1 Journal of Alexandria Medical Students

Mohammed Abd El-fattah

Fifth Year Medicine (Undergraduate)

Ooh…you will talk about Nobel

Prize; it's my dream….. Really, so

you know about it? …Ooh, of

course!!! Faithfully not so much …

Okay let's know about it …

The Nobel Prize is named after

Alfred Nobel, who made a fortune

in the munitions industry after

inventing dynamite. When he died

in 1896, Nobel’s estate was worth

more than 33 million kronor with

one year’s interest from the fortune

equal to the annual budget of

Sweden’s greatest university.

Nobel’s will, written in 1895,

dedicated the majority of this estate

to prizes for those who had

“conferred the greatest benefit on

mankind” by making “the most

important discovery or invention”

in the fields of physics, chemistry

and physiology or medicine. In

1901, five years after Nobel’s death,

the first Nobel Prizes were

awarded.

But, What about The Nobel Prize in

Medicine?

Alfred Nobel had an active interest

in medical research. Physiology or

medicine was the third prize area

Nobel mentioned in his will.

“The said interest shall be divided

into five equal parts, which shall

be apportioned as follows: /- - -/

one part to the person who shall

have made the most important

discovery within the domain of

physiology or medicine ...”

(Excerpt from the will of Alfred

Nobel)

In 1901, Emil von Behring was

awarded the first Nobel Prize in

Physiology or Medicine for his

work on serum therapy,

particularly for its use in the

treatment of diphtheria. The

Medicine Prize has subsequently

highlighted a number of important

discoveries including penicillin,

genetic engineering and blood-

typing. The Nobel Prize in

2 Journal of Alexandria Medical Students

Physiology or Medicine is awarded

by the Nobel Assembly at

Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

But, I don't tell me, who are the last

winner, and for what? …

Okay let's know about The Nobel

Prize in Physiology or Medicine

2010 which was awarded to Robert

G. Edwards "for the development of

in vitro fertilization".

But in the next volume … keep in

touch...

3 Journal of Alexandria Medical Students