360The first Nobel Prizes are awarded
On 10 December 1901, five years after the death of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, as his will had asked. Wilhelm Röntgen won physics for discovering X-rays. Prizes also went to chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. They are still presented every year on 10 December.
Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist who invented dynamite, died in 1896. In his will, he left most of his fortune to fund prizes for those who had brought 'the greatest benefit to humankind'.
He named five fields: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. The Nobel Foundation was set up in 1900 to manage the money.
The first prizes were presented on 10 December 1901, the anniversary of Nobel's death. Wilhelm Röntgen of Germany won the physics prize for discovering X-rays. Jacobus van 't Hoff of the Netherlands won chemistry, and Emil von Behring of Germany won medicine for his work on a treatment for diphtheria.
The French poet Sully Prudhomme won literature. The peace prize, awarded in Norway, was shared by Henri Dunant, a founder of the Red Cross, and Frédéric Passy, a campaigner for international arbitration.
A prize in economic sciences was added in 1968. The prizes remain among the world's best-known honours and are still presented each year on 10 December.
- 1895
- Nobel signs his will
- 1896
- Alfred Nobel dies
- 10 December 1901
- The first prizes are awarded
- 1968
- The economics prize is created
Sources: NobelPrize.org · Britannica.