Title: "The Road to Stockholm. Nobel Prizes, Science, and Scientists"
Author: István Hargittai
Publisher: Oxford University Press 28 March 2002 UK price £19.99 (hardback)
ISBN 0-19-850912-X 360 pages 24pp halftone plates
The year 2001 was the centennial of the first award of the Nobel prizes. They remain the only science prizes widely recognized by the general public and the media; for a few days each Autumn there is international and local news, sports news and science news when the achievements of the year's Nobel Laureates are acclaimed. There are many other science prizes, how has this one captured the public attention? Have you ever wondered how the selection process works? Or whether the award of this prize changes the lives of those who receive it? István Hargittai has thought about this for some years; he has interviewed some 70 Nobel Laureates and other distinguished scientists in the fields of "chemistry", "physics", and "physiology and medicine" and distilled his findings into this book, where he explores the answers to these questions. This book is not concerned with the Prizes in economics and literature and although the title includes the word "science", this is incidental to the sociology, these people happened to be scientists; the author has sensibly refrained from trying to describe the science itself in detail, that would have made a much longer book. If you want to learn more of the science there are copious references in the Notes section which is almost 50 pages long, and useful for History of Physics Group members who are curious about other topics.
The first chapter explains the history of the Nobel Prizes and the annual selection process and mentions other science prizes, including the "reverse Nobel prize" known as the "Ig Nobel prize" bestowed by the Annals of Improbable Research on individuals whose "achievements cannot or should not be reproduced".
The next chapter "Nobel prizes and National Politics" explores the distribution of prizes amongst scientists of various nationalities. One problem is that the scientists themselves are more often citizens of the world than of any one country, and may not themselves have the aspirations attributed to them by others. We read (p 29) that Boris Vashtein, evaluating the life and work of Dorothy Hodgkin, noted that she "has done much for the glory of her homeland". As Hargittai remarks "This reflected more Vashtein"s way of thinking than Hodgkin"s aspirations". Scientists naturally migrate to other countries even in peace time, and in the 1930s many who later became Nobel Laureates fled Nazi Germany. The small number of prizes for Japanese scientists may also be an indication of the timidity of Western Science towards Japan.
"Who wins Nobel prizes?" is the question posed in the third chapter. The author tries to assess the common qualities which Nobel laureates possess, and speculates on whether it may be possible to train people to become Prize winners. A later chapter on "Mentors" describes how students naturally wish to work with inspiring eminent scientists who may later win Nobel prizes; a famous example is Enrico Fermi who came to Rome in 1927 looking for students, and found Emilio Segrè, then enrolled as an engineering student, and offered to teach him physics. After graduation Segrè worked with Pieter Zeeman inHolland and Otto Stern in Hamburg before returning to Rome where he participated in the discovery of slow neutrons in Fermi's laboratory. Both Segrè and Fermi emigrated to America just before the second World War where both of them were mentors for younger scientists.
Equally interesting is the last chapter, "Who did not win?", where possible reasons are discussed as to why those who surely deserved a Nobel prize did not receive one. J.D.Bernal is perhaps the most notable crystallographer, he did the first X-ray diffraction experiments on a protein in 1934 and thus opened up the whole science of protein crystallography, the study of the structure of viruses and other macromolecular structures.
Another example is Leo Slizard, nominated by Maurice Goldhaber for the prize in Physics in 1949 when he stated "His contributions are not confined to Physics and Chemistry. His interest in his fellow man and in the preservation of peace has always been intense.' James Watson, joint winner of the prize for medicine with Francis Crick in 1962 for the discovery of the structure of DNA was a great admirer of Slizard. He said 'He was always two steps ahead of everyone else. When you go too fast it threatens people.'
Both Bernal and Slizard might be termed 'scientific visionaries', although they may not have published as much as others, their ideas were a great inspiration for others who did win the Prize. Since the deliberations of the Nobel Prize Committees remain sealed for 50 years we cannot know exactly why Bernal and Slizard did not receive prizes. There are also some important newly discovered topics such as "quasi-crystals" whose discoverers have not yet received a Nobel Prize. Dan Shectmann received the Aminoff Prize for his discovery of quasi-crystals in 2000. Hargittai speculates that the Aminoff Prize may be becoming a "consolation prize" for those not awarded a Nobel prize.
The book lists the Nobel Prizes awarded in scientific fields up to 2001; it has an index to the names of the scientists but no subject index. This would have made it a much better reference tool for those who wonder which important scientific discoveries have been awarded a Nobel prize. Nevertheless, the book is very good value for money, a well produced hardback for just under £20, but the publisher saved money by binding all the photographs together in one place, I would have preferred them distributed throughout the text. If you are interested in the history and sociology of science or just wondering how to groom your students to become future Nobel prizewinners buy this book.
Kate Crennell
22 November 2002