STOCKHOLM, September 30. / Corr. TASS Irina Dergacheva /. The size of the monetary component of the Nobel Prize in 2015, as in the previous two years, has not formally changed and is still equal to 8 million kroons.

But due to the weakening of the Swedish krona against the dollar, this amount for the first time since 2001 will be less than $ 1 million and will amount to $ 950 thousand.

But not money, but prestige is the main thing for the laureates, says Lars Heikensten, executive director of the Nobel Foundation.

"First of all, it is an independent and thorough selection process (of laureates) by the Nobel Committees, which has been the basis for the status and brand of the Nobel Prize for over 100 years," he says in an interview with TT.

In 2012, the premium was reduced from 10 to 8 million kroons due to the financial crisis and losses of the fund. But that year, thanks to the high exchange rate of the Swedish krona, in terms of dollars, this amount was equal to $ 1.2 million.

8 million crowns this year is 98% of the monetary component of the very first Nobel Prize, which was awarded in 1901, experts calculated. Then its size reached 150.8 thousand kroons, which in terms of current money is 8.179 million kroons.

Award Rules

Each prize cannot be awarded to more than three persons. If two or three laureates are awarded for one scientific discovery, then the amount of the award is divided equally. A decision may be made to mark two discoveries. In this case, if one of them belongs to two laureates, then they receive 1/4 of the prize. Typically, prizes are awarded to the same person once.

There were cases when prizes were not awarded, since it was not possible to find a worthy candidate (for example, during the First and Second World Wars, fewer candidates were nominated, thereby making the choice difficult).

The nomination process begins in September and ends on January 31 of the following year. According to the rules, the names of the nominees have not been disclosed for 50 years, but often the organizations that nominated the applicant disclose information themselves.

The presentation of the prizes to the laureates takes place on December 10 (the day of the death of Alfred Nobel) in Stockholm and Oslo. The Peace Prize is presented in Oslo by the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in the presence of the King of Norway. Since 1990, the ceremony has been held in the hall of the city hall of the capital of Norway. During the ceremony, the laureate makes a speech. The rest of the prizes are presented in Stockholm by the King of Sweden. Since 1926, the ceremony has been held at the Stockholm Concert Hall. On the eve of the award ceremony, the laureates give lectures. If the laureate was unable to receive the prize a year after the announcement of his name, the money remains at the disposal of the foundation.

Initially, the Nobel Prize was made up of the annual profit of the Alfred Nobel Foundation, which was distributed among the laureates in five areas. Consequently, the size of the Nobel Prize was different every year.

Now no one can say exactly how much the property of Alfred Nobel himself was estimated at, since family assets were closely mixed in various investments in different countries the world. After 5 years of work on the establishment of the Nobel Foundation, its volume was estimated at 31 587 202 SEK.

In 1901, the cash equivalent of the first Nobel Prize was 150,782 crowns. It is easy to calculate that only a little more than 750,000 kroons were spent in just 5 nominations for awards, that is, slightly more than 2.38 percent of all the amounts at the disposal of the fund.

The real value of the Nobel Prize is difficult to calculate also due to the changing purchasing power of the Swedish krona. However, the Nobel Committee provides indicative figures. Thus, 150 782 kroons, awarded in 1901, at the rate of 2011 corresponds to 8 123 951 kroons, or more than 900 thousand euros.

From year to year, the part of the fund that was used to pay bonuses changed. Apparently, this is due to the different profitability of investments of the Alfred Nobel fund, but it is impossible to say for sure, because the fund began to publish financial statements only in 1975, after the tax exemption.

And the Swedish krona itself was valued in different ways in different years... It is believed that the most unfortunate year for Nobel laureates was 1919. This year the prize was 133,127 crowns, which does not look so bad compared to the 1901 amount. But it was a bad year for the Swedish krona, and in 2011 prices the 1919 premium is estimated at 2,254,284 kronor. The "fattest" year for the Nobel Prize was 2001. Marking the beginning of the new millennium, the members of the Nobel Committee decided to make the payments fixed. And since 2001, the size of the Nobel Prize is 10 million SEK. However, the inflation of the Swedish krona has not been canceled. Therefore, the most profitable in terms of money was to receive the Nobel Prize in 2001.

It is impossible to say exactly how much the Nobel Foundation is managing today. In 2007, this is 3.62 billion kroons. At the same time, the rules for the distribution of amounts among the laureates have also changed. Since the Nobel Foundation regularly receives donations, since 1980 the amounts have been decoupled from the actual profits of the foundation and, for convenience, have been adjusted to the inflation rates of the Swedish krona. In 1981 the prize was 1 million kroons, in 1986 - 2 million, in 1989 - 3 million, in 1990 - 4 million, in 1991 - 6 million kroons. In the mid-1990s, the premium grew to 7 million, and by the end it reached 9 million. And from 2001 to the present day, the amount of the prize has been exactly 10 million SEK... It is possible that the amounts will be adjusted again in the future. If not, then every year it will become less and less profitable to receive the Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Committee announced this year's laureates in chemistry, physics, economics, medicine and biology, and presented the Peace Prize. At the same time, the essence of the scientific discoveries awarded by the Nobel is often unclear to people who are far from the world of science. The Village asked for a physicist, biologist, chemist, economist and country specialist Latin America in simple words explain why the Nobel was given this year and how these discoveries can be useful for you and me.

French scientists become Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Fraser Stoddart and Bernard Feringa for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.

When we talk about molecular machines, we are talking about the so-called catenan molecules linked to each other in the form of a chain. It turned out that if you create many such cyclic pairs, that is, a long chain, then the rotation of these rings one relative to the other leads to the movement of the molecule forward. This is how the molecular machine is created.

This year, the Nobel Prize was awarded to three laureates who worked independently of each other. One first synthesized a simple combination of two rings and showed that they, moving relative to each other, can go forward. The second took one molecule in the form of a rod and put several more rings on this rod. And it turned out that under the right conditions, the rings revolving around this rod can lift up. And the third researcher has created a combination, and his molecular machine can move in different directions like a helicopter that rises up due to the rotation of a propeller. The molecular machine will work on the same principle.

Imagine a microwave. We put a cup of water on a stand, and it starts spinning from the energy that an electrical appliance gives. It turned out that molecular machines can also set objects in motion, and those objects that exceed the weight of these machines by a factor of thousands or even millions.

Molecular machines will not be put into practice either today or next year. But these discoveries will spur new research into more powerful mechanisms. It's like opening a laser beam that can charge a mobile phone at a distance of two to three kilometers. It would seem that not such a discovery. And then it turned out that with the same laser beam with a different power it is possible to charge spaceships... Several years passed from one experiment to the next, and it will probably be the same with molecular machines.

Molecular machines can be used in any device that will move heavier objects. One of the scientists demonstrated the movement of a liter flask on a device that moved thanks to catenans. We are talking about the prospect of using these machines in a variety of fields - in biology, and in medicine, and in the food industry. For example, with the help of molecular machines, we can deliver drugs to the body. Such a small molecule, consisting of only two rings, will be able to deliver the drug right to the target.

Valery Petrosyan

professor of the department organic chemistry, Head of the Laboratory of Physical Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov

The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology was received by a professor of Tokyo technological university Yoshinori Osumi for discoveries in the field of cell autophagy
Nikolay Kontarov

candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Researcher, Sechenov Medical University

Autophagy is the degradation of proteins as a result of which cell death occurs. It is associated with a process such as apoptosis, that is, programmed cell death. If death occurs as a result of some external causesThis is called necrosis. For example, there is inflammation and because of it the cell dies. But there are times when the cell decides to leave on its own - this is something like suicide, and one of the ways of such cellular suicide is autophagy.

The time comes when the cell simply cannot support itself and starts to work for wear. At this point, she must leave through the autophagy mechanism. But sometimes apoptosis happens for unknown reasons, and this leads to neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. If a person has a disturbed autophagy mechanism, cells degrade rather slowly and eventually become redundant. And in such cells harmful changes can occur. For example, a cell cannot provide itself with enzymes that provide DNA repair, and this can provoke mutations and breaks, and subsequently a tumor.

There are two ways of autophagy. The first is due to the presence of protosomes, that is, protein complexes that are involved in the degradation of other cellular proteins. Thus, when all proteins are degraded, the cell dies.
For the study of this mechanism, the Nobel Prize was given in 2004.

In parallel, there were studies concerning the problem of protein degradation in membrane structures covered with a membrane, that is, in lysosomes. Protein degradation occurs in them, which also leads to cell death. That is, the end goal is the same, but the process is different. In one case, proteins in the protosomes take part in the process, and in the other, proteins are degraded within the membrane structure of the lysosome. Actually, the current Nobel is dedicated to the latter.

The practical application of this discovery concerns primarily medicine, in particular the study of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. It is believed that with these diseases, the formation of similar structures occurs in nerve cells, but why nerve cells decide to die themselves, is still unclear.

Science community hopes a new mechanism for autophagy will shed light on this. On the other hand, the discovery can be applied in embryology. This is important in light of the growing popularity of in vitro fertilization. Knowing the mechanism of autophagy means that we can control the process of embryo formation.

Nobel Prize the economy went to the British Oliver Hart and finn Bengtu Holmström for his contribution to the development of contract theory

The concept of "contract theory" looks unusual for those who do not professionally deal with this problem. In fact, we are talking about how the parties to a contract approach the definition of its essential terms, without having all the necessary information. It is interesting that the laureates were able to present in the form mathematical model that part of the contract that is known to the participants by default, but for various reasons cannot be set out on paper and, accordingly, is not a subject of legal proceedings.

Many people think that the topic of contracts is more related to jurisprudence than to economics, but trust is one of the key economic categories at the moment. Higher risks and, accordingly, less trust between the parties to the contract implies its higher price. For example, in russian conditions due to the lack of trust, interest rates on loans remain very high, projects based on public-private partnerships are not being implemented, and the demand for state property objects planned for privatization is low.

Practical use the research results of the nominees Oliver Hart and Bengt Holström will help to improve the conditions for the implementation of contracts for each of the participants, that is, to increase the level of trust between them. The widespread use of these principles can lead to a decrease in contract prices and become a factor in reducing inflation.

Nevertheless, the choice of the winners was rather unexpected. Most experts were inclined to believe that the Nobel Prize in economics would be awarded for fundamental macroeconomic research or for the development of the theory of motivation.

Andrey Margolin

vice-rector of RANEPA, doctor economic sciences

American won the Nobel Prize in physics this year David Thoules, Briton Duncan Haldane and scotsman Michael Costerlitz for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter
Alexander Golubov

head of the Laboratory of Topological Quantum Phenomena in Superconducting Systems, MIPT

Kosterlitz and Thoules and independently of them, the Soviet theoretical physicist Vadim Berezinsky in the early 1970s described a model of the state of a two-dimensional film in a superconducting system - that is, in a metal that loses electrical resistance at very low temperatures. Prior to this, it was long believed that superconductivity is impossible in a two-dimensional system.

Scientists have proved the possibility of the existence of superconductivity in a two-dimensional system and showed an interesting topological phase transition between the superconducting phase at low temperature and the normal phase at high. They differ in that at low temperatures, magnetic flux vortices are spontaneously generated - more precisely, a pair of vortices that collapse at high temperatures and form single vortices.

What is a topological phase transition? The very mathematical definition "topological" means the continuity of various objects under deformation: for example, if we use the terminology of bagels and holes, then a clay ball and a bowl molded from it are objects of the same topology, which can be converted from one to another without breaks.
But the clay ball and the clay donut are bodies of different topologies: in order to get a donut, you need to make a hole in the ball.

The usual phase transition can be observed, for example, when metals melt, when they change from a solid to a liquid state. This transition changes crystal lattice metal and slightly moves its atoms, but does not make any fundamental changes in its internal state, does not change the topology. A topological phase transition changes the geometric properties of the system, and this is a rather unusual phenomenon. And just the vortices shown by Kosterlitz and Thoules change the topology of the object.

The discovery of topological phase transitions could lead to the creation of a quantum computer that could be much more powerful than modern computers. An ordinary computer operates in a binary system: information in it is encoded with the numbers 0 and 1. A quantum processor is an analog system, it obeys not only zeros and ones, but has a large degree of freedom. Thus, additional methods of coding information and conducting parallel computations appear. In addition, an ordinary computer operates on silicon conductors, while a quantum computer needs a different material base, which scientists have not yet been able to find.

Many different groups of scientists are now working on a quantum computer, and some have almost created it, but there is a problem with the time of work. Scientists who design qubits - the smallest elements of information storage in a quantum computer - are thinking about how to maintain their quantum state for a long time, because it is easily destroyed by interaction with the external environment. And this leads to calculation errors.

For 52 years Colombia is in a real civil war. Rather, it's not so much civil Warhow much is the confrontation between the ruling forces of the country on the one hand and a number of terrorist organizations on the other, which at first covered themselves with the Marxist-Leninist banner, and after the fall of the USSR began to engage in arms trafficking, drugs and kidnapping. They periodically tried to conduct a dialogue with them, but there was no result.

In the end, the entire world community demanded that Colombia resolve this issue, especially since the conflict between the state armed forces and terrorists claimed more than 200 thousand lives, and more than 4 million Colombians were forced to move to other places. Neighboring states also suffered because terrorist organizations violated borders, which is a fundamental problem given the local landscape. In addition, the terrorists made huge amounts of money from drugs and arms smuggling, so it was easy for them to support themselves and recruit young people into their ranks. Imagine a poor young Brazilian who is given 20 thousand dollars and a rifle in his hands. Of course, he will agree to join the ranks of the radicals.

The last President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, tried to put an end to this. For four years in neutral territory, in Cuba, the Colombian government and the country's largest terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, have been negotiating. In the end, they reached an agreement that the terrorists would lay down their arms and cease their activities. They were even asked to provide several seats in the Colombian Congress so that they could found their own political party there. After that, the president decided to hold a referendum on this agreement - so that Colombian citizens speak up whether they agree or not.

At the same time, the majority of Colombians said "no" in the referendum. The fact is that this long-term confrontation has affected every Latin American family, because so many people have died. And those who said “no” at the referendum actually spoke out against the impunity of criminals: these people considered that especially cruel terrorists should be punished.

The fact that the truce was achieved at the cost of enormous effort gave the President of Colombia the right to deservedly receive the Nobel Peace Prize. But on the other hand, the second phase of negotiations is just beginning, where options for punishment for the leaders of terrorist organizations will be discussed.

Vladimir Sudarev

deputy Director of the Institute of Latin American Countries RAS

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been awarded to the largest scientific research, contribution to culture and development of society.

The awards for those who this year received the most famous and celebrated award for service to humanity have begun. This is who has been awarded the prize in the last few days.

Medicine and physiology

The award went to Yoshinori Osumi, a molecular biologist from Japan who investigated the mechanism of cell autophagy. Autophagy is the mechanism by which a cell digests its own internal components. Simply put, it eats itself. Mammalian cell lysosomes contain enzymes and acid, just like the stomach. With the help of this "cell stomach", digestion takes place. In yeast cells, a similar process occurs in vacuoles.

Self-eating is a natural process, so the cell is freed from unnecessary, and the body as a whole - from cells that have outlived their own.

Autophagy is especially important during embryo formation, when destroyed cells must be removed in time and new ones formed. If something goes wrong, the new organism does not survive.

Cells, in which old, poorly functioning parts are retained, become a source of danger to the body. Old "stuffing" (waste proteins and organelles, dead bacteria) can cause inflammation. Disturbances in the normal course of such intracellular cleaning are the cause of tumors and neurodegenerative diseases.

The phenomenon has been known since the middle of the twentieth century, but Yoshinori Osumi studied it using experiments carried out on baker's yeast. Thanks to this, the Japanese scientist and his assistants managed to understand which genes and proteins trigger the process of "self-eating".

Why is this needed?

Understanding the principles of autophagy, in the future we will be able to stimulate cell renewal in living organisms, stop degradation or stimulate the destruction of "bad" cells that grow where they should not.

Chemistry

Scientists from Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Bernard Feringa and Fraser Stoddart (France, USA and the Netherlands) received the award for nanotechnology - development of molecular machines.

They have created the smallest machines in the world, the working parts of which are interconnected molecules. Using this principle, it was possible to design a tiny motor that drives ultraviolet radiation, a microscopic lift and molecular "muscles".

Physics

The Nobel Prize was shared by David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and John Kosterlitz, whose research is devoted to unusual states of matter - topological phases.

In general, phase changes are, for example, a change in the state of aggregation of matter (when a liquid becomes gaseous or a solid becomes liquid). This year's award-winning researchers are working on phase transformations that have been little studied before, as well as on the properties of matter in “strange states”.

They work in an area called condensed matter physics, which studies the behavior of complex tightly coupled systems. These include ordinary liquids, crystals, amorphous bodies, and quantum liquids - for example, the contents neutron stars and atomic nuclei. The research of this year's laureates concerns the description of the Berezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thoules (BKT) phase transition associated with such phenomena as superconductivity, superfluidity and magnetism.

Topology studies the continuity of the states of objects. Perhaps the most famous object of consideration in this area of \u200b\u200bknowledge is the Mobius strip.

Topological, or phase transition is the transformation of matter from one object to another, and it is carried out continuously, or with discontinuities.

According to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize is given for the most important discoveries or inventions in the field of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, as well as for an outstanding literary work and contribution to strengthening the commonwealth of nations. Who will receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Nobel Peace Prize will become known in the coming days.

You can follow the news of the award and get acquainted with the details on the official website -

Image copyright SPL Image caption The inventor of dynamite, Nobel welcomed the ideas of pacifism all his life

Why did Alfred Nobel bequeathed his fortune to encourage scientific discovery?

On November 27, 1895, the Swedish chemist and engineer, inventor of dynamite Alfred Nobel signed a will, which said literally the following: "I want to dispose of the rest of my fortune as follows: the executors of my will should invest in safe securities. They will form a fund, interest from which will be distributed as a bonus to those who, during the previous year, made scientific discoveriesthat will bring the greatest benefit to humanity ... "

The inventor of dynamite, Nobel welcomed the ideas of pacifism all his life.

In 1888, Alfred's brother Ludwig died in Cannes. One French newspaper mistakenly printed an obituary for the inventor himself under the headline: “Le marchand de la mort est mort” - “The merchant in death is dead.” Nobel was deeply shocked, he did not want to remain in the memory of mankind as the inventor of the deadly explosive.

What amount are we talking about?

At the time of Alfred Nobel's death, the prize was over SEK 31 million. At present, the capital of the Nobel Prize Fund is estimated at approximately USD 500 million.

When were the first Nobel Prizes awarded?

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Nobel allocated 94% of his fortune to the prize fund. His will was contested by family members and was later approved by the Swedish government.

How many people became Nobel laureates?

The Nobel Prize has been awarded 567 times. However, more than one nominee received it several times. In total, 860 people and 22 organizations became laureates.

Were there years when the Nobel Prize was not awarded?

Image copyright NOBEL FOUNDATION Image caption Today the size of the Nobel Foundation is approximately $ 500 million

There were. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has not been awarded 49 times. Most of the prizes not awarded fell on the years of the First (1914-1918) and Second (1939-1945) World Wars. In addition, the charter of the Nobel Prize Foundation states that if "... none of the works is of sufficient importance, the prize money should be postponed until next year. If there are no worthy discoveries for the second year in a row, then the funds will go to the disposal fund ".

In what areas are Nobel Prizes awarded most often?

Nobel Prizes in Physics were most often awarded for discoveries in physics elementary particles, in chemistry - for discoveries in biochemistry, in medicine - in genetics, in economics - in macroeconomics, and in literature - for prose.

Scientists from which countries have most often become Nobel laureates?

Image copyright RIA NOVOSTI Image caption Brodsky received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987, but it was not credited to the USSR

In first place is the United States of America with 257 laureates. The second - Great Britain with 93, the third - Germany with 80. Russia has 27 laureates. According to the rules of the Nobel Committee, this does not include people, for example, who were born in Russia or the USSR, but who made discoveries in another country. Or writers who wrote in Russian, but who by that time were citizens of other countries, for example, Ivan Bunin in 1933 or Joseph Brodsky in 1987.

At what age do you become Nobel Prize winners?

In various ways: Malala Yusufzai became the youngest laureate last year. She received the Peace Prize at the age of just 17. The oldest was 90-year-old Leonid Gurvich, who received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2007.

Are there women among the laureates?

There are, although they are in the minority. In total, women have received awards 47 times. And only one of them - Marie Curie - received it twice: once in physics, the other in chemistry. So there are 46 women in total for the Nobel Prize.

Was it so that the Nobel Prize was refused voluntarily?

Of course. But only twice: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre turned down the Literature Prize in 1964 because he did not recognize any official awards at all. And the Vietnamese politician Le Duc Tho refused the Peace Prize in 1973, stating that he did not consider it possible to accept it due to the situation in the country.

And forcedly?

There was such a thing. Adolf Hitler banned three scientists: chemist Richard Kuhn, biochemist Adolf Butenandt and bacteriologist Gerhard Domagk from accepting the award. Later they were able to receive medals and diplomas, but not prize money.

Soviet poet and writer Boris Pasternak first agreed to accept the Nobel Prize, but then, under pressure from the authorities, he refused it.

And posthumously?

Yes and no. The status of the Nobel Foundation determines that the prize can only be awarded to a living person. However, if at the time of the announcement of the result he was still alive, and had already died by the direct presentation of the prize, then he is still considered Nobel laureate... In 2011, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Ralph Steinman. After the announcement of the result, it turned out that he had already died three days ago. After the meeting of the board of the Nobel Committee, it was decided to keep him on the list of laureates, because the Nobel Commission of the Royal Karolinska Institute did not know about his death at the time of the decision.

Were there any family Nobel Prizes?

And how! And the biggest contribution to this small list was made by the Joliot-Curie family. The following family laureates came out of it: two married couples: Marie and Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie and Frederic Joliot, mother and daughter: Marie Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie, and father and daughter: Pierre Curie and Irene Joliot Curie.

Why is there no Nobel Prize in Mathematics?

This is where we enter the realm of speculation. Nobel himself noted in his will that he chose the appropriate disciplines "after a balanced and thoughtful analysis." However, he took the train of his thoughts to the grave.

The version that, having excluded mathematics, he thus took revenge on his wife's lover, who was just a representative of this science, does not stand up to criticism, because Alfred Nobel was never married.

The most probable assumption is that Nobel insisted that discoveries "should benefit mankind", and pure mathematics remains pure mathematics, an exercise for the mind, from which the common man is neither hot nor cold. Well, what difference does it make to the majority of the world's population whether Fermat's theorem is proven or not?

Mathematics as applied to physics, chemistry, or economics is awarded in these disciplines.

And what about biology?

Again, medicine. Or chemistry. Interpretations are possible.