Academician Alfred Nobel bequeathed all his property after death to be transferred to liquid values and placed in a reliable bank.
Revenues from these funds should be distributed annually in five equal parts, and paid as a reward for services to mankind in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, medicine and the promotion of world peace.
And why are mathematicians not given the Nobel Prize? Has the founder of the award decided that not one of them will be worthy of it? Unfortunately, history cannot provide a reliable answer, supported by indisputable facts. This gave rise to conjecture.
History of the nobel prize
The experimenter himself earned a good fortune in his life by patenting more than 350 discoveries, including a barometer, a water meter, and a refrigerator. But he received universal fame as the father of dynamite. In 1888, Nobel in a newspaper read an article entitled "The Merchant of Death has died" (Alfred’s brother actually died, but the inventor was "buried" instead), and this made him think about what trace he would leave in his memory descendants. The absence of children and his great love of science prompted him to make a gesture of altruism. Nobel decided to encourage inventors and public figures who work for the good of mankind. In 1895, the foundation was founded, the funds from which were supposed to go to this good cause.
But why are mathematicians not given the Nobel Prize? There are several suggestions.
Practical version: utility of inventions
They say that Nobel wanted to highlight those areas whose achievements bring obvious benefits to humanity and satisfy basic needs. And he apparently did not consider mathematics as such. She did not come in handy for the invention of dynamite .
Discoveries in this area usually do not become the property of the general public, and in fact, only indirectly benefit humanity. Like, you can’t smear a new algebraic formula on bread, or whether it’s a gas burner. Although such arguments look logical except with a big stretch. The question immediately arises: what about literature? Yes, she teaches morality, but her benefits are also more abstract. Somehow suspiciously it all smells of prejudice towards the queen of sciences.
Love Version: cherchez la femme
The blame for everything was jealousy. Already an elderly Alfred fell in love with young Austrian Sophie Hess and took her to his home in Stockholm. Officially, they were not married, but he often called her "Madame Nobel." But one day, a Mittag-Leffler decided to hit her.
He was the luminary of the queen of sciences of that time, and if the Nobel Prize was awarded in this area, then it would probably have been awarded to him. Alfred could not allow his opponent to pay out of his own pocket, and so he struck out mathematicians from the list of encouraged scientists. The story is beautiful, but there is no evidence.
This clearly embellished assumption about why mathematicians are not given the Nobel Prize has grown in numerous details: they say that Mittag-Leffler decided to hit on Sophie right in front of the insulted Nobel in his own theater box. Having invaded there without invitation, he showered Nobel’s naive companion with a bunch of compliments, without even noticing that he had stepped on his foot. Alfred, with his Scandinavian restraint, silently watched what was happening, and afterwards asked Sophie who this impudent person was. She immediately trumped that he was a famous mathematician. And now all his colleagues are responsible for his insolence.
No matter how embellished this version is, it seems that there is some grain of truth here. Even such cold-blooded minds of humanity as Alfred Nobel may be subject to feelings of jealousy and revenge. Perhaps there really was a hostility to this Mittag-Leffler himself for other reasons (they say he constantly asked for donations to Stockholm University), but human imagination dragged hearty things here.
Just forgot?
That would be too commonplace. The great chemist, Ph.D. and academician did not suffer from sclerosis. The mathematicians themselves found the explanation simpler: Nobel did not mention this discipline, since it is the queen of sciences, and it should have been a priori in the will, he just did not make it known, and the reckless notary did not include it in the list. How cunning and, most importantly, not at all offensive to your loved ones.
If the founder himself wrote in his memoirs why mathematics are not given the Nobel Prize, then he would not have to invent anything. And so the answer to this question is overgrown with new stories.
Alternative
Whatever the reason why mathematicians are not given the Nobel Prize, the Canadian John Fields decided to correct this historical misunderstanding and instituted an equally prestigious award of his name only for them. Awarding such a medal is tantamount to universal recognition for the overall contribution to this discipline.
In 2006, she was to be handed over to Gregory Perelman for proving the Poincare conjecture. But he became known as a mathematician who refused the Nobel Prize (that is, from the Fields Medal, equivalent to it). The reason is that he considered the contribution of his American colleague Hamilton to the solution of this hypothesis to be no less significant, but he was not honored with this award. It is noteworthy that the principled Perelman did not take the million dollars he owed!
As can be seen from this case, public recognition and reward are not always key to pragmatic scientists. Although it still seems unfair that mathematicians are not given the Nobel Prize. But I want to believe that for them, science is paramount, and they don’t hold grudges against the Swedish benefactor.