Latest Alfred Nobel Stories

By Geoff Mulvihill; Ellen Simon PRINCETON, N.J. (AP)- Paul Krugman, whose relentless criticism of the Bush administration includes opposition to the $700 billion financial bailout, won the Nobel prize in economics Monday for his work on international trade patterns. The Princeton University professor and New York Times columnist is the best-known American economist to win the prize in decades. The Nobel committee commended Krugman's work on global trade, beginning with a 10-page paper in...

Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his mediation in hot spots around the world, the Nobel Foundation announced. Ahtisaari's work in Namibia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Central Asia contributed to the "fraternity between nations," the Swedish foundation said in a release. Ahtisaari's work to resolve international conflicts spanning 30 years drew praise from the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which called him "an outstanding...

By KARL RITTER STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Two scientists who have won acclaim for research into the growth of cancer cells could be candidates for the Nobel Prize in medicine when the 2008 winners are presented Monday, kicking off six days of Nobel announcements. Australian-born U.S. citizen Elizabeth Blackburn and American Carol Greider have already won a series of medical honors for their enzyme research and experts say they could be among the front- runners for a Nobel. Only seven women...

Swedish Academy to announce winner of Nobel Prize in Literature on Oct. 9 STOCKHOLM, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Swedish Academy will announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature on Oct. 9, the Academy said on Friday. It is the last Nobel Prize for the academy to set the date for this year's announcement. As a tradition, the medicine Nobel Prize will be the first to be unveiled on Oct. 6 by the Karolinska Institute, according to the schedule of the Nobel Foundation. The Royal...

By Deseret News editorial Alfred Nobel -- father of the Nobel Prize in literature -- invented dynamite. And this past week, the top member of the jury in that competition lit a few fuses and set off some charges. Horace Engdahl said American writers are "too sensitive to trends in their own mass culture" and that drags down the quality of their writing. He added that the "ignorance" of American writers is "restraining." Needless to say, American writers and academics responded with...

A survey released by Thomson Reuters Corp on Wednesday has named the most likely scientists to receive this year's prestigious Nobel Prize.Secrecy shrouds the Nobel committee's deliberations over the yearly prizes and the winners themselves usually do not even know until shortly before the announcement.David Pendlebury of Research Services at Thomson Reuters said the amount of citations which projects use can be an important factor. "You get a very strong signal of what the scientific...

By Associated Press STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Bad news for American writers hoping for a Nobel Prize next week: The top member of the award jury believes the United States is too insular and ignorant to compete with Europe when it comes to great writing. Counters the head of the U.S. National Book Foundation: "Put him in touch with me and I'll send him a reading list." As the Swedish Academy enters final deliberations for this year's award, permanent secretary Horace Engdahl said it's no...

By Bella Jaisinghani MUMBAI: An award ceremony scheduled to take place in the city on Friday has revived an old controversy between the Nobel Foundation, which awards the most prestigious prize in the world, and one of the descendants of its founder, Sir Alfred Nobel. Michael Nobel, the great-grand nephew of Sir Alfred, is in Mumbai as guest of honour at the silver jubilee award function of the Priyadarshni Academy. The awards will be distributed in the presence of CM Vilasrao Deshmukh....

NEW YORK - Two Americans won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discovering a way to silence specific genes, a revolutionary finding that scientists are scrambling to harness for fighting illnesses as diverse as cancer, heart disease and AIDS.Andrew Z. Fire, 47, of Stanford University, and Craig C. Mello, 45, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, will share the $1.4 million prize.They were honored remarkably swiftly for work they published together just eight...

By James Kilner OSLO (Reuters) - Rock stars Bono and Bob Geldof are among 191 nominees for this year's Nobel Peace Prize -- the second longest list in the prize's 105-year history. Nominations for the $1.3 million award -- considered by many to be one of the world's top accolades -- trickled in from all corners of the globe, the director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad said on Friday. "There are two trends I want to point out. The first is that this is again a very high...