The foundation that organises the Nobel Prizes said Thursday that for the second year in a row the winners in science and literature would receive their awards in their home countries, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
The foundation added that a decision on the Peace Prize, which is traditionally awarded in Norway, had not been made yet. The Nobel Committee "is still keeping open the possibility of welcoming the year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate(s) to Oslo," it said.
"As a child, I promised my mother I would win the Nobel Prize in Physics. 50 years later, I said to my mother, 'See, I have kept my promise. I won the Nobel Prize.' 'No,' said my mother, 'You promised it would be in physics!'"
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) September 16, 2021
- Kenzaburo Oe, awarded the 1994 literature prize pic.twitter.com/dAALhbD9iP
It is to announce the format of the Oslo ceremony by mid-October.
"I think everybody would like the COVID-19 pandemic to be over, but we are not there yet," Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation, said in a statement.
"Uncertainty about the course of the pandemic and international travel possibilities is the reason why the 2021 laureates will receive their medals and diplomas in their home countries," he continued.
The winners are announced in early October but are usually handed out at large, lavish ceremonies in the two Scandinavian capitals on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the prizes' founder Alfred Nobel who died 1896. Last year, the foundation also decided to give out the science and literature prizes in the laureates' respective home countries due to the travel restrictions imposed over the pandemic.
The Scottish physician and biologist John Boyd Orr argued that food and prosperity for all leads to peace.
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) September 23, 2021
He was awarded the #NobelPeacePrize 1949 "for his lifelong effort to conquer hunger and want, thereby helping to remove a major cause of military conflict and war." pic.twitter.com/HtSSYGgjkY
The prizes for science are in medicine, chemistry and physics. Like in 2020, the 2021 ceremonies "will be a mixture of digital and physical events," the foundation said. The Nobel Prizes, which this year celebrate their 120th anniversary since the first awards in 1901, will be announced between 4 and 11 October.
Happy 99th birthday to theoretical physicist Chen Ning Yang .
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) September 22, 2021
Yang shared the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physics with Tsung Dao Lee for investigating the parity laws, which led to discoveries regarding the elementary particles. pic.twitter.com/Wg0VzoZjW6
Medicine will be announced on the Monday, followed by physics the next day and chemistry on Wednesday, October 6. The highly anticipated literature and peace prizes will be announced on Thursday and Friday respectively, followed by the economics prize created by Sweden's central bank on the following Monday.
