According to his will, Alfred Nobel's enormous fortune was to be used to establish prizes to award those who had done their best to benefit mankind in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901, five years after Nobel's death.
What is the prize?
The amount of prize money depends upon how much money the Nobel Foundation can award each year. The purse has increased since the 1980s, when the prize money was 880 000 SEK (c. 2.6 million SEK, US$350 000 today) per prize. In 2009, the monetary award was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million).
Where is the prize held?
Stockholm: since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have been presented to the Laureates at ceremonies. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway and the Nobel Prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine and Literature and the Prize in Economic Sciences are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden.