The Nobel Foundation () is a private institution founded on 29 June 1900 to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes.^[1] The Foundation is based on the last will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.^[2] It also holds Nobel Symposia on important breakthroughs in science and topics of cultural or social significance.

Nobel Symposia

In 1965, the Foundation initiated the Nobel Symposia, a program that holds symposia "devoted to areas of science where breakthroughs are occurring or deal with other topics of primary cultural or social significance."^[3] The symposia has covered topics such as prostaglandins, chemical kinetics, diabetes mellitus, string theory, cosmology, and the Cold War in the 1980s.^[4] The Nobel Symposium Committee consists of members from the Nobel Committees in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine; the Prize Committee for Economics; the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation; and the Wallenberg Foundation.^[3]

Michael Nobel Energy Award

In 2007 Dr. Michael Nobel, a great grand nephew of Alfred Nobel, attempted to start a prize called the Michael Nobel Energy Award that would award innovations in alternative energy technology.^[5][6] The plan was announced at nanoTX 07. The Nobel Foundation quickly reacted by threatening legal action for infringement of their trademark.The Director of the Nobel Foundation and the elected Chairman of the Board of the Nobel Family Society disapproved to the institution of the so called 'Dr. Michael Nobel Award' as well as the Nobel Charitable Trust and Nobel Family Benevolent society. ^[7][8][9]

Michael Nobel was born as Michael Oleinikoff. Michael's father Sven Oleinikoff changed to his mother's maiden name Nobel, and subsequently, so did Michael.

Michael has not (as of June 2008) abided to the advice of the Nobel foundation and the Nobel family head, but continues his efforts to establish a new prize in his own (taken) name. ^[10]

Notes

See also

• Lars Ernster (1920-1998) ? a professor of biochemistry and a former member of the Board of the Nobel Foundation
• List of wealthiest foundations
• Nobel Conference

External links

• "2007 Nobel Conference" ? Official site of the "2007 Nobel Conference" at Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minnesota. Accessed October 28, 2007.
• The Nobel Foundation? Official site of the Nobel Foundation.
• "Nobel Symposia" ? Official webpage of the Nobel Foundation.
• "The Will of Alfred Nobel" ? Official webpage of the Nobel Foundation; quotes a pertinent excerpt.

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