The Nobel dilemma: to reward scientific discovery or benefit to mankind?

Alfred Nobel was born in Stockholm, invented and patented Dynamite and was a rich man when he died in 1896. His will stipulated that his fortune should fund annual awards for the most important discoveries in chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and, subsequently, economics. The prize in physiology or medicine is the best known, the winner or winners being chosen by the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. Alfred Nobel’s will stipulated that prizes should be awarded ‘to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind.’1 It also specified that one of the prizes should go to ‘the person who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or medicine’. The selection process for the prize in physiology or medicine is extremely rigorous but not perfect.2 For example, its award in 1949 to Egas Moniz for inventing leucotomy to treat psychotic disorders has been heavily criticized because of the operation’s disastrous side effects. In contrast, Oswald Avery’s discovery in 1944 of DNA as the carrier of heredity was a major achievement, yet despite being nominated 46 times, he died without being awarded the Nobel prize.2 The latter cannot be awarded posthumously. Some of the scientists and …