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Apparently most commentators were expecting it. I wonder if there was a possibility that also the CERN team could be awarded the prize?

• peterjancelis 13y ago
  I think at most 3 people can be named for each nobel price.
  • krischer 13y ago
    The European Union won it before. So I think organizations are fine.
    • kryptiskt 13y ago
      Organizations can't be awarded the science prizes.
      • _pferreir_ 13y ago
        Any references on that?
        • drrotmos 13y ago
          The statutes of the Nobel Foundation, § 4 reads (in part and translated): "If a work that is being rewarded has been produced by two or three persons, the prize shall be awarded to them jointly. In no case may a prize amount be divided between more than three persons." Source: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_organizations/nobelfoundation/statutes.html#beginning http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_organizations/nobelfoundatio...
          • aestra 13y ago
            It's a controversial restriction. Scientists rarely work alone anymore.
            • drrotmos 13y ago
              Agreed, but it's in the statutes, so the board has to abide by them (or risk liability). It's also non-trivial to change the statutes of a foundation ("stiftelse") in Sweden.
    • dagw 13y ago
      EU won the peace prize, which is an entirely separate award from the science prize and handled by an entirely separate committee operating under entirely separate rules.
• henrikschroder 13y ago
  I was just listening to the news, and apparently over 3000 people were more or less involved with the work at CERN. I don't think the physics prize has ever been awarded to an institution like the peace prize has been in the past, and I think the Academy simply chose not to break tradition.
  • _pferreir_ 13y ago
    They could have awarded it to the CMS and ATLAS experiments as well. No need to award it to CERN.
    • davrosthedalek 13y ago
      That's not a significantly lower number of people.
      • davrosthedalek 13y ago
        And I would like to add that the people building the accelerator play a significant role too.
    • aestra 13y ago
      They can't award it to CERN or CMS or ATLAS. At most 3 individual people can split one prize.
• gitaarik 13y ago
  The award is for the theory that is confirmed. The people of CERN didn't get awarded because they didn't come up with the theory, they just tested it.
  • bfe 13y ago
    They often award the physics prize for experimentally verifying a theoretical prediction. For example, they awarded the prize to Paul Dirac for predicting the existence of the positron, and to Carl Anderson for confirming it.
    • gitaarik 13y ago
      I guess the committee thought the theory was a more important achievement than the prove.
      • ISL 13y ago
        Unlikely. Attribution in this case is a very thorny issue. People have been discussing it for decades. There may yet be an experimental prize, especially once the experimental work at LHC is complete. From a physics perspective, LHC has only just begun. For the Higgs alone, its spin has not yet been conclusively measured; it's an important parameter.
        • r0muald 13y ago
          Even one jury member (Anders Barany) publicly stated his own doubts on the subject: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2013/October/international_October262.xml&section=international http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=d...
  • hwstartup 13y ago
    While I agree with your comment, I'd leave out the 'just' part.
  • mnl 13y ago