Iranian wins Nobel Peace Prize

I happily admit to being a lifelong nerd. Big names in film and music elicit no thrill for me. The Academy and Grammys pass unnoticed. But when the Nobel Prizes come around in October, I get excited. The winners have a far greater impact on more lives than any Hollywood story, even if most people don’t know about it.

Alfred Nobel was a Swedish poet and scientist with a passion for helping humanity and achieving peace (and who ironically invented dynamite). When he died in 1896, he left a $31 million legacy to fund annual prizes in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace to “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”

Since 1901. Nobel Prizes have been awarded to nearly 1,000 people and organizations (some won more than once). Big names in science included Einstein, Marie Curie and Neils Bohr. The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Mother Theresa, Malala Yousafzai, and four U.S. Presidents (the last was Barack Obama), to name a few.

Monday marked the last of this year’s announcements, with the Nobel Prize in Economics given to Harvard professor Claudia Goldin. According to a Nobel statement, Dr. Goldin “provided the first comprehensive account of women’s earnings and labor market participation through the centuries … reveal(ing) the causes of change, as well as the main sources of the remaining gender gap.”

In fact, this year Americans represent more than half of 2023’s prize winners:

Nobel Prize in Physics: Pierre Agostini (U.S.), Ferenc Krausz (Germany), and Anne L’Huillier (Sweden) for experiments producing pulses of light so short they were measured in attoseconds — one-billionth of one-billionth of a second. Their breakthrough could mean earlier detection of cancer and other diseases.

Chemistry: Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov (all U.S.) for their discovery and synthesis of quantum dots, extremely small particles for more flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication (for better security).

Medicine: Katalin Kariko (Hungary) and Drew Weissman (U.S.) for multi-year research leading to COVID-19 vaccines.

Literature: Author-playwright Jon Fosse (Norway) “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.” His characters explore consciousness, reality and God.

Last but certainly not least is the Nobel Peace Prize — perhaps the most highly anticipated prize of any kind, transcending national borders, categorical divisions and even politics. It’s been won by otherwise ordinary civilians, world leaders, agencies and nonprofits such as the Red Cross. The Oxford Dictionary of Contemporary History defines it as “the most prestigious prize in the world.”

The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned human rights activist Narges Mohammadi (Iran). Remember young Mahsa Amini, imprisoned and beaten to death last year for not wearing a hijab? Her death spurred months of protests by Persian women and supporters outside Iran, fed up with decades of gender oppression (religion and government should never mix). Narges Mohammadi was arrested and harassed for publicly speaking against it, but it wasn’t the first time. She’s served multiple prison sentences over 20 years in her vocal and brave fight to gain international attention and freedom for Iranian women.

Beyond recognizing these amazing human beings for their contributions to humanity as a whole, the Nobel Prize reminds us each year how lucky we are to have even the simplest of freedoms.

For a full list of winners, see www.nobelprize.org.

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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholeh@cdapress.com.