Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners

The story of the winners of the world's most prestigious prize, now updated to include the 2009 recipients.

The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive. The Prize is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and the award ceremonies receive extensive media coverage. The awards are often politically controversial, and many winners use their acceptance speech to further favorite causes.

Along with background information, the book provides a look at the 200 most famous and most interesting Nobel winners. The profiles are arranged by prize and by year. A photo or illustration appears with each profiled Laureate. Other illustrations help to explain complex subjects in science and make it easier for the reader to appreciate the accomplishments for which the prize has been awarded.

A number of fascinating facts emerge from this lively account. For example, only 40
of the 829 Nobel Laureates have been women, among them Marie Curie, who won twice. Linus Pauling is the only person to have been awarded two Nobel Prizes in different categories, the 1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the 1962 Nobel Peace Prize. The youngest Laureate is Lawrence Bragg, who was 25 years old when he received the Nobel Prize in Physics with his father in 1915. The oldest is Leonid Hurwicz, who was 90 years old when he received the 2007 Economics Prize. Two Laureates have declined the Nobel Prize: Jean-Paul Sartre, and Le Duc Tho. Other famous names include Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, Albert Schweitzer, James Watson and Francis Crick, Paul Krugman, Charles Kao, Elizabeth Blackburn and Barack Obama.

Nobel: A Century of Prize Winners is sure to find a readership among the millions who follow the awards each year and want to understand more about the most important prize in the world.

A look at the achievement of 200 of the most famous, important or interesting Nobel prize winners of the 20th century -- arranged chronologically and illustrated by a portrait and in some cases explanatory diagrams. An appendix lists all winners.

James Langan - Library Journal

The Nobel Prize is one of the most prestigious international awards given. Since its inception in 1901, the various Nobel Prize committees have awarded over 200 prizes. This one-volume tome by Worek, who is also the author of Firefly's An American History Album: The Story of the United States Told Through Stamps(2008), lists the people and organizations that have received the award for their achievements in the fields of peace, physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and (after 1968) economics. The book begins with a biography, three and a half pages long, of Alfred Nobel. Information about the various Nobel Prize committees and the prizes is also included. Chapters are arranged chronologically by decade, while entries in each chapter are arranged by year. Particularly notable prize recipients in each year are given a more detailed examination. Usually one to two pages long, the entries are made up of a brief biography, a photograph, and an explanation of how the person's work has influenced the world. Many discussing medical or scientific achievements have illustrations showing their application. Colored edges at the bottom of each page show the year and the award category, and each chapter ends with a chronological listing of winners for that decade, the location and date of their birth and death, and the award received. Because some recipients are mentioned more than once, an index at the back simplifies finding people by name.

Michael Worek is an editor and publisher with a background in international history.