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Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by evgen on Monday October 05, 2020 @10:03AM (#24687833)
The alternative to this will then tend towards the extreme you see with papers like the one out of CERN that had more than 5000 co-authors. Eventually you need to set a limit and accept the fact that some people will get screwed, if not then it will become not much more than a participation trophy.
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by j7ake on Monday October 05, 2020 @10:33AM (#24688097)
One does not need to accept the fact that people will get screwed. Breakthrough prize does not limit the number of awardees. There has been one award so far that was given to 300 people for the image of a supermassive black hole. The rest have been to groups of <10.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Prize_in_Fundamen...

Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by mongol on Monday October 05, 2020 @11:34AM (#24688652)
There is nothing wrong with the idea but it is not legally possible to do otherwise. The Nobel Foundation was instated using instructions in Nobel's testament. The foundation can not just change the bylaws because more recipients would be better.
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by hardtke on Monday October 05, 2020 @12:18PM (#24689105)
They seem to ignore this bylaw freely ... "shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind."
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by tpmx on Monday October 05, 2020 @04:06PM (#24691450)
That's from the Norwegian Nobel Peace prize comittee, which has been grossly mismanaged for years. There are/were lawsuits from the Swedish Nobel family regarding this.
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by tpmx on Monday October 05, 2020 @09:34PM (#24693969)
Oops. That language isn't specific to the peace prize even then though it kinda sounds like it it. Still, my comment stands.
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by AtlasBarfed on Monday October 05, 2020 @04:42PM (#24691809)
Counterpoint: Economics "In honor of Nobel" Prize. The committee goes out of its way to enable this being viewed as a "real" Nobel, so if the bylaws were so strict, why do that?
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by Ulrich2 on Monday October 05, 2020 @12:28PM (#24689223)
Why does anyone get screwed here? Getting a prize is totally optional. It is not a salary or something.
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by WhompingWindows on Monday October 05, 2020 @02:26PM (#24690484)
Who's suggesting 5000 as the upper limit? That is an outlier.

The point is the Laureates have collaborators who they believe contributed equally, and according to internationally agreed-upon scientific standards, acknowledgement should be given to these scientists. The Nobel Prize is contributing to this "Great Man" theory of history, when in reality every "Great Man" has numerous collaborators who only get illuminated in the sub-paragraphs of the plethora of writing about these figures.

Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by jonshariat on Monday October 05, 2020 @12:42PM (#24689379)
What if instead there were honorees or something that still had some recognition?
Re:The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2020 by Shivetya on Monday October 05, 2020 @12:56PM (#24689530)
then simply recognize the organization