How are the winners of the Nobel prizes chosen?
诺贝尔奖是如何选出获奖者的？
2 October 2026
Firstly, what are the Nobel prizes?
首先，什么是诺贝尔奖？
Each year in October, a collection of prizes recognises those in science, literature and peace whose discoveries or actions have had the greatest impact on society. The prizes honour Alfred Nobel – a Swedish chemist, inventor and engineer, who famously invented dynamite.
每年10月，诺贝尔奖陆续揭晓，表彰那些在科学、文学与和平领域作出杰出贡献、其发现或行动对社会产生深远影响的人士。诺贝尔奖以阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔命名。诺贝尔是瑞典化学家、发明家和工程师，因发明炸药而闻名。
His last will – signed in November 1895, around a year before he died – stipulated that his 31 million Swedish kronor fortune, about £190 million in today’s money, should be split between five different fields – physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. In 1969, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences joined the list of prizes as part of the 300th anniversary celebrations for Sweden’s central bank.
1895年11月，也就是去世前约一年，诺贝尔签署了遗嘱，规定将其3100万瑞典克朗的遗产——按今天的价值计算约合1.9亿英镑——分设为五个奖项，分别表彰物理学、化学、生理学或医学、文学和和平领域的成就。1969年，为庆祝瑞典中央银行成立300周年，瑞典国家银行增设“瑞典国家银行纪念阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔经济学奖”，即通常所说的诺贝尔经济学奖。
A maximum of three people can win the prize. Bengt Nordén, former chair for the Nobel committee for chemistry, told Chemistry World in 2015 that ‘one person is ideal because then you make someone an icon for representing something’.
每个诺贝尔奖项最多授予三人。前诺贝尔化学委员会主席本特·诺登在2015年接受《化学世界》采访时表示：“一人获奖是最理想的，因为这样才能让一个人成为某项成就的象征性人物。”
What is the process of choosing a Nobel laureate and how long does it take?
诺贝尔奖得主是如何选出的？整个过程需要多长时间？
The overall process takes around 16 months to complete. The Nobel committees get the ball rolling by sending out confidential requests for nominations in the September of the year before the next awards. Nominators then have until 31 January to put forward who they think should win the prize. Once all the nominations are in, the Nobel committees spend the next few months whittling down the list and investigating the researchers nominated.
从启动提名到最终确定获奖者，整个过程大约需要16个月。诺贝尔委员会会在颁发下一年度诺贝尔奖前一年的9月发出保密的提名邀请，由此启动整个评选程序。获得邀请的提名人需要在次年1月31日前提交他们认为应该获奖的人选。提名截止后，诺贝尔委员会会在接下来的几个月里对候选名单进行筛选，并深入调查和评估被提名的研究人员。
‘It takes time to evaluate and confirm that this was the really big groundbreaking discovery and the person nominated is the right one,’ explained Nordén. A group leader, for example, may be associated with a discovery, but it may have been the work or idea of a postdoc or PhD student in the group.
诺登解释说：“这需要时间来评估和确认，这确实是一项真正具有突破性的重大发现，同时还要确认被提名的人确实是最合适的获奖者。”例如，一名研究团队负责人可能被认为与某项重大发现密切相关，但真正完成这项工作、提出关键思想的，也许是团队中的博士后研究人员或博士生。因此，委员会需要仔细厘清一项成果究竟属于谁。
Once the committees reach a consensus, the prizes are announced from the first Monday in October at 11.45am Swedish time each day, in the order of: physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The prize in economic sciences is announced in the following week.
委员会达成最终共识后，诺贝尔奖从10月第一个星期一开始陆续公布。瑞典时间每天上午11时45分公布一个奖项，顺序依次为：生理学或医学奖、物理学奖、化学奖、文学奖和和平奖。经济学奖则在下一周公布。
The new Nobel science and literature laureates then attend an award ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden on 10 December – the anniversary of Nobel’s death. There, the King of Sweden presents them with an 18-carat gold medal and a diploma. The ceremony for the Nobel peace prize takes place on the same day but in Oslo.
新当选的诺贝尔科学奖和文学奖得主随后会于12月10日前往瑞典斯德哥尔摩音乐厅参加颁奖典礼。12月10日是诺贝尔逝世的纪念日。在典礼上，瑞典国王将向获奖者颁发18克拉金质奖章和获奖证书。诺贝尔和平奖的颁奖典礼同样于12月10日举行，但地点不在斯德哥尔摩，而是在挪威首都奥斯陆。
Can anyone win a Nobel prize?
任何人都有资格获得诺贝尔奖吗？
There aren’t any formal conditions that dictate whether someone is eligible or not to receive a Nobel prize, except that nominators can’t put themselves forward.
诺贝尔奖并没有一套严格的正式资格条件来规定谁可以或不可以获奖，唯一明确的限制之一是：提名人不能提名自己。
Nordén explained that many people think that scientists are awarded the prize as a lifetime achievement award, which is not the case. He said that when he was involved in the process, the committee had a few criteria of their own to help them decide.
诺登解释说，很多人认为科学家获得诺贝尔奖是一种“终身成就奖”，但实际情况并非如此。他表示，在自己参与诺贝尔奖评选期间，委员会有一些内部标准，用来判断一项成果是否值得获奖。
‘The achievement should somehow open a door or open our eyes, we will see things in a different way,’ he said. ‘There should [also] be a substantial impact for the field of chemistry,’ Nordén said, adding that the impact of a laureate’s work should have a ‘richness of consequences’ and stand the testament of time.
“这项成就应该以某种方式打开一扇新的大门，或者让我们眼前一亮，使我们能够以一种不同的方式认识世界。”他说。他还强调，这项成果应该对相关领域产生实质性的影响。以化学奖为例，获奖工作的影响应该具有“丰富而深远的后果”，并且能够经受时间的检验。
In contrast to Nobel’s will, prizes are no longer awarded just to discoveries made in the previous year. Nordén explained the reason for this is time: time for discoveries to have consequences and time for the committee to evaluate a nominee.
与诺贝尔遗嘱最初的设想相比，如今的诺贝尔奖也不再只授予前一年取得的发现。诺登解释说，这是因为需要时间让一项发现产生实际影响，同时也需要时间让评选委员会充分评估候选人及其成果。
Who can put researchers forward for a Nobel prize?
谁可以提名诺贝尔奖候选人？
Only those who receive a confidential invitation from a Nobel committee can nominate for the following year’s prize. Nordén said that the committee used to send out around 3000 invitations and receive about 300 responses each year. He added that they tried to send invitations all around the world, particularly to those earlier in their careers ‘who are much more alert and aware of what’s happening’. Nominators can submit several suggestions for people or topics that they think should be awarded a prize.
只有收到诺贝尔委员会保密邀请的人，才有资格提名下一年度的诺贝尔奖候选人。诺登曾介绍，化学委员会过去每年大约发出3000份提名邀请，但最终收到的提名回复约为300份。他表示，委员会会尽量将邀请发往世界各地，尤其重视职业生涯较早期的研究人员，因为“他们往往更加敏锐，也更加了解正在发生的新变化”。一名提名人可以提交多位候选人，也可以提出多个他们认为值得获得诺贝尔奖的人选或研究主题。
The Nobel chemistry committee stipulates that those who can nominate include: members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; past Nobel laureates in chemistry or physics; chemistry professors from the Nordic countries; those who have been a chair of at least six universities or university colleges selected by the Academy of Sciences elsewhere in the world; or anyone else that the academy sees fit. Nordén said the list of invitees changes each year: ‘If you are not active, you are removed from the list.’
以诺贝尔化学奖为例，化学委员会规定，具有提名资格的人包括：瑞典皇家科学院成员；曾获得诺贝尔化学奖或物理学奖的得主；北欧国家的化学教授；由瑞典皇家科学院选定的、来自世界其他地区的至少六所大学或大学学院的校长或负责人；以及科学院认为适合担任提名人的其他人士。诺登表示，受邀提名人的名单每年都会调整。“如果你不再活跃，就会从名单中被移除。”
The committee then keep details of nominations secret for 50 years. While the committee may not recognise a researcher or a field with a prize in a given year, it is not uncommon for them to win the prize in a later year.
委员会随后会对提名信息严格保密50年。因此，我们今天通常无法知道某一年度究竟有哪些人被提名。尽管一位研究人员或某一研究领域即使在某一年没有获奖，也并不意味着以后没有机会。事实上，候选人在多年后最终获奖的情况并不少见。
For example, Linus Pauling was first nominated in 1940, and many times in the following 14 years, before finally winning the Nobel prize in Chemistry in 1954.
例如，莱纳斯·鲍林早在1940年就首次获得诺贝尔化学奖提名，此后14年间又多次获得提名，最终于1954年凭借其在化学领域的贡献获得诺贝尔化学奖。
