RE: Few Christian Nobelists- why??

Scott A. Oakman (oakma001@maroon.tc.umn.edu)
Tue, 21 Oct 97 09:09:44 -0500

Moorad Alexanian writes:
At 01:59 PM 10/20/97 -0400, Vandergraaf, Chuck wrote:
[..]
>>Does anybody know what the criteria are? Is there a point system? More
>>often than not, scientific breakthroughs and advances are achieved by
>>teams of scientists but how does one decide who in a team of scientists
>>gets the Nobel prize? Is there a quota for minorities and, if so, what
>>determines a minority? Should the scientists who cloned Dolly receive a
>>Nobel prize? Is there such a thing as "politically incorrect" science
>>that makes one ineligible for a Nobel prize? Certainly in non-science
>>areas there is the appearance at least that one has to be politically
>>correct to receive a Nobel prize.
>[...]
>None of us knows what Nobel laureates believe after they received their
>prizes. The average age of Nobel laureate is around 34. Therefore, there are
>many years left for them to go deeper into what the whole thing is all about
>beyond their limited research accomplishments.

This seems too young to me.
I don't follow all the Nobel categories closely, but it seems to me that at
least in Physiology and Medicine, the award is treated more as a "lifetime
achievement award", or a recognition of work done a decade or more ago that has
had profound lasting implications on subsequent science.

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Scott Oakman Graduate Program in Neuroscience
University of Minnesota MD/PhD Program
oakma001@maroon.tc.umn.edu
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