Page 50 - IFIA_Magazine_No9

| IFIA M agazine - S ept ember 2019

Alfred Nobel intended “inventors” to be one of the two categories to be considered for the prize.

A re-examination of Mr. Nobel’s will and recognition of his intention to reward inventors as well as scientific re-
searchers seems appropriate. Under such circumstances, national inventors associations or the International Fed-
eration of Inventors’ Associations (IFIA), which represents 140 inventor organizations in 100 countries, stand ready
to nominate candidates for a physics award related to the invention.

At a time when the world is facing daunting challenges, invention and innovation are more important than ever. In
the face of these complex challenges, we need to explore all possible avenues to inspire and encourage the youth
of today to become the inventors and scientists of tomorrow. Recognition of the value of invention by the Nobel
Committee would go a long way in achieving this.

Inventions with a disruptive impact on society

Despite their disruptive impact on society and the global economy, none of the inventions listed below has been
awarded a Nobel prize:

• The airplane (fixed wing, jet)
• The refrigerator (mechanical/compressor)
• The television
• Polyethylene (the world’s most common plastic)
• The computer
• The credit card
• The respirator
• The videotape
• The heart-lung machine
• The pacemaker
• The LCD display
• The artificial kidney
• The calculator
• E-mail
• Computer graphics
• The mobile phone (and associated networks, e.g. NMT and GSM)
• The World Wide Web
• Satellite-based navigational systems such as GPS

Arguably, most of these inventions have made “the greatest benefit to humanity”, and thereby qualify for the prize,
in accordance with Alfred Nobel’s will.

49