STOCKHOLM: The 2026 Nobel Prize announcements are scheduled to begin next week, with the first award going to the field of physiology or medicine on October 5 and the final announcement, for the Prize in Economic Sciences, scheduled for October 12.
The prestigious prizes recognise outstanding achievements in science, literature and efforts towards peace. The laureates will receive their awards at ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel. The prize amount has recently been increased to 12 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.21 million, for each full Nobel Prize.
Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was established through the will of Alfred Nobel, a Swedish chemist, inventor and entrepreneur who died in 1896. Nobel, best known for inventing dynamite, accumulated much of his fortune through his work in explosives and related technologies. He was also a businessman, poet and linguist who spoke several languages.
In his will, Nobel directed that most of his fortune be used to establish prizes for people who had, during the preceding year, conferred the greatest benefit on humanity.
The five original prize categories – physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace – reflected areas of particular interest to Nobel.
Nobel’s friendship with Austrian peace activist Bertha von Suttner is widely believed to have influenced his decision to include a peace prize. Von Suttner became the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1905.
Although Nobel died in 1896, legal and administrative disputes over his will delayed the establishment of the awards. The first Nobel Prizes were finally presented in 1901.
Who awards the Nobel Prizes?
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the laureates for physics and chemistry, while the Swedish Academy is responsible for the literature prize.
The Nobel Assembly at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute awards the prize for physiology or medicine. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, appointed by the Norwegian parliament.
The reason Nobel chose Norway to award the peace prize is not known with certainty. At the time he wrote his will, Sweden and Norway were part of a political union.
Prize in Economic Sciences
The Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was created later, in 1968, by Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, to mark its 300th anniversary.
It is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences according to principles similar to those governing the original Nobel Prizes.
When will the 2026 Nobel Prizes be announced?
The 2026 Nobel Prize announcements will take place from October 5 to October 12:
October 5: Physiology or Medicine
October 6: Physics
October 7: Chemistry
October 8: Literature
October 9: Peace
October 12: Economic Sciences
The announcements will reveal the individuals and organisations selected for their contributions in their respective fields.
Famous Nobel laureates
The Nobel Prize has been awarded to some of the world’s most influential scientists, writers and political figures.
Notable laureates include physicists Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, writers Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, and figures such as Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa.
The Curie family is among the most distinguished Nobel-winning families. Marie Curie received two Nobel Prizes, while her husband Pierre Curie, daughter Irène Joliot-Curie and son-in-law Frédéric Joliot-Curie also became laureates.
Only five people have won Nobel Prizes more than once. American chemist and peace activist Linus Pauling remains the only person to have received two unshared Nobel Prizes.
The awards have also attracted criticism over the years. For example, the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Egas Moniz for work associated with lobotomy has since been heavily criticised as the procedure fell out of favour.
Several Peace Prize decisions have also generated debate, including awards involving Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Gandhi’s failure to receive the prize before his death in 1948 has also been widely discussed.
Nobel Prize ceremonies
The Nobel Prizes are presented on December 10 every year, marking the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony takes place in Oslo and is presided over by the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The other Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm, where the Swedish king traditionally hands the awards to the laureates at the Stockholm Concert Hall. Later that evening, around 1,300 guests attend the traditional Nobel banquet at Stockholm City Hall.
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The elaborate dinner is prepared months in advance by leading Swedish chefs and sommeliers, while around 200 waiters serve the guests. The menu is kept secret until the meal is served and traditionally features Nordic-inspired cuisine.
Last year’s menu included porcini mushroom soup, turbot stuffed with scallops and sugar kelp, followed by blackthorn berry sorbet with freshly baked cheese cream and browned-butter sponge.
The 2026 Nobel announcements will once again draw global attention as the world’s most prestigious awards honour achievements across science, literature, economics and peace.
Pakistan’s two Nobel laureates
Pakistan has produced two Nobel laureates – physicist Dr Abdus Salam and education activist Malala Yousafzai. Dr Abdus Salam shared the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg for their contributions to the theory of the unified weak and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles, including the prediction of the weak neutral current. He was the first Pakistani to receive a Nobel Prize.
Malala Yousafzai shared the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indian child-rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. They were awarded the prize for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.
