Quick answer: Forty questions and answers on the Nobel Prize, sorted into the basics, the people, the records and the strange bits. Short version: no maths prize, no posthumous awards, a maximum of three winners, and one very famous case of gold dissolved in acid.
Nobel week runs from 5 to 12 October 2026, which makes this an unusually good time to have these on hand.
The basics
1. Who created the Nobel Prize?
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who invented dynamite, in his will of 1895.
2. What prompted him?
A French newspaper mistakenly published his obituary in 1888 and called him a merchant of death.
3. When were the first prizes awarded?
10 December 1901, five years after his death.
4. Why 10 December?
It is the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.
5. What were the five original categories?
Physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace.
6. Which prize is not in Nobel's will?
Economic sciences, created and funded by Sweden's central bank in 1968 and first awarded in 1969.
7. Where is the Peace Prize awarded?
Oslo, by a committee appointed by the Norwegian parliament. All others are awarded in Stockholm.
8. How much is a full prize worth today?
11 million Swedish kronor, roughly one million euros.
9. How many people can share one prize?
Three, maximum.
10. Can it be awarded posthumously?
Not since 1974, unless the laureate dies between the announcement and the ceremony.
11. How long are nominations kept secret?
50 years.
12. Can you nominate yourself?
No, it disqualifies you.
The people
13. Who is the youngest laureate?
Malala Yousafzai, 17, Peace Prize 2014.
14. Who is the oldest?
John B. Goodenough, 97, chemistry 2019, for the lithium-ion battery.
15. Who is the only person to win in two different sciences?
Marie Curie, physics in 1903 and chemistry in 1911.
16. Who won two unshared prizes?
Linus Pauling, chemistry 1954 and peace 1962.
17. Who won two physics prizes?
John Bardeen, in 1956 for the transistor and 1972 for superconductivity.
18. Who won two chemistry prizes?
Frederick Sanger, in 1958 and 1980.
19. How many Nobel Prizes are associated with the Curie family?
Five, across two generations and two sons-in-law.
20. What did Einstein actually win for?
The photoelectric effect, in the 1921 physics prize. Not relativity.
21. Who refused the literature prize?
Jean-Paul Sartre, in 1964.
22. Who refused the Peace Prize?
Le Duc Tho, in 1973, because the Vietnam War had not ended.
23. Who was forced to renounce his prize?
Boris Pasternak, in 1958, under Soviet pressure. His son collected the medal in 1989.
24. Which organisation has won the Peace Prize three times?
The International Committee of the Red Cross, in 1917, 1944 and 1963.
25. Which father and son shared a prize in the same year?
William and Lawrence Bragg, physics 1915.
Records and oddities
26. Whose medals were dissolved in acid?
Max von Laue's and James Franck's, hidden in aqua regia by George de Hevesy in 1940 and recast after the war.
27. What are the medals made of?
18-carat green gold plated with 24-carat gold, since 1980. Earlier medals were 23-carat gold.
28. Why is there no maths prize?
Nobel's will funded practical benefit to humanity, and pure mathematics did not fit. The love-rival story is false, since he never married.
29. What is the closest equivalent for mathematicians?
The Fields Medal, awarded every four years to mathematicians under 40.
30. Has any prize been revoked?
Never. The statutes provide no mechanism for it.
31. Which prize was awarded for the lobotomy?
Medicine, 1949, to António Egas Moniz. It still stands.
32. Which year had no literature prize because of a scandal?
2018. Two prizes were awarded in 2019 instead.
33. Who was nominated five times for peace and never won?
Mahatma Gandhi. In 1948, the year of his assassination, no Peace Prize was awarded.
34. Which element is named after a physicist who was passed over?
Meitnerium, element 109, after Lise Meitner.
35. Which laureate donated his entire prize to a movement?
Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his 1964 Peace Prize money to the civil rights movement.
36. Whose prize money went to his ex-wife?
Einstein's, under the terms of his divorce settlement with Mileva Marić.
37. What must every laureate do to receive the money?
Deliver a Nobel lecture, normally within six months of the award.
Nobel week 2026
38. When are the 2026 prizes announced?
From 5 to 12 October 2026.
39. Which prize is announced first?
Physiology or medicine, on Monday 5 October.
40. Which is announced last?
Economic sciences, on Monday 12 October, after the weekend.
Where these come from
Questions 26 to 32 are covered lesson by lesson in the free course Hidden Secrets of the Nobel Prize, which runs in your browser on our Nobel Prize week 2026 page along with three others.
For the long-form versions, read the history of the Nobel Prize, how the Nobel Prize works, famous Nobel Prize winners and Nobel Prize snubs and controversies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the youngest Nobel Prize winner?
Malala Yousafzai, 17 when she shared the 2014 Peace Prize. The youngest science laureate is Lawrence Bragg, 25 when he shared the 1915 physics prize with his father William, the only parent and child to win together in the same year.
Who is the oldest Nobel Prize winner?
John B. Goodenough, who was 97 when he shared the 2019 chemistry prize for the lithium-ion battery. He died in 2023 at the age of 100.
Whose Nobel medals were dissolved in acid?
Max von Laue's and James Franck's. The chemist George de Hevesy dissolved them in aqua regia at Niels Bohr's institute in Copenhagen in 1940 to stop the occupying Germans from finding them, since sending gold out of Nazi Germany was illegal. The solution sat on a shelf through the war, the gold was recovered afterwards, and the medals were recast.
Why is there no Nobel Prize for mathematics?
Alfred Nobel's will endowed prizes for work of practical benefit to humanity, and pure mathematics did not fit that intention. The persistent story about a romantic rivalry with a mathematician cannot be true, since Nobel never married. The Fields Medal, first awarded in 1936, is the closest equivalent.
How many women have won Nobel Prizes?
Around 65 women have been awarded Nobel Prizes since 1901, out of more than 1,000 laureates. Marie Curie was the first, in 1903, and the only one to win twice. The Peace and Literature prizes account for a large share of the total, while physics has fewer than ten.
Has a father and son ever won Nobel Prizes?
Several times. The Braggs shared the 1915 physics prize together. Niels Bohr won in 1922 and his son Aage in 1975. Hans von Euler-Chelpin won in 1929 and his son Ulf von Euler in 1970. The Curie family holds five prizes across two generations.
📚 Keep Learning
Ready to Level Up?
Turn your screen time into knowledge. Download NerdSip and start learning in just 5 minutes a day.
