Manfred Eigen, Nobel-winning chemist who clocked fast reactions, dies at 91

Death rates in middle age are really quite low, so I doubt it has much of an effect.

Regardless, there have been studies showing a Nobel adds quite a significant number of years to life expectancy. And while I don’t remember the details, they would have certainly benchmarked against a group that factors in such confounding factors. I believe one study compared to people who were expected to get a Nobel, but did not.

As to mechanism: getting a Nobel is probably the closest you can get to in today’s world to being told you did enough, and no longer have tompsrticipate in the rat race. Oscar winners are expected to go on and win many more. Even Ex-Presidents areprobably less at ease, seeing their work being slowly dismantled by an idiot elephant in corrupt China shop.

It’s really a unique datapoint, putting an exact number on the cost of constant struggle inflicted on us by the demands of the system we have created ourselves.