In an article titled "Nobel Peace Prize Myths, Explained," CBS News states, "- Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful. More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments." What does Alfred Nobel's will say about that?

Datsmeharse

Nobel's will stipulates that the Peace Prize be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." http://nobelprize.org/alfred_nobel/will/will-full.html Like the other categories, especially Literature, it seems the respective committees sometime act beyond Nobel's mandate when choosing a laureate. Oct 09 09, 11:00 PM

star_gazer

Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will a prize be awarded to champions of peace, specifically "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Since he set this goal in 1895, the committee has liberally interpreted his intentions, awarding the prize to everyone from Mother Teresa to Yasser Arafat. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2087994 Oct 09 09, 11:01 PM

queproblema

Thank you both for correct answers and pertinent links. Datsme's has the English translation of the full text of Alfred Nobel's will; Star's a much more accurate and complete treatment of the will and its execution than CBS offered. The point here is that Nobel wanted prizes awarded for accomplishment but the committee has become a squad of cheerleaders that sometimes awards the prize as encouragement to do something noteworthy in the future. The Norwegian Parliament selects that committee of five. http://nobelprize.org/prize_awarders/ The will, naturally written in future tense (Nobel was still living!) uses the future perfect tense to describe the winners: "who shall have done." I asked a FT friend in Sweden if the tense is the same in Swedish. She replied, "The will of Nobel in Swedish was perfectly translated in English. The Peace Prize shall be awarded to a person who has done, not to the person who shall do." Here's that portion of the will in Swedish. http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobelpriset#Testamente No, of course I'm not editorializing! I'm merely engaging in a point of trivia here over a grammatical/legal question of a will and its execution. ;) Oct 10 09, 11:53 AM