Nobel Foundation cancels live prize ceremony, will hand out medals in televised event

The laureates will receive their prize either at a Swedish embassy or the institution where they work.

AP
The prizes, due to be announced next month, will instead be handed out during a televised ceremony in December with laureates receiving their awards in their own countries.
STOCKHOLM: The winners of this year's Nobel Prizes will not get their medals and diplomas presented to them at Stockholm's concert hall as usual due to the coronavirus pandemic, the award organisers said on Tuesday.

The prizes, due to be announced next month, will instead be handed out during a televised ceremony in December with laureates receiving their awards in their own countries.

The Nobel Foundation had already cancelled the glittering banquet which marks the end of the annual festivities in December. It was the first time since 1956 that the banquet had been cancelled.


"We had decided already in spring that we would not have a traditional prize ceremony," Nobel Foundation Chairman Lars Heikensten told news agency TT. "But we wanted to wait over summer to see what would happen before we communicated that."

He said that each laureate would receive their prize either at a Swedish embassy or the institution where they work.

The ceremony for the high-profile Peace Prize takes place in Oslo as it is chosen by a Norwegian committee.
ADVERTISEMENT

The prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were created and funded in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901.

More than 5,850 people in Sweden have died in the COVID-19 pandemic, far more in relation to the size of its population than in the rest of the Nordic region, though less than countries such as Britain and Spain.

Made In Heaven: Abhijit Banerjee & Esther Duflo Aren't Alone; Other Couples Who Won Nobel
1/6

Marriages are made in heaven, but some partnerships are formed in the laboratory. Last week, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo became the sixth married couple to get the Nobel Prize. Here are the others:
(Image: AFP)

Marriages are made in heaven, but some partnerships are formed in the laboratory. Last week, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo became the sixth married couple to get the Nobel Prize. Here are the oth..
Read More
Marie and Pierre Curie
Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903

In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Professor Henri Becquerel. The duo was awarded for their joint research on the phenomenon of radiation. Their work laid the foundation for the modern-day applications of nuclear science, which range from power generation to medicine. Five years after her husband was killed in a road accident involving a horse-drawn carriage, Marie Curie won a second Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for discovering the elements radium and polonium. Curie’s efforts at isolating these radioactive elements in her lab came at great personal cost. She died in 1934 of aplastic anaemia, believed to be caused by prolonged exposure to radiation.

(Image: Nobel Foundation archive)
Marie and Pierre Curie Nobel Prize in Physics, 1903 In 1903, Marie and Pierre Curie shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Professor Henri Becquerel. The duo was awarded for their joint research on ..
Read More
Irène Curie and Frédéric Joliot
Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1935

Irène Curie, the eldest daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot. Upon graduation, Irène started working at the Radium Institute founded by her parents in Paris. In 1924, when Joliot came to work at the institute as Marie Curie’s assistant, it was Irène who showed him the ropes. They got married in 1926. Their research on the projection of nuclei led to the discovery of subatomic particles like the neutron and positron. They were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1935 for discovering artificial radioactivity.

(Image: Nobel Foundation archive)
Irène Curie and Frédéric Joliot Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1935 Irène Curie, the eldest daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with her husband Frédéric Joliot. U..
Read More
Gerty and Carl Cori
Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1947

Carl Cori completed medical school in 1920, having served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. He married his classmate Gerty Theresa Cori née Radnitz, who hailed from a Jewish family in Prague. The couple emigrated from Vienna to Buffalo, New York, in 1922 on account of the deteriorating political condition in Europe. In 1947, after nearly three decades of working together, they were awarded the Nobel for their discovery of the mechanism by which glycogen, a derivate of glucose, is broken down in muscle tissues. “Our collaboration began 30 years ago when we were still medical students at the University of Prague and has continued ever since. Our efforts have been largely complementary, and one without the other would not have gone as far as in combination,” Carl Cori said in his Nobel acceptance speech.

(Image: Nobel Foundation archive)
Gerty and Carl Cori Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1947 Carl Cori completed medical school in 1920, having served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War. He married his classmate Gerty Th..
Read More
Alva and Gunnar Myrdals
Nobel Prize in Economics (1974), Peace (1982)

The Myrdals are the only couple to be felicitated with the Nobel Prize in two separate disciplines. They were social scientists whose work concerned welfare economics and the role families play in shaping communities in the post-war world. Gunnar was jointly awarded the Economics Prize in 1974 for his research correlating politics with socioeconomic outcomes. Alva, a sociologist who dipped her feet in Swedish politics, was a staunch proponent of the disarmament movement. She won the Peace Prize in 1982 — at the height of the Cold War — for her efforts in creating a consensus against nuclear proliferation.

(Image: KW Gullers/Nordiska museet via Nobel Foundation archive)
Alva and Gunnar Myrdals Nobel Prize in Economics (1974), Peace (1982) The Myrdals are the only couple to be felicitated with the Nobel Prize in two separate disciplines. They were social scientists ..
Read More
May-Britt and Edvard Moser
Nobel Prize in Medicine, 2014

The Norwegian couple were awarded the 2014 Medicine Prize for their discovery of human beings’ ‘inner GPS’ – cells that constitute a native positioning system in the brain. This type of cell is located near the hippocampus, an area located at the centre of the brain. Experimental research founded that when a rat was let loose in a hexagonal grid arranged in space, certain nerve cells that formed a coordinate system for navigation were mapped. The Mosers’ work helped explain why Alzheimer’s patients are incapable of recognising their surroundings, contributing to advancement in treatment focused on targeted treatment of the affected ce

(Image: Nobel Foundation archive)
May-Britt and Edvard Moser Nobel Prize in Medicine, 2014 The Norwegian couple were awarded the 2014 Medicine Prize for their discovery of human beings’ ‘inner GPS’ – cells that constitute a native p..
Read More

Download
The Economic Times Business News App
for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
READ MORE
ADVERTISEMENT

READ MORE:

LOGIN & CLAIM

50 TIMESPOINTS

More from our Partners

Loading next story
Business News › Magazines › Panache › Nobel Foundation cancels live prize ceremony, will hand out medals in televised event
Text Size:AAA
Success
This article has been saved

*

+