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"the committee is notorious for two things; its obsessive secrecy and an institutional aversion to controversy" The committee is certainly secretive, but as th
by jamessb 11y ago
"the committee is notorious for two things; its obsessive secrecy and an institutional aversion to controversy"
The committee is certainly secretive, but as this makes it difficult to see exactly what candidates were considered and how decisions were made, it is hard to tell whether the committee has actively tried to avoid controversy.
Regardless of the committee's intent, its decisions have been the subject of many controversies: see the long list at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize_controversies
- dekhn 11y agoAgreed. The committee specifically awarded Prusiner (solely) the prize for the discovery of prions, because the committee for medical prizes (which turns out to be a bunch of structural biologists) was 100% convinced he was right, and they specifically told him that they were awarding him the prize to give him money to continue his research, because they knew his funding had been denied. (Memories of Madness, Prusiner).