Next week’s Nobel Prize announcements will crown achievements that have made the world a better place, offering a glimmer of optimism amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, war in Ukraine, famine in Sudan and a collapsing climate.
Award winners will be announced between October 7 and 14.
For the most prestigious of the six Nobel Peace Prizes, experts say it is more difficult than ever to predict the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s choice, which will be revealed on October 11.
Swedish philanthropist Alfred Nobel created the prizes in his 1895 will, stating that they would be awarded to those who “have conferred the greatest benefit to mankind”.
But given the dismal state of world affairs, perhaps no one should receive a peace prize this year, suggested Dan Smith, head of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
“Maybe it’s time to say, ‘Yes, a lot of people are working very hard, but it’s not getting there and we need more people and world leaders to wake up and realize that we are a Are in a very dangerous situation,'” he said. ,
“We now have more than 50 armed conflicts around the world. The lethality of those armed conflicts has increased dramatically over the last two decades,” he said.
‘A worthy candidate’
Not awarding the Peace Prize would be viewed by the prize committee as an admission of failure, and would therefore be considered unlikely.
“I am confident that there will be a worthy candidate for the peace prize this year too,” committee secretary Olav Njølstedt told AFP.
Last year, the award was given to imprisoned Iranian activist Nargess Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran.
It may be noted that a total of 286 nominations have been submitted for the Peace Prize this year, although the committee keeps the names sealed for 50 years.
However, those entitled to nominate are allowed to state their preferences.
Notables on the list also include some actors from the Middle East, such as the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA; Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq; Its Israeli counterpart B’Tselem and the International Court of Justice.
Given the existential threats to humanity posed by weapons systems operating autonomously without human control, many Nobel-watchers have cited the campaign to stop killer robots as a potential prize winner.
Every year there is frenzied speculation about the Nobel Prize for Literature, to be announced on October 10.
Many pundits believe Chinese author Can Zou will be the Swedish Academy’s choice this year – and she has the lowest chances on many betting sites.
An avant-garde fiction writer often compared to Kafka, his experimental style oscillates between utopia and dystopia and transforms the mundane into the surreal.
“I think it would be a woman from some language area outside Europe,” Björn Wiman, culture editor of Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, told AFP.
The last Chinese writer to win was Mo Yan in 2012.
Surprising name for literature?
With no public shortlist, it is always difficult to predict which way the 18-member Swedish Academy will lean.
Among the names making waves in Stockholm’s literary circles are Australian novelist Gerald Murnane, Britain’s Salman Rushdie, Antiguan-American writer Jamaica Kincaid, Canadian poet Anne Carson, Hungary’s László Krasznahorkai, Romania’s Mircea Cartwright, Kenya’s Nguyễn Wa Thiong’o and Japan. Haruki Murakami of.
Last year, Norwegian playwright John Fosse received the honour.
The Academy often highlights relatively unknown writers.
Wyman said, “I think they’ve tried very hard to find a writer who can catch culture commentators with their pants down.”
The Nobel season begins on Monday with prizes in physiology or medicine.
Analytics group Clarivate, which tracks potential science prize winners, speculated that the prize could be awarded for research on the genetics of lipid metabolism, which has led to new drugs to treat cardiovascular diseases.
Another candidate could be the study of the basal ganglia, which are parts of the brain associated with motor control and emotions.
Or the award could go to the discovery of genomic imprinting, which has increased our understanding of epigenetics and mammalian evolution.
Last year, the prize in Physiology or Medicine was given to researchers Caitlin Carico and Drew Weissman for their work on messenger RNA technology, which paved the way for unprecedented Covid-19 vaccines.
The prize in Physics is given on the Tuesday before the Wednesday prize in Chemistry. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences concludes the 2024 Nobel season on Monday, October 14.
This year’s prize winners will take home a prize money of 11 million kronor ($1 million) for each subject, which will be shared if there is more than one winner.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
