Page 49 - IFIA_Magazine_No9

IFIA M agazine - S ept ember 2019 |

”discovery or invention” as the
two intended contributions of
beneficiaries of his physics prize.
Nonetheless, since its inception,
approximately 80 percent of the
winners of the Nobel Prize for
Physics have been researchers,
and only 20 percent (at most) of
the laureates have been inven-
tors.

Research by Elisabeth Crawford
in The Beginnings of the Nobel
Institution and others, clearly
shows that the will of Alfred No-
bel, himself an inventor and an
entrepreneur, never intended to
favor scientists over inventors.

Documentary evidence from the
1901 Nobel Committee for Phys-
from outside academia. ics, which is responsible for the
selection of candidates for the
Over the last three decades, persuasive theories have circulated among political Physics Prize, reveals a decision
leaders, suggesting that the scientific community can replace the inventor com- that inventors who had acquired
munity. This has resulted in a measurable decline in government funding for in- a patent or patents for their in-
ventions in the industrial countries of the world. For example, in 2019, the Swedish vention should not be nominat-
government will allocate an estimated EUR 1.74 billion in R&D support for univer- ed for the prize. No such condi-
sities, an additional EUR 1.04 billion for research funding institutions and a just tion featured in Alfred Nobel’s
EUR 18 million or so to independent innovators and inventors. will.

Indeed, two years ago, having lost all government funding, Sweden’s National Moreover, by a decision of the
Inventors’ Association struggled to survive. This decline in funding is exacer- trustee of the will – not by Mr.
bated further by the widespread misconception that only scientists working in Nobel or his will and testament –
academia are inventors. nominations for laureate candi-
dates may only be submitted by
Unfortunately, the historical importance of the world’s most prestigious award in research-related organizations
the field of invention and science, the Nobel Prize for Physics, maintains this mis- and the research community.
conception and thereby puts a brake on the engagement of inventors in industrial
development and growth and thereby, social welfare. Inventors and the organizations
that represent them are not in-
Alfred Nobel’s will cluded in the selection process,
In setting out the basis for the Nobel Prize for Physics in his will, Alfred Nobel listed despite the apparent fact that

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