Do the Nobel Prizes Still Make Sense in the 21st Century?

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The Nobel Prizes reward the greatest accomplishments of the human race. Right? Then why haven't they changed much in 100+ years? Do they really represent how science is done? And why so few women?

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Thumbnail art via catwalker/Shutterstock

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[MyKoAB]

As a mathematician, I'd be quite happy for there to not be a Nobel prize for mathematics. The Fields Medal has been around for almost as long as the Nobel Prize and even if a Nobel Prize in Mathematics were introduced, the Fields Medal would still be much more prestigious amongst mathematicians, if a little unnoticed by the rest of the world.

For the Nobel Prizes to change and award one for mathematics would seem, to me, like they were glory hunting in a way. Such as when a sports fan switches which team they support part way through the season because they're not playing so well.

[SirCharles]

The prize is still important. It highlights our endeavors in pursuing and applying science to expand and improve our lives. 1. They need to expand the categories. 2. They need to develop a way to reward the teams behind stars. Something like Nobel rings.

[theldraspneumonoultramicro]

creativity: steal others technology and slap my name on it and sue them if they say otherwise. -Steve Jobbs

[codyburley]

Nikola Tesla was a lone genius who was discredited by Thomas Edison.

[thedoritosspacedude]

Alfred Nobel: physics, chemistry literature, medicine, peace.
Economy: Let me introduce my self.

[STPell]

Doesn't computer science have the Turing award?
So does it really need Nobel prize category?

[JoaoFerreira-fxxp]

I think they're relevant, but like you said, they should get up with the times. Theres should be more categories. For instance, I'm a Psychology student right now, and i'll be studying and working in Cognitive Neuroscience for the rest of my life. I would love to see the great authors of my área win na award if they make na important discovery

[willbergie]

Would someone please explain to me why Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Pride?

[idathomsson]

As a Swedish person, the Noble prise is the only Swedish tradition I truly like so I say we keep it. We just need to make a few changes to it

[ManfredDudesonVonGuy]

There already is a "Nobel" for mathematics. It's called the Fields Medal. It even comes with its own solid gold medal and cash prize. Theyre not annual, so theyre usually well deserved. Like the one they tried to give to Perelman for the Poincare Conjecture.

[TwoBitColorPencil]

Very interesting video, it made me remember of Jacinto Convit, a Venezuelan physician and scientist who developed the anti-leprosy vaccine. The guy's amazing, he's 100 right now and he's currently working on a cure for different types of cancer.

And he didn't win the noble prize, though he was nominated.

[nateanara]

every research leans on giant shoulder now, i think there's no such a lone genius without inspired by another genius

[martinAcoustics]

If LIterature deserves a Nobel prize, why not Music also? This would inspire musicians to actually start making music of very very high value + Hanz Zimmer would win one like every year hehe

[rodrigovinicius]

As a biologist, it's very satisfying to see some great names of our field (like Ernst Mayr, E.O. Wilson, Carl Woese and J. Maynard Smith) being laureated by the Swedish Academy (I'm talking about the Crafoord Prize)

[besmart]

Perhaps in the early 20th century that could be true, but I don't think many working scientists today would tell you that's how science is done. Science progresses through the remixing of previous ideas and self-corrects through collaboration and cooperation. Is the "lone thinker" idea just a historical fiction?

[Anits]

Allan Powell Goffe, Henry Thomas Sampson Jr., Patricia E. Bath, Jewel Plummer Cobb, Bettye Greene, Percy Julian, Ernest Just, Henry Aaron Hill, Marie Maynard Daly, William Hinton, Warren Henry, and so many more amazing and deserving scientists of African decent.

[markarmage]

All of these awards are actually quite meaningless when you really, really, really think about it. They might play a role in promoting science but using them as measurement of "scientific greatness" is quite shallow.
Because they somehow assume that scientific work, in any kind of science is a conducted totally by certain individuals and such individuals deserve all of the credit. Which are totally not how science works, it doesn't work like that now and it has never worked like that in the past. All achievements now are built on the foundation of the past, every scientist is just adding a new layer on the quest of mankind for knowledge. One layer is as crucial as another layer, missing one layer and the structure shall collapse.

[Chatmartin]

Best video so far, not that I don't love the others.

Beautifully rounded conclusion at the end.

I love learning this way, keep up the hard work please. You should be very proud of it.

[danheidel]

Great video - IMO, the Nobel prizes have become like the Oscars - more to do with the politics of the establishment than actually rewarding true talent.

Also - thanks for the callout on Watson. Never met the man but I've not heard many good things about him. I'll just paraphrase a quote I heard from Monod many years ago about Watson and Crick, "Never before have people perceived such great shadows from such midgets."

[noble_experiment]

Also science is getting more and more collaborative so it’d be hard to just award one or 3