The History of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

by

Nils Hansson

• LAST MODIFIED: 17 April 2025
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780197768723-0001

Introduction

It is still an open research question why no other scientific award attracts as much attention around the globe as the Nobel Prize. Commentators put forward that the unparalleled status might depend on the prize sum and the media interest. This article highlights substantial overviews that are available in books, articles, and anthologies on the Nobel Prizes in general and on the prize category “physiology or medicine” in particular. The Swedish inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel (b. 1833–d. 1896) stipulated in his will (1895) to establish five prizes in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace to be given to “those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.” For the award in the domain of physiology or medicine, Nobel emphasized that a prizewinning work should be a “discovery,” or in the fields of physics and chemistry, it could also be an “improvement” or an “invention.” The first Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded in 1901 to the German immunologist Emil von Behring “for his work on serum therapy, especially its application against diphtheria, by which he has opened a new road in the domain of medical science and thereby placed in the hands of the physician a victorious weapon against illness and deaths.” The laureate selection process has barely changed since its inception. There are three main steps. First, scholars are invited to submit nominations (self-nominations are not allowed). Some researchers are eligible nominators every year, such as previous Nobel laureates and Nobel Assembly members. The Assembly consists of fifty voting members, all of them professors in medicine at the Karolinska Institute. The Assembly also selects the Nobel Committee with its working body. Second, the committee asks experts to evaluate the nominees. These reports are then discussed within the committee, which submits its recommendation(s) to the Assembly. Finally, the Assembly selects the laureate(s) by a majority vote. The laureates are announced during the first week of October each year. The prize ceremony, where the laureates receive the prize sum of 11 million SEK (2023) per prize category (approximately $1 million US dollars), a medal and a diploma, takes place in Stockholm on 10 December. Since 1901, 115 Nobel Prizes in physiology or medicine have been awarded to 227 laureates. A closer look at the list of the laureates reveals minorities of the “Nobel population”: for example, to date, less than 10 percent of the laureates in this prize category were female scientists, and nearly all the recipients carried out their work in Europe or North America.

General Overviews

Since the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine is widely regarded as the most prestigious award in medicine worldwide, it is not surprising that scholars have analyzed it to investigate mechanisms of scientific recognition. The publications presented here range from contributions about the laureates to the selection process behind the scenes, the public understanding of the award, and controversies. The first comprehensive chapter about the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Liljestrand 1950, was written by the scientific secretary of the Nobel Committee, Göran Liljestrand. Liljestrand and other authors who were members of Nobel Committees have on the one hand valuable inside perspectives, but some have, on the other hand, a tendency to produce descriptive works that celebrate the laureates (and their own judgement). Yet during the last decades, historians of the Nobel Prize have paid more attention to the political, social, and economic contexts and to the role of race and gender, thus reflecting the contentious negotiations about scientific recognition. The Nobel Prize committees are among the few juries of major awards that allow research in the prize archives after an embargo of fifty years or more. Since the 1970s, when historians were first granted access to the archives of the various Nobel committees, scholars started to explore the mechanisms of scientific reputation behind the scenes through archive studies and interviews. Friedman 2001 provides an in-depth study of the Nobel Committee dynamics during the first fifty years in physics and chemistry. Based on interviews with US Nobel laureates, Zuckerman 1977 remains a classic book about this scientific ultra-elite. For the Nobel Prize in literature, Espmark 1991 reconstructs the committee negotiations over several decades. Regarding the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, Lagerkvist 2003 takes a closer look at early laureates in the field of microbiology, Bartholomew 2010 analyzes geographical minorities, and Crawford 2000 and Crawford 2002 examine political factors surrounding some laureates. Norrby 2013 explores specific prize years, and Levinovitz and Ringertz 2001 makes an effort to summarize the 20th-century prize history.

• Bartholomew, James R. “How to Join the Scientific Mainstream: East Asian Scientists and Nobel Prizes.” East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine 31 (2010): 25–43.

  DOI: 10.1163/26669323-03101004

  Sheds light on East Asian nominees for the Nobel Prize, who have not received much attention in this context.

• Crawford, Elisabeth. “German Scientists and Hitler’s Vendetta against the Nobel Prizes.” Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 31 (2000): 37–53.

  DOI: 10.2307/27757845

  A seminal paper that has inspired other historians to research links and tensions between the Nobel Prize and politics, particularly the Nazi connections. Elisabeth Crawford has been described as the doyenne of Nobel archive studies.

• Crawford, Elisabeth, ed. Historical Studies in the Nobel Archives: The Prizes in Science and Medicine. Tokyo: Universal Academy Press, 2002.

  One of the first volumes in which professional historians outline research topics connected to the award. It contains three case studies about candidates for the physics and chemistry prize, and three chapters about the prize in physiology or medicine.

• Espmark, Kjell. The Nobel Prize in Literature: A Study of the Criteria Behind the Choices. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1991.

  This book, written by an experienced Nobel Committee member for the Nobel Prize in Literature, provides a succinct account of the decision-making trends for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

• Friedman, Robert Marc. The Politics of Excellence: Behind the Nobel Prize in Science. New York: Times Books, 2001.

  A wide-ranging introduction to the prize dynamics for the chemistry and physics prize for the first half of the 20th century. Informed by Nobel archive files, it shows how single members can influence the committee decisions over a long period of time (e.g., Svante Arrhenius played a key-role in the committee negotiations for the physics prize).

• Lagerkvist, Ulf. Pioneers of Microbiology and the Nobel Prize. River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 2003.

  DOI: 10.1142/5161

  Insightful studies about the Nobel laureates Behring, Koch, Ehrlich, and Metchnikoff.

• Levinovitz, Agneta Wallin, and Nils Ringertz, eds. The Nobel Prize: The First 100 years. River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 2001.

  Chronicles the history of the Nobel Foundation and explains the procedure for nominating and selecting Nobel Laureates.

• Liljestrand, Göran. “The Prize in Physiology or Medicine.” In Nobel—The Man and His Prizes. Edited by H. Schück, R. Sohlman, A. Österling, G. Liljestrand, A. Westgren, M. Siegbahn, A. Schou, and N. K. Ståhle, 131–342. Stockholm: Sohlmans Förlag, 1950/1962.

  The first in-depth historical study about the history of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. It is written by the influential secretary of the Nobel Committee Göran Liljestrand who held this office for four decades.

• Norrby, Erling. Nobel Prizes and Nature’s Surprises. River Edge, NJ: World Scientific, 2013.

  DOI: 10.1142/8881

  Drawing on the original sources of the Nobel Committee, the former Nobel Committee member Norrby reviews prizes in the field of immunology. The author has also written several other monographs on the Nobel Prize.

• Zuckerman, Harriet. Scientific Elite: Nobel Laureates in the United States. London: Macmillan, 1977.

  Zuckerman’s important book, based on interviews with laureates, is the most comprehensive analysis of US Nobel laureates to date.