Why is there no Nobel Prize in mathematics?
The Nobel Prizes were created by the efforts of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel. The Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually by the Swiss Academy of Sciences since 1901 in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace and Economics (since 1969 ). Alfred preferred areas that have a counterpart in everyday life more when creating fields. Although some areas exist both theoretically and practically, Alfred’s idea was that the award should be given in cases that are more practice-oriented. For example, Physics prizes were awarded for experimental work rather than for advances in theory. It seems that these areas have a counterpart in society in terms of experimental or practical use, but why do you think mathematics is not among these areas?Dec. Or does Mathematics have no equivalent in society ? Is it not used experimentally or in practice ? Besides, doesn’t he contribute to humanity ?
It is Widely Known to be Wrong!
The most common reason for the absence of Mathematics among the fields is that Alfred Nobel’s lover Sophie Hess was Decoyed by Gösta Mittag-Leffler, one of the famous Mathematicians of the period. If Alfred Nobel, who learned about this situation, adds the field of mathematics, he does not think about such a field, thinking that it would be a sad situation for him to give the prize to the person he cheated on his lover October.
However, this information is incorrect. Alfred has not been married all his life and there is no evidence to support this story, so we are eliminating this misinformation.
On the other hand, Gösta was succeeded by Mittag-Leffler as the second King of Sweden.He demanded that Oscar should be awarded Mathematics prizes, and with the King’s acceptance, Alfred Nobel may not have seen any need to include such an award specifically under the name of Mathematics Prizes and Nobel Prizes already exist.
Below you will see a specific part of the cover and content of the Mathematics Prizes requested by Gösta Mittag-Leffler to the King. If you want to see the whole, you can check out the Institut Mittag-Leffler.
Introduction
The main purpose of this page is to present digitizations of three documents by Henri Poincaré from the early history of the prize competition in honour of King Oscar II and arranged by Gösta Mittag-Leffler. The unique originals are preserved at Institut Mittag-Leffler in Djursholm, Sweden. To explain the significance of these manuscripts a summary is given below of how the dramatic story unfolded, followed by links to the documents and a list of some references for further reading.
Background
In 1885 Gösta Mittag-Leffler could look back at a successful start on his career as the first professor in mathematics of the newly founded Stockholms högskola (later to become Stockholm University). After his education and doctor’s degree from Uppsala, he had spent three years in Paris and Berlin while he forged firm bonds with many leading European mathematicians. He then turned to Helsinki where he broadened his horizons as a dedicated and strong-willed professor. Four years later, in 1880, he returned to his native Stockholm. The new principles on which Stockholms högskola was founded gave Mittag-Leffler the opportunity to work out his ideas of how mathematical education and research should be organized and promoted. He attracted several talented postgraduates, and managed to engage Sofia Kovalevskaya as lecturer and later full professor at the department. The journal Acta Mathematica which he founded in 1882 was right from the beginning received as a leading international publication. It established itself as an effective transmitter of new mathematical ideas between France and Germany in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71).
The new idea
One of Mittag-Leffler’s inventive ideas in promoting Acta Mathematica was to turn to King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, both for financial support of the project and as the first enlisted subscriber. In 1884 another grand idea from Mittag-Leffler had matured. Again involving King Oscar, he now wanted to arrange an international prize competition in mathematics honouring the 60th birthday of the king. It seems that Mittag-Leffler first revealed his plan to Kovalevskaya. We find a short reference in a letter to her from 4 May 1884. A month later it is clear from another letter by Mittag-Leffler that she had by then discussed the prize with Karl Weierstrass. In July Mittag-Leffler for the first time briefed Weierstrass on the plans.
It was first decided to form a small prize jury consisting only of three members: Mittag-Leffler himself, acting as administrative and coordinative liaison with his mentors and friends Karl Weierstrass in Berlin and Charles Hermite in Paris. They were not only the two dominant mathematicians of the older generation, but there was also a special sympathy between them. This would be a prize awarded not for past contributions, but for a solution to an unsolved problem specified by the committee. In order to attract the best mathematicians from different branches of mathematical analysis they agreed on four questions. The first three seem to have been proposed by Weierstrass and the fourth by Hermite. It took a year of intense discussions to settle all the details, which were then officially announced in Volume 7 of Acta Mathematica in the middle of 1885.
The special features of this competition was the international and ambitious appeal, and the connection not to an academy or institution, but to the journal Acta Mathematica, where the winning entry finally was to be published. The prize consisted of a gold medal and 2,500 Swedish kronor. (As a comparison, Mittag-Leffler’s annual salary as professor was 7,000 kronor.) The memoirs should be submitted before 1 June 1888 (almost three years after the announcement), with anonymity maintained through a motto on an enclosed sealed envelope containing the name of the author.
Therefore, it is likely that Alfred Nobel did not include the field of Mathematics in the Nobel Prizes because there are Mathematics Prizes. But it is not conclusive evidence.
Is mathematics not experimental or practical ? Does it not contribute to humanity ?
First of all, it is necessary to divide mathematics into platonic mathematics and natural mathematics. In addition, there may be many subheadings other than this distinction, but we will look at whether Mathematics is experimental by examining only 2 basic areas in terms of the field it represents.
Platonic Mathematics
It is a type of mathematics that has no fundamental connection with the physical world. I say “fundamental Decoupling” because the Decoupling between nature and esoteric mathematical concepts occurs in unexpected places, like the amazing decoupling between grasshoppers and prime numbers.
At first glance, Platonic mathematics seems to represent a challenge to the traditional understanding of science. According to the common view, theories are tested against nature — but nature is only one source of experimental evidence, not the only one. Any internally consistent system can serve as a source of theory and experimental evidence. Therefore, let’s see the examples that represent Platonic Mathematics. Euler’s Prime Generator Function, The Monty Hall Problem, The Four-Color Map Problem, Euler Formula, The Axiom of Choice, Fermat’s Last Theorem.
As can be seen from the examples, even if it can be adapted to everyday life in an experimental sense, we may still not accept it experimentally.
Natural Mathematics
It is the kind of mathematics that arises from the mysterious efficiency with which mathematics defines nature. Therefore, it is connected with the physical world.
We now turn to what many scientists regard as the language of nature, the sort of mathematics we use to describe the natural world. Nobel Prizewinner Richard Feynman had this to say about mathematics:
To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature … If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in.
Let’s see examples that represent Natural Mathematics. A Plague of Prime Numbers, Dirac’s Equation. These examples can make a direct contribution.
Conclusion
As a result, it has a contribution to humanity, whether directly or indirectly, and it can also be said that it is experimental in some subjects. Of course, it can be debated whether these contributions are as much as other fields, but the lack of mathematics, which is a very basic field, is important. Of course, there are some other award arrangements related to the field of mathematics, such as the Leelavati Award given by the International Mathematical Union or the aforementioned Mathematics Awards.
In addition, although it is called the “Nobel of Mathematics”, it was 2003 when the Abel Prize was awarded. On the other hand, it is an award given by the International Association of Mathematicians to 2, 3 or 4 mathematicians under the age of 40 at the International Congress of Mathematicians held every 4 years, and is again considered the “Nobel of Mathematics”. This award has been given since 1936. In addition, being limited by age prevents it from being universal like the Nobel Prizes. Although these Awards and organizations are very valuable, we can say that they are somewhat limited in terms of reaching as wide an audience as the Nobel Prizes. If you pay attention, the awards we are talking about are called the “Nobel of Mathematics”. Rather than such a reminder, the inclusion of Mathematics in the field of Nobel Prizes may turn into a different path in terms of the development of Mathematics.
But if Mathematics were included in the Nobel Prize category, it wouldn’t be bad at all.
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References:
1- https://cs.uwaterloo.ca/~alopez-o/math-faq/mathtext/node21.html
2- http://www.mittag-leffler.se/library/henri-poincare
3- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates
5- http://euclid.trentu.ca/math/sb/misc/mathsci.html
6- http://www.project2061.org/publications/sfaa/online/chap2.htm
