Founding and foundations of the Nobel Prize
Sturegatan 14 - location of the Foundation
– in 1989, the amount of the Nobel Prizes was increased from 880 to 000 million SEK, but only in 3 was the real value of the first prize of 1991 reached. From 1901, the amount of the prize was increased to compensate for losses caused by inflation. In 1991, the winners received checks for the first time in the amount of 2001 million CZK. The first laureates in 10 received 1901 crowns, which corresponded to about twenty of the average professor's annual income. If we compare the incomes of the most eminent scientists of our time, then the amount of premiums has not yet reached such a level. The money is administered by the Nobel Foundation.
The Nobel Foundation was founded on June 29, 1900. The first awards were presented 6 years after the death of Alfred Nobel, in 1901, for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine and literature? in Stockholm and for the cause of peace? in Oslo.
Nobel wanted to give scientists the opportunity to do interesting research with financial rewards. He joined literature among the award-winning fields, probably because he wanted to write himself, but was not very successful in this area.
The Peace Prize, on the other hand, was originally considered a penance for Nobel, who created many explosives (such as nitroglycerin, dynamite, cordite, odorless gunpowder). The day before he died, he wrote that he had just invented nitrocellulose smokeless powder. In total, he announced 355 patents worldwide. A very large part of his fortune was derived from interests based on explosives. But a friend of Alfred Nobel insisted that the founder of the prize believed in this? the improvement of the means of destruction in the conduct of wars has a greater chance of putting an end to them than all the peace congresses put together. As a result, Alfred Nobel did not feel guilty about the explosives he produced.
The property left by Alfred Nobel is administered by the Nobel Foundation, but no prizes are awarded. In the year of Alfred Nobel's death, his entire fortune was estimated at 33,234 million crowns. The executors of the will: Ragnar Zolman (then 26) and Rudolf Liljekista (then 40), had to divide the interest on capital into five equal parts - bonuses in specific areas of science. The Fund also had to take care of the safety of property held in securities. Although great attention was paid to financial security, in the 20s and 30s, as a result of the Great Depression and inflation, wealth declined. Until 1946, the Fund, perceived as a company of capital, had to pay high taxes. In 1922, the calculated tax was higher than the sum of the premium for 1923. Only in the mid-40s was she exempted from income and social taxes.
In the 60s, the method of investing money was changed, and investments began in real estate, forestry and agricultural enterprises. In the 70s, the Nobel Foundation invested its assets in stocks, and in the late 80s, in the real estate market. Under the management of Stig Ramel, the idea arose to take his real estate into his own company, which could then be sold on the stock exchange. In October 1987, Bavaring was founded. The fund sold its real estate at a high profit in the early 90s, before the Great Depression, and its capital was doubled.
“But our philosophy is still to invest without risk,” says Solman, the grandson of the original fund manager. It was only in the 90s that the real value of property reached the value of the period immediately after the death of the Nobel Prize.
As of 1 January 2000, the Fund may also, through an amendment to the rules, add accounting and exchange rate gains on the sale of assets to the remuneration.
Restrictions on ownership of shares, which had hitherto amounted to a maximum of 70% of assets, have also been lifted. The only limitation is that the long-term cost of the substance must not be adversely affected in order to maintain real value.
