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Nobel Foundation: Why we said no to reform

By Michael Sohlman

10 February 2010

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

The Nobel Foundation responds to New Scientist’s call for change

(Image: Oliver Morin/AFP/Getty Images)

LAST year, a group of 10 scientists brought together by New Scientist wrote an open letter to the Nobel Foundation calling for an overhaul of the Nobel prizes. The group suggested that to keep the Nobels relevant, the foundation should introduce prizes for the environment and public health, and open them to institutions as well as individuals. It also suggested reforming the existing physiology or medicine prize to recognise contributions from across the life sciences, especially neuroscience and genetics.

The letter was taken very seriously. Marcus…

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