Nobel assembly bend the rules

Nobel Prizes are traditionally not awarded posthumously, so what happens when one of the laureates dies just before the prize announcements?

In early October, Göran Hansson, secretary general of the Nobel committee couldn’t get in touch with Ralph Steinman to tell him he’d been jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. The reason – Steinman had lost his hard-fought battle with pancreatic cancer just three days before the announcement was made.

The Nobel assembly was thrown in to disarray – traditionally, the Nobel Prizes cannot be awarded posthumously, but Steinman’s death was actually made public on the same day the Nobel announcement was made. It would seem wholly unfair that the award should be taken away considering the short time period between his death and this award – so what were they to do?

Prior to 1974, there would have been no problem – rules stated that prizes could be awarded posthumously if the recipient was nominated before the February of the same year.  In 1931, Erik Axel Karlfeldt received the Nobel Prize for Literature after his death that April. Similarly the 1961 Peace Prize was awarded to Dag Hammarskjöld, who died in a plane crash in September that year.

The rules changed in 1974, and now stated the Prize could only be awarded posthumously if the recipient died between the Prize being announced and the award ceremony in December. Unfortunately, Steinman had died three days before the Prize was announced, therefore should his nomination be void?

Steinman was nominated for the award for his discovery of dendritic cells in the immune system. These cells help to regulate the next stage of the immune system’s response when invading microorganisms are purged from the body. In fact, Steinman was being treated with a dendritic-cell based therapy which stemmed from his own research.

His recommendation was received long before his death, and the assembly made their decision to award Steinman half of the 10m Swedish crown prize before they learned of his unfortunately-timed death. The Nobel assembly decided – in my opinion quite rightly – that the prize should stand, and have hopefully updated their rules accordingly.

"The Nobel prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel laureate was alive," a statement from the Nobel foundation read.

A statement from Rockefeller University – where Steinman had been professor of immunology since 1988 – said the news was bittersweet: while they were delighted that Steinman’s seminal discoveries had been recognised, they were saddened by the news of his death the very same morning.

"This is a great tragedy. Ralph Steinman's work was ahead of its time and he waited too long for the Nobel Prize,” said Paul Nurse, President of the Royal Society – and a Nobel Laureate himself. “To die just days before its announcement is almost too much to bear. He will be remembered as one of the great immunologists of our time."

Steinman’s daughter Alexis said: "We are all so touched that our father's many years of hard work are being recognised with a Nobel Prize. He devoted his life to his work and his family, and he would be truly honoured."

Author Kerry Taylor Smith Staff Writer, Laboratory News