3°
How Einstein
got the Nobel Prize
The procedure of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for awarding the Nobel
prize in physics is in outline as follows. Invitations to nominate are sent out by a
five-member Nobel Committee (hereinafter called the Committee) elected from
the membership. This Committee studies the proposals and supporting material,
draws up a protocol of its deliberations, and decides by majority vote on a rec-
ommendation to the Academy. The recommendation is then transmitted in the
form of a report (hereinafter called the Report) that summarizes the merits of the
proposals handed to the Committee and gives the reasons for its decision. The
recommendation is voted on first by the Academy Klass (section) of physics. Then
follows the decisive vote by the Academy in plena (not just the physicists). These
votes need not agree with the Committee's recommendation. For example, in 1908
the Committee unanimously proposed Planck. The Klass vote was also in support
of Planck. But the Academy chose Lippmann.
The case of Planck sheds additional light on the controversial nature of the
quantum theory in its early days. 'This suggestion [ Planck] got a rough treatment
in the Academy. ... After the defeat in 1908, the Committee had gotten "cold
feet" as far as Planck was concerned. Also, of course, the importance but also the
contradictions of quantum theory came more into focus from around 1910 on,
[and] so the award to Planck was postponed in the hope that the difficulties of the
quantum theory could be sorted out' [Nl].
It was my privilege to be given access to Committee Reports and letters of pro-
posal bearing on Einstein's Nobel prize. Once more, I thank all those in authority
for entrusting me with this material, especially Professor Bengt Nagel, who was
kind enough to answer additional questions.
The Academy's decisions have nearly always been well received by the com-
munity of physicists. To be sure, eyebrows (including my own) are raised on
occasion. That, however, is not only inevitable but also irrelevant to the account
about to be given. My sole focus will be upon matters of great historical interest:
the scientific judgments of leading physicists who made the proposals and the judg-
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