The Nobel prizes: what message do they send?
The winners of the 2025 Nobel prizes have been announced by the Swedish and Norwegian institutions responsible for awarding them. Four of the ten winners in the categories of physics, chemistry, medicine and literature come from the US, two from Japan and one each from the UK, France, Australia and Hungary. The media discuss the significance of the awards as "Nobel Prize Week" draws to an end.
A human face for research
Nobel Prizes are a proven and successful means of making science transparent to the general public, says De Volkskrant:
“Everyone knows about the Nobel Prize, even those for whom science is not at the top of their list of interests, and this makes people particularly curious about the researcher and his story. This is the main merit of the Nobel prizes: They give a face to scientific breakthroughs for the general public. Every year, they remind us that scientific and technological progress is not something that 'just happens', but that people of flesh and blood are behind it. Through hard work, success and failure, they endeavour to advance human progress.”
US at the forefront despite Trump
The current US administration's anti-science policies haven't hindered US researchers when it comes to winning Nobel Prizes, observes the Süddeutsche Zeitung:
“The Nobel prizes are traditionally awarded for research that dates back decades, so the Trump administration's destructive actions have not yet caused any harm. But there is also hope in the present. The network that has made the US the world's foremost location for science for decades is simply too diverse and wide-ranging. Private donors and sponsors, a large number of specialist journals and reviewers, personal connections and experience continue to enhance the good reputation of science and research there and maintain its high quality. ... The world can continue to build on this wealth of knowledge and expertise. It cannot be wiped out by decree.”
A Western instrument
It's only right that alternatives to the Nobel Peace Prize emerge elsewhere in the world, Kremlin-friendly Kommersant newspaper explains:
“The Nobel Peace Prize has always been part of a specific sociopolitical model and an instrument of a specific community. In the rest of the world, its decisions often caused annoyance, even though their prestige remained undisputed. ... In the current environment, we are likely to the creation of new awards by 'interest groups', for example the International Leo Tolstoy Peace Prize, an award established by Russia. The Nobel Peace Prize will thus increasingly become an instrument of the Western community and be perceived as such by countries that are not part of that community.”