Nobel Prize money raised to $110,000

Srishti Chhaya

26th September 2020

The Times of India reported that as the costs and capital are in stable relation, prize money of the Nobel Prize has been raised. The winners of the prestigious award will receive an extra one million kronor ($110,000 or ₹8,10,914) as reported by the Nobel Foundation.

The Nobel Prize Medal with the face of Alfred Nobel (Source: cen.acs.org)

The Stockholm newspaper ‘Dagens Industri’ reported that the Nobel Prize is now ₹8,21,07,257. The completely different way of stability that was never witnessed previously, as conveyed by Lars Heikensten, the Head of the Nobel Prize Foundation, was the prime reason for this decision.

The Nobel Prize has not always been the same, seeing an increase or decrease in its amount from time to time. With ₹12,31,834 (hundred-fifty thousand kronor) as a start — awarded to Henry Dunant and Frederic Passy — to ₹8,21,07,257 (ten million kronor) today. With its variations over time, it reached one million kronor in 1981, when Roger W. Sperry shared the award with David H. Hubel and Torsten N.

During the years of Alva Myrdal, Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu, Nelson Mandela, among others (the 1980s and 1990s) the value rose sharply. It jumped to ₹7,39,10,045 (nine million kronor) in 2000, reaching ₹8,21,07,257 (ten million kronor) in 2001, the same as its value at the present day.

The Nobel Foundation awards the Nobel Prize in six categories each year. These are — Peace, Medicine, Literature, Physiology, Chemistry, and Physics. The cut in the prize money was made in 2012 to ₹6,56,97,818 (eight million kronor) due to inability to cope with economic instability as overhead expenses, and prize money outran investment returns. Before this, the Nobel Prize money was lowered in 1949, but it increased gradually in the years that followed. After 2012, the Nobel Prize increased to ₹7,39,10,045 (nine million kronor) in 2017.

The Nobel Foundation was based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of the dynamite. Founded on 29th June 1900, it manages the finances and administrations of the Nobel Prizes. Since 1901, ₹25,45,87,675 (thirty-one million kronor) have been awarded. This amount was left to fund the prizes, according to the Nobel Foundation.

The Global Credit Crunch that happened in 2008-09 led to falls in bank-lending due to shortage of liquidity which hit the Nobel Foundation and its investments terribly. A former Central Bank Chief, Heikensten, was responsible for getting the finances, investments and the whole foundation left by Alfred Nobel in proper order, to continue with the last will of the dynamite inventor.

As of this year, the Nobel Prize winners will receive ₹8,21,07,257 (ten million kronor). Heikensten, who is stepping down this year, will be replaced by Vidar Helgesen — former Norwegian Foreign Minister, reported Times of India. Helgesen said that the Nobel Foundation would continue to raise the Nobel Prize amount ‘from time to time’.

(Source: Times of India, The Local Sweden, nobelprize.org)

Edited by Meghna Venkatesh