Awards for Discovery
we don't properly understand. In film, we have the Academy Awards, whilst on the web we have The Webbies. Some prizes, such as the Nobel Prize, Fields Medal and Pulitzer Prizes, have a long and distinguished history, while others such as the XPRIZE are more recent creations. Some prizes, such as the Ig Nobel Prize and the Golden
pe: like prizes. Competition drives humans forward in a way
Pineapples were mainly created for their humorous value. Prizes are not a recent phenomenon. The Longitude Prize, originally won by John Harrison, is being revived in Britain in 2014 to mark its 300" anniversary. The original prize, £10,000 in its day, was awarded by the British government for making a device that allowed ships to determine their East-West position (a sextant only gives north-south). The 2014 prize is £10m pounds and the topic will be chosen by public vote! Here is a small history of some of the more famous prizes.
Nobel Prizes
Alfred Nobel spent his life developing weapons and explosives. His laboratory was built in the middle of a lake with a bridge running to it, so if he blew himself up doing an experiment, only he would die. He managed to stabilize nitroglycerine by mixing it with saltpeter and created
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_016055