Исследовательская работа для школьной конференции на тему Nobel Prize

17

Министерство образования Республики Беларусь

Отдел образования Новополоцкого горисполкома

Государственное учреждение образования

«Средняя школа № 14 г. Новополоцка»

Nobel Prize

Учащаяся 8 «А» класса

Метейко М.

Руководитель: Чернова И.В.

Учитель первой категории

Новополоцк 2015

Contents:

Introduction………………………………………………………………………..3

1. Alfred Nobel……………………………………………………………………5

2. The Prize………………………………………………………………………..7

2.1 A. Nobel's Will………………………………………………………………..7

2.2 The Prize and the Diploma…………………………………………………….8

3. Winners of the Award………………………………………………………….10

3.1 Winners from Belarus…………………………………………………………10

3.2 Nobel Prize in Literature……………………………………………………...11

4. Practical Part……………………………………………………………………14

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….......16

Literature………………………………………………………………………….17

INTRODUCTION

"…to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."

A.Nobel

Winning a Nobel Prize is a life-changing honor. It is awarded annually, without regard to nationality, in six areas: peace, literature, physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine and economic science. The Nobel Prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious award. It is given to people and some organizations, which have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society.

The theme of my research work is "Nobel Prize".

The object of the work is Nobel Prize.

The subject of the work is the history of the award.

The aim of my research is to learn about the most famous prize in the world and about people who got it.

To achieve the set aim I've determined the following tasks:

• to get general information about the Nobel Prize

• to find information about spheres where it is awarded

• to learn some facts about the founder of the prize

• to interview the pupils of our school

• to analyze information

• to create a computer presentation

• to make conclusion

The hypothesis of the work is as following: any scientist of the world can get this prize.

Nobel Prize is very honorable. Whether the laureate is an internationally known figure (such as Mother Teresa or Barack Obama, winners of the 1979 and 2009 Peace Prize, respectively) or a scientist plucked from obscurity (like Richard R. Ernst, who won the 1991 prize in chemistry), the award brings with it worldwide recognition that highlights one's life work and provides the funds to continue and further the mission. For academics and institutions, a Nobel Prize is used to attract the best and the brightest minds, whether students or scholars.

1. Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) - scientist, author and pacifist, but above all the inventor of dynamite and holder of 355 patents - shaped as a human being in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Russian capital where different nationalities and cultures mixed and where science and literature developed in a dynamic interaction between Western European tradition and the aspirations of the Russian intelligentsia.

Picture 1.1-Portrait of A. Nobel

Alfred's father Immanuel Nobel was an inventor and builder. When Alfred was five years old his father moved to St. Petersburg, where he set up an engineering factory. Immanuel's wife Andriette and their sons Robert, Ludvig and Alfred joined him in Russia a few years later. Less than a year after her arrival in St. Petersburg, Andriette gave birth to a boy, Emil. After that she had another son and a daughter, but both died as infants.

Picture 1.2-Andriette (Alfred's mother)

In St. Petersburg, the Nobel family enjoyed a living standard far higher than they had experienced in Stockholm. But theirs was not a life of luxury. The Nobels lived in a single-story wooden house that gave an impression of bourgeois comfort.

Picture 1.3-A house where the Nobels lived in St. Petersburg

The family invested in the education of the boys. . The Nobel brothers had a Swedish tutor - Lars Santesson, Master of Arts - who taught them Swedish language and history, but also provided them with a broad knowledge, including world literature and philosophy. They also had a skilled Russian teacher, Ivan Peterov who among other subjects taught them the fundamentals of mathematics, physics and chemistry. They learned five languages fluently - aside from their native Swedish they also spoke Russian, English, French, and German. Robert and Ludvig became engineers, while Alfred studied chemistry. His chemistry teachers were Professors Nikolai N. Zinin and Yuli Trapp.

2. The Prize

2.1 A. Nobel's Will

At first glance, it seems odd that the inventor of a powerful explosive would endow a group of awards that includes a peace prize. But Nobel was an industrialist with a conscience.

His interests were not limited to science. In fact, he was a lover of English literature and poetry and wrote several novels and poems. At his death, he left a library of more than 1,500 books, from fiction to philosophy.

Family members were shocked when they learned that Nobel had dictated that his fortune had to be used to establish the Nobel Prizes. They contested his will, but his final wishes were executed and the first awards were distributed in 1901, on the fifth anniversary of his death.

Picture 2.1.1-A. Nobel's testament

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his third and last will at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris. When it was opened and read after his death, the will caused a lot of controversy both in Sweden and internationally, as Nobel had left much of his wealth for the establishment of a prize.

2.2 The Prize and the Diploma

Each winner of a Nobel Prize, which can go to individuals and institutions, takes home a medal, a diploma, and cash, which varies each year and depends on the income earned on the Nobel Foundation fund. In 2008, winners recipients receive 10 million Swedish kroners, or about $1.72 million.

On February 1, the six committees begin considering nominees and make recommendations to the prize-awarding subcommittees in September and early October. The winners must be announced by November 15. Nobel week begins in early October. The Nobel Prizes are awarded on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

Picture 2.2.1-the Nobel Prize

The Nobel prize is made of the mixture of gold and silver with 24 carat or 4.8.g gold coating. Between 1901 and 2012, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 555 times to 856 people and organizations. With some receiving the Nobel Prize more than once, this makes a total of 835 individuals (791 men and 44 women) and 21 organizations.

The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.

Prizes are not automatically awarded each year. They can be withheld if there are no worthy candidates or when a world situation makes awarding the prizes impractical. Because of World War II, no awards were given from 1940-1942. Prizes can also be declined. Even if a prize is declined, the winner is entered in the books, but the cash gift reverts back to the fund. Interesting fact is that in 1937 Hitler issued a decree that forbade Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes.

Nobel laureates receive a diploma directly from the hands of the King of Sweden or the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureates that receive them. The diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize. None of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates has ever had a citation on their diplomas.

3. Winners of the Award

3.1 Winners from Belarus

Our country can be proud of people who were born in Belarus and got the Nobel Prize:

1. Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, born in the Soviet Union, now Belarus, Physics, 2000

2. Shimon Peres, born in Belarus, Peace, 1994

3. Menachem Begin, born in Russian Empire, now Belarus, Peace, 1978

4. Simon Kuznets, born in then Russian Empire, now Belarus, Economics, 1971

Picture 3.1.1-Zhores Alferov getting the Nobel Prize in 2000

Picture 3.1.2-Shimon Peres, ex-president of Israel

3.2 Nobel Prize in Literature

As I'm really interested in Literature in my research work I want to pay more attention to this aspect.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 107 times to 111 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2014.

Here is a list of some authors and the works for which they got the prize:

• The Nobel Prize in Literature 2013:

Alice Munro, "master of the contemporary short story"

• Literature 1996:

Wislawa Szymborska, "for poetry that with ironic precision allows the historical and biological context to come to light in fragments of human reality"

• Literature 1983:

William Golding, "for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today"

• Literature 1982:

Gabriel García Márquez, • "for his novels and short stories, in which the fantastic and the realistic are combined in a richly composed world of imagination, reflecting a continent's life and conflicts"

• Literature 1981:

Elias Canetti, "for writings marked by a broad outlook, a wealth of ideas and artistic power"

• Literature 1970:

Aleksander Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature"

• Literature 1965:

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, "for the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people"

• Literature 1958:

Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, "for his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian epic tradition"

• Literature 1954:

Ernest Miller Hemingway, "for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style"

Picture 3.2.1-"The Old Man and The Sea", painted by A. Petrov

Alfred Nobel had broad cultural interests. During his early youth, he developed his literary interests which lasted throughout his life. His library consisted of a rich and broad selection of literature in different languages. During the last years of his life, he tried his hand as an author and began writing fiction. Literature was the fourth prize area Nobel mentioned in his will.

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to 111 Nobel Laureates since 1901.

4. Practical Part

In practical part of my research I want to show the results of investigation that I have done. I asked pupils of different forms as well as teachers of our school 2 questions:

1. Do you know any Nobel laureates?

2. In what country is the Nobel Prize awarded?

20 basic school pupils and 10 teachers were asked these questions. Unfortunately no correct answers were got from pupils on the 2^nd question. But the name of Einstein was mentioned by 3 pupils. As for teachers, some of them gave correct answers on both questions.

Here are the results of our survey.

Countries where the Nobel Prize is given (mentioned by our teachers):

1. Great Britain-1 person (10% of interviewed) ;

2. Sweden-2 people (20%) CORRECT ANSWER!!!;

3. Don't know-3 people (30%);

4. The USA-4 people (40%)

Do you know any Nobel laureates?

Conclusion

The Nobel Prizes are prizes instituted by the will of Alfred Bernhard Nobel. They are awarded to people, and some organizations, which have done outstanding research, invented groundbreaking techniques or equipment, or made outstanding contributions to society. The Nobel Prizes, which are generally awarded annually in the categories of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace, and economics, are widely regarded as the supreme commendation in the world.

The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. The will of the Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel established the prizes in 1895. The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901.

The work on this project has given much to me: I have learnt about the most famous scientific award in the world (as well as about its creator); I have practiced in making research by means of leading an interview. The results of practical part show that pupils don't know much about it, though I think that it's an interesting topic to study. I hope to continue to study information on the theme because there is much information I didn't manage to read, that's why I think that my hypothesis needs more time to be proved. I think that my work might be interesting for those who want to know at least basic information about the world-wide known prize.

LITERATURE

1. Internet site noblit.ru

2. Internet site ru.wikipedia.org

3. Internet site ftpl.ru

4. Internet site sitefactov.ru

5. Internet site norge.ru

6. Internet site muzey-factov.ru