The Nobel Peace Prize

Alfred Nobel's will stipulated that most of his vast fortune be used to create a prize honouring excellence in medicine, literature, the sciences — and "the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901. Use the tabs above to learn more about the Nobel Peace Prize.

Use the arrows to the left and right of the images to scroll through the Nobel Peace Prize honour roll from 1990 to 2012.



(Source: Nobelprize.org)

Since 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 91 times to 121 laureates from 36 jurisdictions. Hover over the bar chart to see how many laureates have hailed from various countries.


* The Nobel Committee lists Palestine and Tibet as the home countries of laureates Yasser Arafat and the Dalai Lama, respectively. The statehood of both territories is in dispute.

(Source: Nobelprize.org)

Despite seeking to honour individuals and institutions who work to promote peace and non-violence, the Nobel Peace Prize has had its share of controversy. The worthiness of some winners has been called into question. Others thought to be deserving never won at all. Scroll through the gallery to read about some of the more contentious decisions in the award's history.



(Sources: Nobelprize.org, news reports)

An institution as long-standing as the Nobel Peace Prize racks up some interesting statistics. Read on for some numerical details about the honour.



(Source: Nobelprize.org)

Nobel laureates give "lectures" at a formal banquet several months after being named. The Peace Prize laureate gives his or her lecture at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10 — the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel.

The graphic below shows the most popular words in the Nobel lectures (acceptance speeches or written statements when no lecture was given) of each Nobel Peace laureate from 1901 to 2010.



(Sources: Nobelprize.org, Wordle.net)