Editing Nobel Prize (section)

=== Recognition time lag ===
Nobel's will provided for prizes to be awarded in recognition of discoveries made "during the preceding year". Early on, the awards usually recognised recent discoveries.<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 1999 |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/articles/espmark/index.html |access-date=10 February 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=26 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110426075458/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/articles/espmark/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> However, some of those early discoveries were later discredited. For example, [[Johannes Fibiger]] was awarded the 1926 Prize in [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine|Physiology or Medicine]] for his purported discovery of a parasite that caused cancer.<ref name="Levinovitz125">[[Nobel Prize#Levinovitz69|Levinovitz]], p. 125.</ref> To avoid repeating this embarrassment, the awards increasingly recognised scientific discoveries that had withstood the test of time.<ref name="Abrams25">[[Nobel Prize#Abrams|Abrams]], p. 25.</ref><ref name="embo">{{Cite journal |last=Breithaupt |first=Holger |year=2001 |title=The Nobel Prizes in the new century: An interview with Ralf Pettersson, Director of the Stockholm Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, the Karolinska Institute, and former chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology/Medicine |journal=EMBO Reports |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=83–5 |doi=10.1093/embo-reports/kve034 |pmc=1083830 |pmid=11258715|issn=1469-221X }}</ref><ref name="scienceline1">{{Cite web |date=7 October 2009 |title=Nobel Prize in Physics Honors "Masters of Light" |url=http://www.scienceline.org/2009/10/06/blog-liu-nobel_physics-200/ |access-date=19 February 2010 |website=Scienceline |archive-date=2 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502180558/http://www.scienceline.org/2009/10/06/blog-liu-nobel_physics-200/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to Ralf Pettersson, former chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology or Medicine, "the criterion 'the previous year' is interpreted by the Nobel Assembly as the year when the full impact of the discovery has become evident."<ref name="embo" />

[[File:Nobelinstituttet 20080913-01.jpg|thumb|alt=A room with pictures on the walls. In the middle of the room there is a wooden table with chairs around it.|The committee room of the Norwegian Nobel Committee]]
The interval between the award and the accomplishment it recognises varies from discipline to discipline. The Literature Prize is typically awarded to recognise a cumulative lifetime body of work rather than a single achievement.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All Nobel Laureates in Literature |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/ |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226100944/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-literature/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Nobel Prize in Literature |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/ |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=14 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514004338/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Peace Prize can also be awarded for a lifetime body of work. For example, 2008 laureate [[Martti Ahtisaari]] was awarded for his work to resolve international conflicts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peace 2008 |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2008/index.html |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=9 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109130550/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2008/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bryant |first=Lisa |date=10 October 2008 |title=Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari Wins Nobel Peace Prize |work=[[Voice of America]] |publisher=International Broadcasting Bureau |url=http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-10-voa8.cfm |url-status=dead |access-date=27 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117162443/http://voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-10-voa8.cfm |archive-date=17 November 2008}}</ref> However, they can also be awarded for specific recent events.<ref>{{Cite web |title=All Nobel Peace Prize Laureates |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/ |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226100955/https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-peace-prizes/ |url-status=live }}</ref> For instance, [[Kofi Annan]] was awarded the 2001 Peace Prize just four years after becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations.<ref name="Abrams330">[[Nobel Prize#Abrams|Abrams]], p. 330.</ref> Similarly [[Yasser Arafat]], [[Yitzhak Rabin]], and [[Shimon Peres]] received the 1994 award, about a year after they successfully concluded the [[Oslo Accords]].<ref name="Abrams27">[[Nobel Prize#Abrams|Abrams]], p. 27.</ref> A [[Nobel Prize controversies|controversy]] was caused by awarding the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to [[Barack Obama]] during his first year as US president.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 October 2016 |title=Here are the most controversial Nobel Prize-winners ever |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/13/here-are-the-most-controversial-noble-prize-winners-ever.html |access-date=31 August 2022 |publisher=[[CNBC]] |archive-date=27 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927151850/https://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/13/here-are-the-most-controversial-noble-prize-winners-ever.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=17 September 2015 |title=Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34277960 |access-date=31 August 2022 |archive-date=31 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220831161116/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34277960 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Awards for physics, chemistry, and medicine are typically awarded once the achievement has been widely accepted. Sometimes, this takes decades – for example, [[Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar]] shared the 1983 Physics Prize for his 1930s work on stellar structure and evolution.<ref name="currentscience">{{Cite journal |last=Vishveshwara |first=C. V. |author-link=C. V. Vishveshwara |date=25 April 2000 |title=Leaves from an unwritten diary: S. Chandrasekhar, Reminiscences and Reflections |url=http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/apr252000/generalia.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=Current Science |volume=78 |issue=8 |pages=1025–1033 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227013938/http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/apr252000/generalia.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2008 |access-date=27 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |year=1983 |title=Subramanyan Chandrasekhar – Autobiography |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1983/chandrasekhar-autobio.html |access-date=11 June 2010 |publisher=[[The Nobel Foundation]] |archive-date=18 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818041100/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1983/chandrasekhar-autobio.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Not all scientists live long enough for their work to be recognised. Some discoveries can never be considered for a prize if their impact is realised after the discoverers have died.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 October 2004 |title=Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott's Contribution to Dynamic Macroeconomics |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2004/ecoadv.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090626035538/http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2004/ecoadv.pdf |archive-date=26 June 2009 |access-date=15 January 2010 |publisher=[[Nobel Foundation]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Gingras |first1=Yves |last2=Wallace |first2=Matthew L. |year=2010 |title=Why it has become more difficult to predict Nobel Prize winners: a bibliometric analysis of nominees and winners of the chemistry and physics prizes (1901–2007) |journal=Scientometrics |volume=82 |issue=2 |page=401 |arxiv=0808.2517 |citeseerx=10.1.1.604.9844 |doi=10.1007/s11192-009-0035-9 |s2cid=23293903}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Editorial |year=2009 |title=Access : A nobel prize : Nature Chemistry |journal=Nature Chemistry |volume=1 |issue=7 |page=509 |bibcode=2009NatCh...1..509. |doi=10.1038/nchem.372 |pmid=21378920 |doi-access=free}}</ref>