The Nobel committee, at least in Physics, consistently selects people who have had a tremendous impact on the field. There are hundreds of people who may qualif

The Nobel committee, at least in Physics, consistently selects people who have had a tremendous impact on the field. There are hundreds of people who may qualify who don't get selected, but those who are selected have done something important. Ergo, a prize winner has a powerful social signal that they have done something important. Scarcity does the rest, as there are three or fewer of them every year in a world with perhaps a few hundred thousand practicing physicists.