Mathematics and Nobel Prize

PrizeAlfred Nobel (1833-1896) made his fortune through the manufacture of explosives. He was born in Sweden, grew up in Russia, studied chemistry and technology in France and the US, and built up companies in several countries all over the world. In his will, Nobel designated the establishment of annual prizes to be given in five areas: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. PrizeAlfred Nobel (1833-1896) made his fortune through the manufacture of explosives. He was born in Sweden, grew up in Russia, studied chemistry and technology in France and the US, and built up companies in several countries all over the world. In his will, Nobel designated the establishment of annual prizes to be given in five areas: Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace. The prizes are intended to reward specific discoveries or breakthroughs, and the impact of these on the discipline. The first prizes were awarded in 1901. In 1968, a sixth prize was added, in Economics, donated by the Bank of Sweden to celebrate its tercentenary. Strictly speaking, it is not a Nobel Prize but "the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel." The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the prizewinners for physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and economics, the Nobel Institute at the Karolinska Institute awards the prize in medicine, and the Norwegian Nobel Institute handles the Peace Prize. The monetary amount of each prize varies from year to year. In 2003 it was SEK10 million, about $1.3 million.
Although Nobel did not will a prize for mathematics, over the years many mathematicians have won a Nobel Prize. Taking a fairly generous interpretation for what constitutes being a mathematician, the mathematical Laureates are:
1902 Lorentz (Physics)
1904 Rayleigh (Physics)
1911 Wien (Physics)
1918 Planck (Physics)
1921 Einstein (Physics)
1922 Bohr (Physics)
1929 de Broglie (Physics)
1932 Heisenberg (Physics)
1933 Schroedinger (Physics)
1933 Dirac (Physics)
1945 Pauli (Physics)
1950 Russell (Literature)
1954 Born (Physics)
1962 Landau (Physics)
1963 Wigner (Physics)
1965 Schwinger (Physics)
1965 Feynman (Physics)
1969 Tinbergen (Economics)
1975 Kantorovich (Economics)
1983 Chandrasekhar (Physics)
1994 Selten (Economics)
1994 Nash (Economics)
Overall, a fairly good showing for mathematics. Still, this isn't the same as having a prize for mathematics itself.
A number of theories have been put forward to explain the omission of mathematics from Nobel's original list. The most colorful suggestion is that Nobel was miffed at mathematicians after discovering that his wife had had an affair with the Swedish mathematician Magnus Mittag-Leffler. Of all the theories, this is the easiest to dismiss, for the simple reason that Nobel never had a wife. Another oft-repeated suggestion is that Nobel hated mathematics after doing poorly in it at school. It may or may not be true that Nobel wasn't good at math, but there is no evidence to suggest that a negative high school experience in the math class led to a desire to get back at the mathematicians later in life by not giving them one of his prizes.
By far the most likely explanation, I think, is that he viewed mathematics as merely a tool used in the sciences and in engineering, not as a body of human intellectual achievement in its own right. He also did not single out biology, possibly likewise regarding it as just a tool for medicine, a not unreasonable view to have in the late 19th century.