He was also a member of the Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences. When his brother Marcus Wallenberg succeeded
him in 1968, it was the first time that a member of the Board did
not belong to a Prize-Awarding Institution. As to the Deputy
Chairman of the Board, appointed by the King in Council, this
practice started in 1960, when the prominent banker Gustaf
Söderlund was elected to the Board. In most cases, the
Executive Director has had a legal and administrative background.
As the Foundation's investment policy became more active from the
early 1950s onward, financial experience coupled with a knowledge
of international relations have been valuable assets for those
holding this position.
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| Arne Tiselius was Chairman of the Board
of the Nobel Foundation 1960-1964. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
An important landmark in the history of the Foundation occurred when it added Norwegian representation to the Board. In 1901, the Norwegians refrained from representation on the Board - being appointed by King Oscar at a time when Norway was moving toward a breakup of its union with Sweden was not considered an attractive idea - and they limited their involvement to work as Trustees and auditors. In light of this, it is interesting to note that Henrik Santesson, the first Executive Director of the Foundation, also happened to be the legal counsel of the Storting in Sweden. But in 1986, paragraph 14 of the Statutes was changed and the Board no longer had to consist of five Swedish citizens (the original Statutes had said Swedish men), but of six Swedish or Norwegian citizens. The Statutes were also changed in such a way that remuneration to the Board members and auditors of the Foundation, as well as the salary of the Executive Director, would be determined by the Foundation's Board instead of the Swedish Government.
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| King Oscar II of Sweden |
According to paragraph 17 of the original Statutes, the
administration of the Board and the accounts of the Foundation
for each calendar year were to be examined by five auditors. Each
prize-awarding body would elect one of these before the end of
the year and the King would designate one, who would be the
chairman of the auditors. In 1955 the number of auditors was
enlarged from five to six; the new auditor would be appointed by
the Trustees and had to be an authorized public accountant. This
was a very important change, in line with the Foundation's more
active financial investment policy.
Today the Government's only role in the Nobel Foundation
is to appoint one auditor, who is also to be the chairman of the
Foundation's auditors.
Among other changes that have occurred in the Statutes are the
following:
Until 1968, in principle more than three persons could share a
Nobel Prize, but this never occurred in practice. The previous
wording of paragraph 4 was: "A prize may be equally divided
between two works, each of which may be considered to merit a
prize. If a work which is to be rewarded has been produced by two
or more persons together, the prize shall be awarded to them
jointly." In 1968 this section was changed to read that "In no
case may a prize be divided between more than three
persons."
In 1974, the Statutes were changed in two respects. The
confidential archive material that formed the basis for the
evaluation and selection of candidates for the prizes, which was
previously closed to all outsiders, could now be made available
for purposes of historical research if at least 50 years had
elapsed since the decision in question. The other change
concerned deceased persons. Previously, a person could be awarded
a prize posthumously if he/she had already been nominated (before
February 1 of the same year), which was true of Erik Axel Karlfeldt
(Literature Prize, 1931) and Dag Hammarskjöld
(Peace Prize, 1961). Effective from 1974, the prize may only go
to a deceased person to whom it was already awarded (usually in
October) but who had died before he/she could receive the prize
on December 10 (William Vickrey, 1996
Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel).
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| Erik Axel Karlfeldt Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
Dag Hammarskjöld Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
William Vickrey Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
The main task of the Nobel Foundation is to
safeguard the financial base
of the Nobel Prizes and of the work connected to the selection of
the Nobel Laureates.
In its role as a financial manager, the Nobel Foundation
resembles an investment company. The investment policy of the
Foundation is naturally of the greatest importance in preserving
and increasing its funds, thereby ensuring the size of the Nobel
Prizes. The provisions of Alfred Nobel's will instructed his
executors to invest his remaining realizable estate, which would
constitute the capital of what eventually became the Nobel
Foundation, in "safe securities." In the original by-laws of the
Board, approved by the King in Council on February 15, 1901, the
expression "safe securities" was interpreted in the spirit of
that time as referring mainly to bonds or loans - Swedish as well
as foreign - paying fixed interest and backed by solid underlying
security (central or local government, property mortgages or the
like). In those days, many bonds were sold with a so-called gold
clause, stipulating that the holder was entitled to demand
payment in gold. The stock market and real estate holdings were
beyond the pale. Stocks in particular were regarded as an
excessively risky and speculative form of financial
investment.
The first 50 years of management came to be characterized by
rigidity in terms of financial investments and by an increasingly
onerous tax burden. Remarkably, the tax issue had not been
addressed when the Nobel Foundation was established. The
tax-exempt status that the executors of the will and others had
assumed as self-evident was not granted. Until 1914, the tax was
not excessively heavy, only 10 percent, but when a "temporary
defense tax" supplement was introduced in 1915, the Foundation's
tax burden doubled. In 1922, a maximum tax assessment was imposed
which exceeded the sum available for the prizes in 1923, the year
when the Nobel Prize amount
reached its absolute low point. For a long time, the Nobel
Foundation was the largest single taxpayer in Stockholm. The
question of granting tax-exempt status to the Foundation was
debated back and forth in the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) for
years.
In 1946, when the Foundation was finally exempted from national
income and wealth tax and local income tax, this allowed a
gradual long-term increase in the size of the Foundation's main
fund, the Nobel Prizes and the sums paid to the Prize-Awarding
Institutions for their adjudication work. Without Swedish
tax-exempt status, it would have been impossible for the
Foundation to receive equivalent tax relief for its financial
investments in the United States. In the event, a U.S. Treasury
ruling granted the Foundation tax-exempt status in that country
effective from 1953. Tax-exempt status created greater freedom of
action, enabling the Foundation to pursue an investment policy
not dominated by tax considerations that characterize the actions
of many investors.
However, the restrictions on the Foundation's freedom of
investments continued with minor changes until 1953, although the
gold clause and resulting protection against declining value had
disappeared as early as World War I. Because of two world wars
and the depression of the early 1930s, the prizes shrank in real
terms from SEK 150,000 in 1901 (equivalent to 20 times the annual
salary of a university professor) to a mere one third of this
value.
Then, in 1953, the Government approved a radical liberalization
of the investment rules. The Foundation was granted a more
extensive freedom to manage its capital independently, as well as
the opportunity to invest in stocks and real estate. Freedom of
investment, coupled with tax-exemption and the financial
expertise of the Board, led to a transformation from passive to
active management. This can be regarded as a landmark change in
the role of the Foundation's Board. During the 1960s and 1970s,
the value of the Nobel Prizes multiplied in Swedish krona terms
but rapid inflation meanwhile undermined their real value,
leaving each prize largely unchanged. The same was true of the
Foundation's capital.
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| Photo of the check received by Prof. J.
C. Kendrew, 1962 Nobel Chemistry Laureate. Nowadays, no
checks are given. The prize money is transferred by bank
according to the Laureate's wishes. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
During the 1980s, the Foundation experienced a change for the better. The stock market performed outstandingly and the Foundation's real estate also climbed in value. A sour note came in 1985, when Swedish real estate taxes rose sharply and profits consequently vanished. In 1987, the Board decided to transfer most of the Foundation's real estate to a separate company called Beväringen, which was then floated on the stock exchange. In the same year that Beväringen was established, the Nobel Foundation surpassed its original value in real terms (SEK 31 million in 1901 money) for the first time. The Foundation was fortunate enough to sell its entire holding in Beväringen before the real estate crash of the early 1990s.
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| The first Nobel Prize in 1901 amounted to SEK 150,000, equivalent to SEK 7.4 million in 2006 money. |
By 1991, the Foundation had restored the Nobel Prizes to their 1901 real value. Today the nominal fund capital of the Nobel Foundation is about SEK 3.6 billion. In 2006 each of the five Nobel Prizes as well as the Economics Prize was worth SEK 10 million (about USD 1.45 million). This is well above the nominal value of the entire original fund, and higher than the real value of the original prizes. Since January 1, 2000, the Nobel Foundation has also been permitted to apply the capital gains from the sale of assets toward the prize amounts. According to Alfred Nobel's will, only direct return - interest and dividends - could be used for the prize amounts. Capital gains from share management could not previously be used. According to the new rules, return that arises from the sale of Foundation assets may also be used for prize award events and overhead, to the extent that they are not needed to maintain a good long-term prize-awarding capacity. This change is necessary to avoid undermining the value of the Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Foundation may also decide how much of its assets may be invested in shares. In the long term, this may mean that the Foundation can now have a higher percentage of its assets invested in shares, leading to higher overall return and thus larger Nobel Prizes.
On the occasion of its 300th anniversary in 1968, the Sveriges Riksbank (Sweden's central bank) made a large donation to the Nobel Foundation. A Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded since 1969. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is entrusted with the role of Prize Awarding-Institution, in accordance with Nobel Prize rules. The Board of the Nobel Foundation has subsequently decided that it will allow no further new prizes.
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| The Economics Prize medal's front | ... and back. |
| Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
An important addition to the activities of the Nobel Foundation is its Symposium program, which was initiated in 1965 and has achieved a high international standing. Approximately 135 Nobel Symposia, dealing with topics at the frontiers of science and culture and related to the Prize categories, have taken place. In addition to these Nobel Symposia, six Nobel Jubilee Symposia were held in 1991 and six Nobel Centennial Symposia in 2001. Since 1982 the Nobel Symposia have been financed by the Foundation's Symposium Fund, created in 1982 through an initial donation from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, as well as through grants and royalties received by the Nobel Foundation as part of its informational activities.
Around the world, new international
scientific and cultural prizes have been established, directly
inspired by the Nobel Prize. For example, the Japan Prize and
Kyoto Prize - both financially in a class with the Nobel Prize -
were established in 1985 and their statutes directly refer to the
Nobel Prizes as a model and source of inspiration. Donations from
these and many other sources have reached the Foundation over the
years. Some of these donations are presented below.
In 1962 the Balzan Foundation, based in Switzerland and Italy,
gave its first prize of one million Swiss francs to the Nobel
Foundation for having awarded its Nobel Prizes for 60 years in an
exemplary way, thereby celebrating "l'oeuvre admirable
accomplie dans 60 années de travail."
In 1972, Georg von
Békésy, 1961 Nobel Laureate in physiology or
medicine, donated his exquisite collection of art objects to the
Nobel Foundation - some 150 objects from four continents (not
Australia). The collection is now deposited with various museums
in Stockholm, mainly the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities but
also the Museum of Medieval Stockholm, the Ethnographic Museum
and the National Museum.
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| Cover of The Georg von Békésy
Collection
published by the Nobel Foundation in 1974. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
Also in 1972 the Foundation received a donation from the Italian
marquis Luigi de Beaumont Bonelli, who bequeathed his two
wine-growing estates outside Taranto, southern Italy, to the
Nobel Foundation. The properties were worth SEK 4.5 million.
Their sale made possible the establishment of an annual
Beaumont-Bonelli fellowship to a promising young Italian medical
researcher.
The two Japanese prizes were mentioned above. On April 20, 1985,
the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan established the
Japan Prize. At the first award ceremony, a special prize of JPY
50 million was awarded to the Nobel Foundation "in recognition
of the role the Nobel Foundation has played since 1901 in
promoting science and international understanding." On
November 10, 1985, the Inamori Foundation in Kyoto awarded its
first Kyoto Prize of JPY 45 million to the Nobel Foundation
"with the aim of promoting science, technology and the arts in
the spirit of the Nobel Prize."
The Nobel Foundation is an "investment company" with rather unusual facets. Every year this investment company moves into show business by organizing the Nobel Festivities and numerous related arrangements that take place in December. The Nobel Foundation is responsible for organizing the Nobel Festivities in Stockholm, while in Norway the Norwegian Nobel Committee is in charge of the corresponding arrangements. On December 10, 1901, the Nobel Prizes were awarded for the first time in Stockholm and in Christiania (now Oslo) respectively.
The Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm took place at the Old Royal Academy of Music during the years 1901-1925. Parenthetically, it is worth mentioning that during the first years the names of the Nobel Laureates were not made public until the Award Ceremony itself.
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| The first Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at
the Old Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm (1901). Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
Since 1926, the Prize Award Ceremony has taken place at the Stockholm Concert Hall with few exceptions. In 1971 the venue was the Philadelphia Church and in 1972 the St. Erik International Fair (known today as Stockholm International Fairs) in Älvsjö, both times due to repairs at the Concert Hall. In 1975 the Ceremony again took place at the St. Erik International Fair and in 1991 at the Stockholm Globe Arena, now due to special commemorations of Nobel history that required large seating capacity. In 1975, it was the 75th anniversary of the Nobel Foundation that was being commemorated, while in 1991 the 90th anniversary of the first Nobel Prizes was the focus of the celebrations. In 1975 about 70 pre-1975 Nobel Laureates attended, and in 1991 approximately 130 pre-1991 Laureates. When the Foundation celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes in 2001, the number of pre-2001 Laureates in attendance was approximately 160.
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| Crown Prince Carl Gustaf of Sweden (now
King), hands over the 1972 Nobel Prize for Literature to Heinrich
Böll during the Prize Award Ceremony at the St.
Erik International Fair (known today as Stockholm
International Fairs) in Älvsjö. Copyright © Reportagebild |
When the Prize Award Ceremony returned to the Concert Hall in 1973 after an absence of two years, the whole stage setting had changed. The most significant change was that the King and Queen of Sweden and other members of the Royal Family, who had previously always sat in the front row of the auditorium, were moved up and seated on one side of the stage. The Laureates sat on the other side and members of the Prize-Awarding Institutions behind them. In 1973, Carl XVI Gustaf presented the Nobel Prizes for the first time as His Majesty the King of Sweden. Once before, in 1972, owing to the illness of his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf, he had presented the Prizes, but in the capacity of Crown Prince. The next change in the stage at the Concert Hall was in 1992. The stage design was now changed to resemble that of the first Prize Award Ceremony held at the Stockholm Concert Hall in 1926. As in 1926, the chairs on the stage were placed in an amphitheatrical grouping. An effort was made by various means to highlight the simplicity of the room and to emphasize the academic nature of the festivities.
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| Prize Award Ceremony at the Concert
Hall in 1926. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
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| Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at the Stockholm
Concert Hall in 1973. Copyright © Pressens Bild |
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| The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at the
Stockholm Globe Arena in 1991. Copyright © Pressens Bild |
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| The new stage at the Stockholm Concert Hall
in 1992. Copyright © Reportagebild |
Until the early 1930s, the Nobel Banquet took place at the Hall of Mirrors in the Grand Hôtel, Stockholm. In its very first years, 1901 and 1902, the banquet was an exclusive party for men only. Once the Stockholm City Hall had been built, in 1930 a decision was made to hold the Banquet in its fantastic Golden Hall this year and in the future. For some reason the Nobel Banquets of 1931 and 1932 took place at the Grand Hôtel again, but between 1933 and 1973 it was held in the Golden Hall. Over time, the character of the Banquets changed and interest in participating became greater and greater. Starting in 1974, due to the need for more space the Nobel Banquet was moved from the Golden Hall to the larger Blue Hall of the City Hall, which today accommodates some 1,300 guests. The Blue Hall had only been used for the Banquet once before, in 1950, when the Nobel Foundation celebrated its 50th anniversary with approximately 32 pre-1950 Laureates participating.
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| The Nobel Banquet at the Golden Hall of the Stockholm City Hall in 1973. |
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| The Nobel Banquet at the Blue Hall of the
Stockholm City Hall in 1998. Photo: Hans Pettersson |
There are always exceptions to the rules.
In 1907, there were no festivities in Stockholm because the Royal
Court was in mourning. King Oscar II had just died. The Laureates
were awarded their prizes at a ceremony at the auditorium of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. During 1914-1918 the Nobel
Festivities were called off in Sweden and in Norway, except for a
ceremony in 1917 at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in the presence
of King Haakon to announce that the International Red Cross
had been awarded the Peace Prize.
The first Nobel Prizes after the World War I - the 1919 prizes -
were awarded in June the next year in order to give the
Festivities an atmosphere of early Swedish summer with sunshine,
light and greenery instead of dark December with cold and wet
snow. The Ceremony took place on June 2, 1920 at the Royal
Academy of Music, with the subsequent Banquet at the Hasselbacken
restaurant near the Skansen outdoor museum. This was not a
success. No members of the Royal Family were present because of
the death of Crown Princess Margaretha. The weather was gray,
rainy and cold. As a result of disappointment at the absence of
the King, the bad weather and the questionable suitability of
Hasselbacken for banquets of this kind, the Nobel Festivities of
1920 reverted to earlier tradition and were held on December 10;
the Prize Award Ceremony - again attended by His Majesty the King
- at the Royal Academy of Music and the Nobel Banquet at the Hall
of Mirrors in the Grand Hôtel.
In 1924 the Nobel Festivities were cancelled in Stockholm.
Neither of the two Laureates could be present: the Laureate in
Physiology or Medicine was traveling and the Literature Laureate
was unwell. The Prizes in Physics and Chemistry were reserved
that year.
During the period 1939-1943, the Nobel Festivities were called
off. In 1939 only the Laureate in Literature, Frans Eemil
Sillanpää from Finland, received his Prize in
Stockholm at a small ceremony, with a subsequent dinner at the
restaurant "Den Gyldene Freden" together with the Permanent
Secretary of the Swedish Academy, Anders Österling. During
1940-1942 no Physics, Chemistry or Medicine Prizes were awarded,
during 1940-1943 no Literature Prizes, and during 1939-1943 no
Peace Prizes.
In 1944 there were no Festivities in Stockholm, but a luncheon
was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York organized by
the American Scandinavian Foundation. Some 1943 and 1944
Laureates received their Prizes from the Swedish Minister (chief
diplomat) in Washington, W. F. Boström; two Physics
Laureates - Otto
Stern (1943) and Isidor Isaac Rabi (1944)
- and four Laureates in Physiology or Medicine - Henrik Dam and Edward Doisy (1943),
and Joseph
Erlanger and Herbert S. Gasser
(1944). Speeches by Sweden's Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and by
Professor The Svedberg were broadcast on American radio the same
day. The 1943 Laureate in Chemistry, George de Hevesy,
received his Prize in Sweden without any ceremonies and the 1944
Literature Laureate, Johannes V. Jensen
from Denmark, received his Prize in Stockholm in 1945.
Just before and during the war, Adolf Hitler forbade Laureates
from Germany - Richard Kuhn
(Chemistry, 1938), Adolf Friedrich Johan
Butenandt (Chemistry, 1939) and Gerhard Domagk
(Physiology or Medicine, 1939) - from accepting their Prizes at
that time. However, they received their insignia on later
occasions.
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| Guests at the Nobel Dinner at the
Swedish Academy in 1956. Copyright © The Nobel Foundation |
In 1956, due to the crisis in Hungary, a smaller, more private
dinner at the Swedish Academy replaced the glittering banquet in
the City Hall, although the Prize Award Ceremony took place as
usual at the Concert Hall.
In Norway, during the years 1901-1904 the decision on the Peace Prize was announced at a meeting of the Storting on December 10, after which the recipients were informed in writing. On December 10, 1905, the Nobel Institute's new building at Drammensveien 19 was inaugurated in the presence of the Norwegian Royal Couple, and it was announced that Bertha von Suttner had received the 1905 Peace Prize. The Laureate herself was not present. During 1905-1946 the Prize Award Ceremonies were held at the Nobel Institute building, during 1947-1989 in the auditorium of the University of Oslo and since 1990 at the Oslo City Hall. The King of Norway is present, but it is the Chairman of the Nobel Committee who hands over the Prize to the Laureate or Laureates. The Nobel Banquet in Norway is a dignified formal occasion, but much less pretentious than the Banquet in Stockholm. It takes place at the Grand Hôtel in Oslo, with approximately 250 guests.
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| The Peace Prize Award Ceremony at the Oslo City Hall. |
In 1940, three members of the Storting's Nobel Committee were in exile due to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany, which lasted until 1945. The remaining members and deputies kept the work of the Committee going. Because the Storting could not elect new Committee members, the Nobel Foundation asked existing members to continue in their posts.
In January 1944, pro-Nazi Prime
Minister Vidkun Quisling and his administration wanted to take
over the functions of the Nobel Committee in Norway and seize
control of the Nobel Institute's building on Drammensveien. After
consultations with the Swedish Foreign Ministry and the Director
of the Nobel Institute, the Nobel Foundation declared that the
Nobel Institute was Swedish property. Those Committee members who
had remained in Norway stated in writing that under the
prevailing circumstances, they could not continue their work.
Sweden's consul general in Oslo, who had already moved into an
office on the Nobel Institute's premises, took over the
management of the building and the functions of the Nobel
Institute. In 1944-1945 the Nobel Foundation (Hammarskjöld
and Ekeberg) together with the members of the Nobel Committee in
exile ensured that nominations were submitted for the 1945 Peace
Prize.
After more than a hundred years of existence, the Nobel Prizes - as well as the centenarian Nobel Foundation - have become solid institutions, based on a great tradition since their beginning. The original criticisms aimed at the whole idea of the Nobel Prizes have faded into oblivion. Both in Sweden and in Norway, the awarding of the prizes is regarded as an event of national importance. The Nobel Foundation has now entered a new century, with museum and exhibition projects, while being able to look back at its past successes in many fields.
Centennial Exhibition of the Nobel Prize »
Eyewitness Reports from the Nobel Festivities »
Translated by Victor Kayfetz
*Birgitta Lemmel was Head of Information of the Nobel Foundation in 1986-1996.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2000
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