Delhi:

Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo has been conferred with the Nobel Peace Prize 2024 for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons.

The organisation is a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, which strives to “achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”.

While announcing this year’s Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee honoured the atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki for cultivating hope for peace through “their costly experience”. “They help us to describe the indescribable, to think the unthinkable, and to somehow grasp the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons,” the committee stated on X.

The committee also highlighted that no nuclear weapon has been used in war in nearly 80 years. Acknowledging Nihon Hidankyo’s efforts towards the establishment of a nuclear taboo, the Nobel Committee also aid that the same is under pressure.

By drawing on personal stories, creating educational campaigns based on their own experience, and issuing urgent warnings against the spread and use of nuclear weapons, the organisation has helped consolidate opposition to nuclear weapons, said a Nobel Committee press release.

“The nuclear powers are modernising and upgrading their arsenals, new countries appear to be preparing to acquire nuclear weapons, and threats are being made to use nuclear weapons in ongoing warfare. At this moment in human history, it is worth reminding ourselves what nuclear weapons are: the most destructive weapons the world has ever seen,” a press release stated.

Meanwhile, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, while the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for the discovery of microRNA and its role in gene regulation.

South Korean writer Han Kang, was awarded 2024 the Nobel Prize in Literature, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

American John Hopfield and British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering work in the development of artificial intelligence. Shortly after the award’s announcement, Hinton raised concerns about the technology he has created.

The prize comes with a gold medal, a diploma and a prize sum of $1 million (913,000 euro).

South Korean writer Han Kang, was awarded 2024 the Nobel Prize in Literature, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).

Han Kang was born in Gwangju, South Korea, in 1970. She comes from a literary background, her father being a reputed novelist. She made her literary debut as a poet by publishing five poems, including “Winter in Seoul”, in the winter issue of Munhak-gwa-sahoe (Literature and Society) in 1993. She began her career as a novelist the next year by winning the 1994 Seoul Shinmun Spring Literary Contest with “Red Anchor”. She published her first short story collection entitled Yeosu (Munji Publishing Company) in 1995. She participated in the University of Iowa International Writing Program for three months in 1998 with support from the Arts Council Korea.

Her publications include a short story collection, Fruits of My Woman (2000), Fire Salamander (2012); novels such as Black Deer (1998), Your Cold Hands (2002), The Vegetarian (2007), Breath Fighting (2010), and Greek Lessons (2011), Human Acts (2014), The White Book (2016), I Do Not Bid Farewell(2021). A poem collection, I Put The Evening in the Drawer (2013) was published as well. Han Kang won the International Booker Prize in 2016 for ‘The Vegetarian’.

Her most recent novel ‘I Do Not Bid Farewell’ was awarded the Medicis prize in France in 2023, the Emile Guimet prize in 2024.

Han Kang’s work is characterized by this double exposure of pain, a correspondence between mental and physical torment with close connections to Eastern thinking, the committee said.

Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose, the Nobel Prize committee said.

A view of a bust of Alfred Nobel outside the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where the laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize is announced, in Oslo, Norway. File photo
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The beginning of October means Nobel Prize season. This is when the Nobel committees get together in Stockholm and Oslo to announce the winners of the yearly awards. Six days, six prizes, new faces from around the globe added to the world’s most elite roster of scientists, writers, economists and human rights leaders.

2024’s Nobel Prize announcements will take place from 7–14 October. All of the announcements will be streamed live at nobelprize.org and the Nobel Prize YouTube channel.

Also read: Things to know about the Nobel Prizes

List of prizes

1. Physiology or Medicine – Monday (October 7, 2024) 11:30 CEST (3:00 PM IST)
2. Physics – Tuesday (October 8, 2024) 11:45 CEST (3:15 PM IST)
3. Chemistry – Wednesday (October 9, 2024) 11:45 CEST (3:15 PM IST)
4. Literature – Thursday (October 10, 2024) 13:00 CEST (4:30 PM IST)
5. Peace – Friday (October 11, 2024) 11:00 CEST (2:30 PM IST)
6. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel – Monday (October 14, 2024) 11:45 CEST (3:15 PM IST).

History of the Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are named after Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, engineer, scientist, and philanthropist.

In his will, written in 1895, Nobel dedicated his fortune to establishing the prizes. He specified that his estate should fund the awards to individuals or organizations that had brought the greatest benefit to humanity in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.

The first awards were handed out in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death.

The Economics Nobel came into existence in 1968 when Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, established the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

How are the winners selected?

The list of nominees for the year is presented by the The Norwegian Nobel Committee at the first meeting following the nomination deadline. On such occasion, the Committee may add more names to the list. Following that, the nomination procedure is concluded and the specific candidates are discussed.

The permanent advisers of the Nobel Committee then evaluate the shortlisted candidates. The body of advisers tends to consist of a small number of professors from Norwegian universities with extensive knowledge in fields that have an impact on the Peace Prize, in addition to the Institute’s director and research director.

The advisers typically have a few months to prepare their reports. Other Norwegian and international specialists are also periodically asked to provide reports.

Following the presentation of the advisers’ reports, the Nobel Committee starts a comprehensive discussion of the most likely applicants.

Typically, the Committee makes a decision during its final meeting before announcing the Prize at the beginning of October.

The Committee aims to select the Nobel Peace Prize laureate unanimously. In the rare cases when this isn’t feasible, a simple majority vote is used to choose.

How do you become nominated for a Nobel Prize?

In order to become a Nobel Prize laureate, one must first be nominated for a prize by an eligible nominator. Self-nomination is not allowed. Except for the Nobel Peace Prize, nomination is by invitation only and nominators must fulfil the criteria set out by the awarding institutions. The list of nominees is made public after 50 years after the nomination has taken place.

Who were the Nobel Prize awards 2023 winners?

The 2023 Physiology or Medicine Prize was awarded to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman for their discoveries concerning nucleoside base modification that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. 

The 2023 Prize for Physics was shared between three scientists—Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz, and Anne L’Huillier—for developing new tools and exploring the world of electrons.

The 2023 Chemistry Prize was awarded to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Literature is being awarded to Norwegian author Jon Fosse for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.

The 2023 Nobel Peace prize for Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

The 2023 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender gap in the labor market.