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1
Einstein's Proposals
for the Nobel Prize
Einstein's Nobel prize proposals enable us to catch glimpses of what, in his judg-
ment, were and were not important issues in his time. In what follows, the reader
will find neither a dissertation on the virtues, follies, and harm of prizes and
awards, nor a gossip column about personalities.
Nine of the following entries refer to physics proposals. Unless noted otherwise,
they are all addressed to the Nobel Committee in Stockholm in the form of letters.
There are also seven proposals for the peace prize directed to the Storting in Oslo.
One entry deals with correspondence about a Nobel prize in medicine for Sigmund
Freud, another concerns a literature prize for Hermann Broch.- Fall 1918. In September 1918 Einstein received a request from Stockholm
for a nomination in physics for the year 1919. In his response,* he proposes
Planck for his achievements on the subject of heat radiation and especially for the
two papers "On the law of the energy distribution in the normal spectrum" and
"On the elementary quanta of matter and electricity." 'Because of this work, the
author has not only given a first exact determination of the absolute size of atoms
but especially [he has] also laid the foundations for the quantum theory, the fer-
tility of which for all of physics has become manifest in recent years.'** Einstein
stresses that Bohr's theory of spectra is also based on Planck's work.
On November 13, 1919, Planck is awarded the physics prize for 1918. - January 19, 1921. Einstein endorses the proposal of the Czech parliament
to give the peace prize to Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the first president (from 1918
to 1935) of the young nation of Czechoslovakia. In his letter, Einstein lauds
Masaryk for his role in protecting oppressed minorities, especially the Czechs and
the Jews, and adds, 'I am convinced that awarding him the Nobel prize would
represent a beautiful victory for international reconciliation... .'f - October 26, 1923. In response to another request for a nomination in phys-
ics, Einstein writes that he finds it difficult to make one definite proposal. 'In order
'Undated but no doubt written in the fall of 1918.
**The references given in [PI] and [P2] occur explicitly in Einstein's letters.
tSee further [Ml].513