Dergi Bursa Ekim 2017 - Sayı 45

71 Leyla Erbil Bob Dylan Yaşar Kemal Leonid Hurwicz the Nobel Peace Prize. Prof. Dr. Aziz Sancar was awarded the 2015 Nobel Chemistry Award with his work on how cells repair damaged DNA and preserve the genetic information. The awards that conflict with the life of Alfred Nobel as well as the works he put forth started to be given in 1896 by committees formed by the Nobel Association upon his last will and testament. At first, it disturbed many people that a man whose death was announced in newspapers with headings such as, “The merchant of death has died” was commemorated with his works for humanity, peace and goodness. There were those who asserted that blood dripped from the awards and that the works and researches they carried out along with the success they gained did not need these awards. There were also those who questioned why a man who spent his life on inventions that harm humanity wanted to reward those who strived for the benefit of mankind. Some thought that it was to relieve his conscience, whereas others thought that it was to eternalize his name… However, the real reason was quite different. The newspaper reports on the death of his brother Ludwig Nobel… Newspapers that mistakenly thought that it was Alfred Nobel who died printed headlines about him such as “Monster”, “Merchant of Death”, “Inventor of Dynamite, Savage Man”. Indeed, there were even reports that mentioned him as, “Dr. Alfred Nobel who became rich by finding ways of killing people faster than ever before…”. Alfred Nobel who had the chance before passing away to learn what people would talk of him after he died changed his last will and testament and wanted all his money to be used for the benefit of mankind, the establishing of a foundation for this purpose and the rewarding of those who worked for humanity. The Nobel Awards are now accepted as the most prestigious award in the world. The awards that crown successes in the fields of literature, physics, chemistry, medicine and peace interest scientists, politicians, writers, companies as well as individuals. Those who left a mark on a history of 116 years… • Le Duc Tho was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with USA Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1973 for his contributions to the peace in Vietnam but refused to take the prize. • Leonid Hurwicz was the oldest person to receive the prize in 2007 in the field of Economical Sciences at the age of 90. • The French author Jean Paul Sartre who refused all official awards throughout his life refused the Nobel Literature Award in 1964. •Germany’s Adolf Hitler government did not allow Richard Kuhn (Chemistry, 1938), Adolf Butenandt (Chemistry, 1939) and Gerhard Domagk (1939) to receive their prizes. • The first Nobel Physics Prize was given to the German Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen for the discovery of the x-ray and his superior services to mankind. • 3 people were awarded while in prison (The German reporter- author Carl von Ossietzky who led the “War – Never Again!” campaign (1935) Ang San Su Çi who struggled against the Myanmar militarist dictatorship peacefully and non-violently (1991) and Liu Xiaobo who was taken into custody due to the “Charter 08” that suggested the democratization of China (2010) • The International Red Cross Committee received the Nobel Peace Prize six times until now. • Marie Curie was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Curie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. • The Nobel Awards could not be given during 1940 and 1942 because of the 2nd World War. • Yaşar Kemal, Nobel Edebiyat Ödülü’ne aday gösterilen ilk Türk yazardı. Aynı ödüle aday gösterilen ilk kadın yazar Leyla Erbil’di.