- Paperback: 388 pages
- Publisher: OUP Oxford; New Ed edition (28 Aug 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0198607857
- ISBN-13: 978-0198607854
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,147,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Review
According to Hargittai, "Our students, our children, the general public, all of us would benefit from knowing a little more about science and how it comes about because so much in our modern life depends on it" (p xii). We think that The Road to Stockholm goes a long way toward making this goal a reality. (The Chemical Educator )
... an absorbing chronicle. (The Sunday Times )
The Road to Stockholm is filled with interesting comparisons between scientists who won Nobel Prizes and those who did not, and between scientists whose lives were disrupted by Nobel fame and those who tried to carry on with business as usual after standing in the international spotlight. You won't find a universal recipe for winning science Nobel Prizes in the book, but the variety of ingredients in these success stories makes this a flavorful and interesting read. (Chemical & Engineering News )
This volume [...] is engaging, rich with anecdote, and full of detail ... Although The the Road to Stockholm is factual and reliable, it has the flavour of a lengthy conversation with an intelligent and engaging friend. (Lancet )
... an interesting and important book. (Chemistry International Newsmagazine ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
... an absorbing chronicle. (The Sunday Times )
The Road to Stockholm is filled with interesting comparisons between scientists who won Nobel Prizes and those who did not, and between scientists whose lives were disrupted by Nobel fame and those who tried to carry on with business as usual after standing in the international spotlight. You won't find a universal recipe for winning science Nobel Prizes in the book, but the variety of ingredients in these success stories makes this a flavorful and interesting read. (Chemical & Engineering News )
This volume [...] is engaging, rich with anecdote, and full of detail ... Although The the Road to Stockholm is factual and reliable, it has the flavour of a lengthy conversation with an intelligent and engaging friend. (Lancet )
... an interesting and important book. (Chemistry International Newsmagazine ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Chemistry International Newsmagazine
"... an interesting and important book."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
A Swedish professor, who is deeply interested in Nobel affairs but annoyed by the criticism about some omissions among the Nobel laureates, exclaimed recently: The Academy could get rid of all criticism by forgetting about the prizes. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
A Swedish professor, who is deeply interested in Nobel affairs but annoyed by the criticism about some omissions among the Nobel laureates, exclaimed recently: The Academy could get rid of all criticism by forgetting about the prizes. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book is one of many that were first published at, or just after, the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes. It is concerned purely with the science prizes and starts with a chapter giving an overview of the Prizes, how the Will of Alfred Nobel created them, and how various institutes in Sweden administer them. There follows a chapter on how the Prizes have played a role in national politics, for example when Hitler forbade German nationals from accepting the award, and how some governments lobby for their national candidates.
Then the book turns to the central question of who wins the Prizes. The author examines in several chapters what were their discoveries, and explores if there are any common characteristics shared by prize winners, such as possible adversity in their early lives, where they were educated and worked, who were their mentors, and does a particular personality increase one's chances of getting an award. The examples are heavily weighted by winners of the chemistry prize (understandably, as this is the author's field of research) and, to a slightly lesser extent, the prize for medical science. Winners of the Physics Prize are mentioned only occasionally. The book concludes with two interesting chapters: one on the effect of winning a Prize on the recipient (Is there life after the Nobel Prize?) and another on people who, for one reason or another, did not win a Prize.
The author clearly has carried out a great deal of research on the Nobel Prizes for science and their winners, and he is not blind to the defects of the awarding mechanism. The result is a book containing a wealth of facts, comments and anecdotes, all backed up by numerous references, although they come across as a series of rather disjoint vignettes of prize winners. However, because the choice of which Prize winners are discussed is not clear, although many are people whom the author has either known, or spoken to, in the course of preparing several published volumes of interviews with distinguished scientists, the validity of any general conclusions drawn must be in some doubt.
Overall, this is an interesting book based on substantial research, but with all the data and information the author must have, I am disappointed in its presentation.
Then the book turns to the central question of who wins the Prizes. The author examines in several chapters what were their discoveries, and explores if there are any common characteristics shared by prize winners, such as possible adversity in their early lives, where they were educated and worked, who were their mentors, and does a particular personality increase one's chances of getting an award. The examples are heavily weighted by winners of the chemistry prize (understandably, as this is the author's field of research) and, to a slightly lesser extent, the prize for medical science. Winners of the Physics Prize are mentioned only occasionally. The book concludes with two interesting chapters: one on the effect of winning a Prize on the recipient (Is there life after the Nobel Prize?) and another on people who, for one reason or another, did not win a Prize.
The author clearly has carried out a great deal of research on the Nobel Prizes for science and their winners, and he is not blind to the defects of the awarding mechanism. The result is a book containing a wealth of facts, comments and anecdotes, all backed up by numerous references, although they come across as a series of rather disjoint vignettes of prize winners. However, because the choice of which Prize winners are discussed is not clear, although many are people whom the author has either known, or spoken to, in the course of preparing several published volumes of interviews with distinguished scientists, the validity of any general conclusions drawn must be in some doubt.
Overall, this is an interesting book based on substantial research, but with all the data and information the author must have, I am disappointed in its presentation.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
How to win (or not win) the Nobel Prize
2 Dec 2002
Format:Hardcover
Professor István Hargittai, a Hungarian research chemist, has written a beautiful book about the myths and stories surrounding the Nobel Prizes for physics (P), chemistry (C), and medicine or physiology (M). Starting from the somewhat vague Nobel's Will, written in 1895, he goes on to analyze various aspects of the organization of the Nobel Foundation, national politics associated to the assignment of the prize, and the common characteristics of the winners. Many nobelists have carried out scientific experiments during their childhood while others have followed the steps of a great mentor, in some case himself a winner. Surprising for us is the kind of hardships (i.e., persecutions, illnesses, poverty, etc.) that many nobelists have faced during the initial steps of their scientific careers. Perhaps these hardships acted as catalysts in persuing one's goals. Working either in a stimulating and creative environment (for example, the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge produced a lot of winners) or in a research field different from that of origin may represent additional ingredients for success. A final (12-th) chapter is dedicated to the non-winners, i.e. top level scientists that didn't receive the prize in spite of their fundamental discoveries and contributions to science. Among them we find the russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (Periodic Table of the Elements), the botanist Michael Tsweet (discoverer of chromatography), Oswald Avery (the proposer that DNA, not proteins, is the genetic material), Leo Szilard (physicist and molecular biologist), Arnold Sommerfeld (one of the founders of quantum mechanics), the chemist G.N. Lewis (important contributor to the fields of chemical thermodynamics and the electronic structure of molecules), and Lise Meitner (co-discoverer - with Otto Hahn - of nuclear fission), just to cite some examples. An important name missing here is that of John von Neumann, the Hungarian-born mathematical physichist that, in addition to having been a child prodigy, contributed greatly in the fields of set theory, algebra, quantum mechanics, and computer science. The reader interested in the remaining Nobel Prizes (Literature, Peace, Economics) may complement this book with Burton Feldman's "The Nobel Prize : A History of Genius, Controversy and Prestige".
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
"What Singular Prize is only for Three, Two or One?"
21 Nov 2007
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The Road to Stockholm: Nobel Prizes, Science, and Scientists", by Istvan Hargittai, Frwd. James Watson, Oxford Univ. Press, GB 2002/3, ISBN: 0-19-860785-7, PC 344 pages, includes Preface, Acknowledgments, Notes 48 pgs., Nobelists (1901-2002) 28 pgs., & Name Index 10 pgs., plus 59 glossy B & W photographs. 7 7/8" x 5".
Hargittai, Professor of Chemistry and Structural Chemist Researcher at Budapest and Eotvos Univs. is extensively published. He's personally acquainted with many Nobelists discussed in this book and was guest lecturer at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, 2001 on this book's contents.
He discusses establishment of the Nobel Prize(s) in 1895 by Alfred Nobel (1833-'96) and details his Will, it's Statutes, categories, nomination & selection processes, and awards bestowed (medals, money, and ceremonies). The book has focused chapters: -- on biases, who wins, discoveries, adversities, incentives toward science career, venues, mentors, changing fields, making impact, life after a Nobel Prize, and who did not win and why.
Of interest are the personal reflections of scientists both upon themselves, their associates and others in allied fields over impact of discoveries to themselves and society. Hargittai writes in interesting, educational and entertaining prose, a style to maintain the reader's interest. He discloses the primal nature of basic research, of asking the appropriate question, finding its answer and publishing results in peer-reviewed publications forthwith. He describes an exciting social subculture, a world-set of the Laureates and near-Laureatres who reflect, often at great length, upon discoveries, failures, impacts and he even renders a mild flirtation with hypotheses of how to achieve a Nobel Prize. Aside from some prolixity which establishes internal consistency, there are dozens of nicely stated maxims one is wont to memorize.
Hargittai, Professor of Chemistry and Structural Chemist Researcher at Budapest and Eotvos Univs. is extensively published. He's personally acquainted with many Nobelists discussed in this book and was guest lecturer at Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, 2001 on this book's contents.
He discusses establishment of the Nobel Prize(s) in 1895 by Alfred Nobel (1833-'96) and details his Will, it's Statutes, categories, nomination & selection processes, and awards bestowed (medals, money, and ceremonies). The book has focused chapters: -- on biases, who wins, discoveries, adversities, incentives toward science career, venues, mentors, changing fields, making impact, life after a Nobel Prize, and who did not win and why.
Of interest are the personal reflections of scientists both upon themselves, their associates and others in allied fields over impact of discoveries to themselves and society. Hargittai writes in interesting, educational and entertaining prose, a style to maintain the reader's interest. He discloses the primal nature of basic research, of asking the appropriate question, finding its answer and publishing results in peer-reviewed publications forthwith. He describes an exciting social subculture, a world-set of the Laureates and near-Laureatres who reflect, often at great length, upon discoveries, failures, impacts and he even renders a mild flirtation with hypotheses of how to achieve a Nobel Prize. Aside from some prolixity which establishes internal consistency, there are dozens of nicely stated maxims one is wont to memorize.
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