The fallout over who did — and who did not — win the Nobel Peace Prize has been somewhat muted, at odds with the widespread commentary from various governments and politicians who had pushed for it to be given to US President Donald Trump.
Instead, the 2025 award went to Venezuelan opposition politician Maria Corina Machado, who, as she tries to protect the shreds of her country’s democracy, is living in hiding after death threats.
The White House said in a statement that the Nobel committee had placed “politics over peace”, while Norwegians reportedly braced themselves for retribution. But, so far, so quiet. It was the weekend, after all, and the whole world has ADHD.
The science prizes are awarded for those boring, geeky, propeller-head endeavours where real work gets done
The politicking around the award misses the point about the Nobel prizes, for which there were originally five categories: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and peace. A sixth award, for economic sciences, was added in 1968.
The science prizes are awarded for those boring, geeky, propeller-head endeavours where real work gets done. This year, the physics prize was awarded to John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis for experiments that show quantum physics in action.
It’s all deeply unsexy stuff, partly because science is about uncovering objective truths rather than indulging in “feels” or “alternative facts”.
The prizes were a gift in perpetuity to society from the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. Apart from the prizes that bear his name, he is best known for inventing ballistite — originally used in smokeless artillery shells — and dynamite. Tiny elephants in the oak-panelled room at the Nobel Institute where the peace committee deliberates.
Anyway, everything is politics now that the world is on fire, and many people love the smell of cordite in the morning.
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