News from Nobelprize.org
June 29, 2007
In Sweden, where the Nobel Foundation is based, the month of July is given over to holidays. Pretty much everyone packs up and heads off for the month, taking full advantage of the short northern summer. In honour of this, this June newsletter will be the last before we restart the year in August. And since this is so universally the time of Swedish family vacations, it seems an appropriate moment to focus on the family connections shared by some Nobel Laureates.
As highlighted below, the much publicized relationship between Roger Kornberg, last year’s Chemistry Laureate, and his father Arthur Kornberg, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1959, was in fact not the first such pairing. Fathers and sons had collected awards five times previously, and are thus the most frequently found coupling. Next come the four married couples that can boast joint awards, followed by a single instance each of father/daughter, mother/daughter and two brothers. The most successful family in Nobel Prize terms was surely the Curies, with parents, daughter and son-in-law claiming three prizes between them. So far, only one of these family links has strayed outside the sciences.
Of course most true dynasties in Nobel Prize terms are formed from academic, not familial, relationships, with Laureates often tracing the lineage of their work through several previous Nobel Prizes. These networks of scholarly connections have much to reveal about the ways that individual disciplines develop. But since this is holiday time, perhaps we are allowed to concentrate on the simple fun of highlighting those Nobel Prizes that stayed within the family.
Adam Smith
Editor-in-Chief |
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NATURE VERSUS NURTURE
Brothers Jan and Nikolaas Tinbergen were feted in Stockholm just four years apart, Jan as co-recipient of the first ever Prize in Economics, and Nikolaas as a Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. An article by Auke Leen explores their origins and work.
Read the article » |
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"WITHOUT ANY THOUGHT OF PRACTICAL APPLICATION"
Back in 1934, J.J. Thomson, who had been awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize in Physics for work leading to the discovery of the electron, gave a televised lecture arguing for the importance of undirected research. Clearly his son, at least, followed his advice, himself taking a share of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1937.
Watch the video » |
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THE CURIE DYNASTY
As close to a Nobel dynasty as has yet been seen, the Curies
captured three Nobel Prizes between them. Their work, and
the phenomenon of this family, is explored in Nanny Fröman's
article.
Read the article » |
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A SHARED PLEASURE
At last year's Nobel ceremonies Arthur Kornberg, who had been
awarded his Nobel Prize 47 years before, had the joy of
watching his son Roger receiving the Prize in Chemistry.
Happy father and son were captured for our photo gallery.
View the photo gallery » |
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A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK
The Braggs, the first father/son team to be awarded a Nobel Prize, were also the only joint Laureates. Lawrence Bragg was just 25 when the Prize in Physics for 1915 was announced, and used his Nobel Lecture to say of his co-recipient father that
"It was with his inspiration and under his guidance that any contributions of my
own were made".
Read the lecture » |
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VIVE LA DIFFERENCE
The Myrdals, Alva and Gunnar, are so far the only wife/husband team to acquire two awards in different disciplines. Gunnar had already been jointly awarded the 1974 Prize in Economics when Alva was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 for her work countering nuclear proliferation. Learn about the spread of nuclear weapons with our peace doves game.
Play the game » |
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FACTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
Find a summary of all immediate family relationships, together with other essential Nobel Laureate information. Go on, amaze your friends with your Laureate erudition!
Take a look » |
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