Editing Nobel Prize (section)

=== Medals ===
{{Main|Nobel Prize medal}}
[[File:Nobel Prize Diploma Fritz Haber 1918.JPG|thumb|alt=A heavily decorated paper with the name "Fritz Haber" on it.|[[Fritz Haber]]'s diploma is shown, which he received for the development of a method to synthesise [[ammonia]]. Laureates receive a heavily decorated diploma together with a gold medal and prize money.]]
The Nobel Foundation announced on 30 May 2012 that it had awarded the contract for the production of the five (Swedish) Nobel Prize medals to Svenska Medalj AB. Between 1902 and 2010, the Nobel Prize medals were minted by [[Myntverket]] (the Swedish Mint), Sweden's oldest company, which ceased operations in 2011 after 107 years. In 2011, the Mint of Norway, located in Kongsberg, made the medals. The Nobel Prize medals are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Medalj – ett traditionellt hantverk |trans-title=Medals: A traditional Craft |url=http://www.myntverket.se/products.asp?lang=sv&page=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218102934/http://www.myntverket.se/products.asp?lang%3Dsv%26page%3D3 |archive-date=18 December 2007 |access-date=15 December 2007 |website=[[Myntverket]] |language=sv}}</ref>

Each medal features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the [[obverse and reverse|obverse]]. The medals for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death. Nobel's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Peace Prize medal and the medal for the Economics Prize, but with a slightly different design. For instance, the laureate's name is engraved on the rim of the Economics medal.<ref name="Feldman2">[[Nobel Prize#Feldman|Feldman]], p. 2.</ref> The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize. The reverse sides of the medals for chemistry and physics share the same design.<ref name="Paulingmedal">[http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/bond/pictures/nobel-chemistry-medal.html "Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Front and back images of the medal. 1954"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110812032606/http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/bond/pictures/nobel-chemistry-medal.html |date=12 August 2011 }}, "Source: Photo by Eric Arnold. Ava Helen and [[Linus Pauling]] Papers. Honors and Awards, 1954h2.1", "All Documents and Media: Pictures and Illustrations", ''Linus Pauling and The Nature of the Chemical Bond: A Documentary History'', the [[The Valley Library|Valley Library]], [[Oregon State University]]. Retrieved 7 December 2007.</ref>

All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 [[carat (purity)|carat]] gold. Since then, they have been struck in 18 carat [[coloured gold#Green gold|green gold]] plated with 24 carat gold. The weight of each medal varies with the value of gold, but averages about {{convert|175|g|lb}} for each medal. The diameter is {{convert|66|mm|in}} and the thickness varies between {{convert|5.2|mm|in}} and {{convert|2.4|mm|in}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lemmel |first=Birgitta |title=The Nobel Prize Medals and the Medal for the Prize in Economics |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/medals/ |access-date=2 April 2010 |publisher=Nobel Foundation |archive-date=5 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180705121601/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/medals/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Because of the high value of their gold content and tendency to be on public display, Nobel medals are subject to medal theft.<ref name="UniversityofCalifornia">{{Cite press release |title=Nobel Prize medal stolen from Lawrence Hall of Science is found, student arrested |publisher=[[University of California]] |url=http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/8975 |access-date=21 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111230223/http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/8975 |archive-date=11 January 2009}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes">{{Cite news |last=Kumar |first=Hari |date=26 March 2004 |title=Poet's Nobel Medal Stolen |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/world/world-briefing-asia-india-poet-s-nobel-medal-stolen.html?fta=y |access-date=21 January 2010 |archive-date=19 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110919102631/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/26/world/world-briefing-asia-india-poet-s-nobel-medal-stolen.html?fta=y |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Reuters">{{Cite news |date=16 June 2007 |title=Police hand back Tutu's stolen Nobel medal |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1646982020070616 |access-date=21 January 2010 |archive-date=24 January 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100124040533/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1646982020070616 |url-status=live }}</ref> During World War II, the medals of German scientists [[Max von Laue]] and [[James Franck]] were sent to Copenhagen for safekeeping. When Germany invaded Denmark, Hungarian chemist (and Nobel laureate himself) [[George de Hevesy]] dissolved them in [[aqua regia]] (nitro-hydrochloric acid), to prevent confiscation by [[Nazi Germany]] and to prevent legal problems for the holders. After the war, the gold was recovered from solution, and the medals re-cast.<ref name="Feldman397">[[Nobel Prize#Feldman|Feldman]], p. 397.</ref>