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NOBEL-CEREMONIES
Nobel laureates receive prizes at home amid pandemic
STOCKHOLM, Dec 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Adjusting to a world where travel is
hampered by the pandemic, this year’s Nobel laureates will receive their
prizes at home this week following the cancellation of the traditional
Stockholm and Oslo ceremonies.
The awards in the six categories were announced in nearly typical fashion
in October, albeit with fewer reporters in physical attendance.
However, none of the winners will travel to Stockholm or Oslo to receive
their diplomas and medals due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ceremonies are traditionally held on December 10, the anniversary of
the 1896 death of the prize’s founder, Swedish entrepeneur and inventor of
dynamite Alfred Nobel.
The lavish Stockholm ceremony hasn’t been cancelled since World War II, and
the last time the Oslo ceremony was scrapped was in 1976 when the peace prize
was “reserved” until the following year owing to a lack of suitable
nominations.
First out to accept her Nobel this year will be France’s Emmanuelle
Charpentier, the co-laureate in chemistry who will take part in a ceremony on
Monday evening with the Swedish ambassador in Berlin.
Her co-laureate Jennifer Doudna will receive the honours at a ceremony in
Berkeley, California, on Tuesday.
The west coast US state will also see economics winners Paul Milgrom and
Robert Wilson get their awards in Palo Alto on Tuesday and physics laureate
Andrea Ghez receive her prize in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
The two other physics winners, Roger Penrose and Reinhard Genzel, will
accept their prizes in London and Munich on Tuesday.
Medicine laureates Harvey Alter and Charles Rice will receive their prizes
at Swedish diplomatic missions in Washington and New York.
New York poet Louise Gluck will accept her literature prize at her home, as
will Briton Michael Houghton, who shared the medicine prize and lives in
Canada.
The prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, which is normally handed out in Norway’s
capital Oslo, will be presented in Rome on Thursday to World Food Programme
executive director David Beasley at a ceremony broadcast online.
In lieu of the traditional ceremony in Stockholm, which is normally
followed by a lavish royal banquet, a ceremony broadcast live without an
audience will be held in Stockholm’s city hall on Thursday, including a
concert and videos of the awards being handed out.
The festivities conclude a week of lectures and speeches by the laureates,
held online this year.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1744 hrs