First Nobel Prizes
DEC 10, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031109
On this date in 1901, the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Peace, and Literature were awarded for the first time. The awards were established in the 1895 will of Alfred Nobel, and the Nobel Foundation was founded in 1900 to manage the prizes. The first award in physics went to Wilhelm Röntgen (pictured) for the discovery of x rays. For the modern physics prize, each year, the Nobel Committee requests nominations from a select group of around 3000 people and then narrows the list to around 300 hundred names. That list is then passed to the Swedish Academy of Sciences who chooses the winner.
Date in History: 10 December 1901
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
