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| EMILY NATHAN/Daily University alumna Susan Kaminski looks into a microscope to examine fruit flies in the Natural Science Building. |
The Nobel Prize is regarded as the top award that can be presented to an individual for their accomplishments in the fields of economic sciences, physiology and medicine, physics, chemistry and literature. The other award that has the "Nobel" distinction is the peace prize, which goes to individuals who are recognized for promoting non-violence.
Aiming for the prize
The winners of the physics and chemistry awards are selected by the Swedish Academy of Sciences, but many of the nominations are submitted by members of various universities. Since only one of the prizes is awarded each year, the competition is fierce.
"It is not merely between the top 20 or 30 universities in the world," said chemistry Prof. Michael Morris. "We also compete against research companies to make it between about 150 institutions."
There is also a certain amount of individual competition for the big prize. University of Maryland physics Prof. William Phillips, who won the award in 1997 for developing a method to use lasers to cool atoms, said there was "friendly competition" between his colleagues and other groups of researchers.
"When we were developing the cooling method, their was a good relationship between researchers," Phillips said. "Over the years, we worked on it. We often shared information."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Prof. Henry Kendal, along with MIT Prof. Jerome Friedman and Stanford Prof. Richard Taylor, was recognized for his discovery of quarks, which make up atoms.
The major breakthrough in their research, Kendal said, occurred by chance.
"There had been a number of attempts, which failed, and we believed it was not feasible," Kendal said. "And though the discovery was an accident, the collaborate with the other professors made it possible."
University faculty have not had opportunities to experience such prize-winning accidents in part because funding to the chemistry department was inadequate until 10 years ago, said chemistry Prof. Richard Lawton.
"Ten years ago, the facility for the chemistry department was just terrible," Lawton said.
"We didn't have the kind of environment that gave people the time or patience to make the observation which would lead to the discovery."
Lawton said that even with recent improvements in the chemistry department, he doesn't think any chemistry professors are close to winning the top honor in academia.
In both the fields of chemistry and physics, the Swedish Academy asks universities and research institutions to submit nominations for the award. The process of completing the nominations is extensive and limits the number of people considered for the award.
Nominating an individual requires a citation of their work, a detailed background summary and a long dissertation for the nominee.
"It takes a lot of time and resources to nominate someone," Lawton said.
"People usually don't get nominated unless there is a very good chance that they'll receive the award."
While no University faculty have won the award, the University has nominated several individuals for the prize.
"It would be shocking if professors here have not been in the running for the award," Associate Provost Paul Courant said.
But members of the University faculty have gone on to win the award after leaving the University.
Former University physics Prof. Donald Glaser won the Nobel Prize for developing the bubble chamber, a project he worked on during his career at the University. The purpose of the bubble chamber is to examine the behavior of charged particles in magnetic fields.
Glaser won the award in 1960 after the University of California at Berkeley recruited him from Ann Arbor.
"Cal lured him away before he won the prize," Lawton said. "Apparently, U of M didn't think he was going to win."
The benefits of the award
Along with the prestige of winning the prize, comes a substantial amount of money.
The monetary prize has risen to about $1 million.
The winners also enjoy a fun-filled week of parties and fancy dinners in Sweden.
"They've been doing this for a hundred years," said Cornell University chemistry Prof. Roald Hoffmann, who won the award in 1981 for his theories on chemical reactions. "They know how to throw a party."
Each year, the ceremony takes place Dec. 10 in Stockholm. Winners receive a certificate and a gold medal, which is presented by the king of Sweden.
"Since I received the award, reporters have called me up, people have been asking me about my past and I've been giving a lot more talks," Phillips said.
Another advantage of winning the prize is the increased respect from peers and the scientific community, Hoffmann said.
"It may have helped to do some things such as getting my books published," Hoffman said.
Phillips also attended a function at the White House with renowned physicist Steven Hawking, who has won fame for discoveries including a formula to determine the radiation of black holes.
Another result of winning the Nobel Prize is an instant increase in the professor's value to their college or university. Hoffman said that once he won the award, Cornell paid him more money per lecture.
Both Phillips and Hoffman said that after winning the Nobel, other universities began recruiting them.
"The prestige of having a Nobel Prize winner can be alluring for a university," Phillips said. "They also might look to hire them if they feel their department isn't strong."
The number of Nobel Prize winners employed by a university can help the image of the university, said David Brand, science editor at Cornell University.
"I think people pay attention to it very much," Brand said. "It's a tremendous source of pride."
But with the prize comes a loss of privacy and risk of exploitation.
"It was good for my mother and my university, which used me for propaganda," Hoffman said. "But there was also a loss of time and people wanted my name and not my opinions."
Hoffman said people sought to get his name on petitions within Cornell because of his status and not his belief on certain issues.
Some of the Nobel winners said that winning the Nobel prize was one of the best experiences of their lives.
"It was very exciting," said Cornell physics Prof. Robert Richardson. "The Nobel Foundation in Sweden called me at 5 in the morning in my hotel room."
Richardson also earned the prize accidentally for discovering superfluidity in Helium-3 with fellow Cornell physics professors David Lee and Douglas Osheroff. Richardson said the find is similar to the discovery of the dark side of the moon because there is no current practical use of the find.
"I was dumbfounded," Phillips said. "I had a meeting in California the day before the Nobel was to be announced and it was quite a shock to find out I had won."
Others said that winning the award was a result of their hard work and that winning was not a surprise because success accompanies great work.
"I knew we had done damn good work," Hoffmann said.
"And I knew I had been nominated before, so it wasn't as much of a surprise."
Hoffman also said that his life remained, for the most part, unchanged after he received the prize.
"I don't get discounts at stores," Hoffman said.
"And it's not like I'm Michael Jordan and everyone recognized me on the streets," he added.
Bringing the Nobel home
The University lacks a Nobel Prize winner despite being the most heavily funded research institution in the nation.
Other comparable institutions, such as Cornell, which has four current members of the faculty with Nobel Prizes, have had more success with the prize. Kendal said eight or nine MIT faculty members have taken home the award.
Courant said there are other indicators of top-notch academics and research besides the Nobel.
"I think there's no one thing that is the fame of the faculty," Courant said. "We have a lot of famous faculty members in different fields. I don't think the Nobel is necessarily the major issue."
Courant said the University does not have a policy concerning the recruitment of Nobel Prize winners.
"It is based on our needs," Courant said. "But we definitely look at the quality of the faculty when making the decisions."
Courant noted that although the University does not have any Nobel Prize winners, it has been recognized for the overall strengths of its departments.
"Our greatest strengths are in fields (not recognized with a) Nobel Prize such as anthropology and psychology," Courant said. "If there had been one for psychology I think there would be good chance we'd have won it."
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(Right): The Institute for Social Research is one of the University's most renowned research departments. Researchers and professors at the ISR have been published worldwide for their studies in
03-27-98
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