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Comment by haunter | Hacker News Reader

Ah it's the Nobel Prize week! If anyone curious about this week's schedule:

Tuesday: physics. Wednesday: chemistry. Thursday: literature. Friday: peace. Monday: economics.

It still kind of baffles me that there’s no Nobel prize for mathematics.

I know there are plenty of other math awards out there, so it’s not really “worse” or anything, I have always just thought it was a weird omission.

They can always do what economics did and create a new prize and name it in honor of Alfred Nobel

Blame Alfred Nobel, he set up the original categories. According to Wikipedia his goals were prizes "which annually recognize those who 'conferred the greatest benefit to humankind'". Perhaps he didn't consider math as directly benefiting mankind.

I know, I just find it odd that apparently literature directly benefits mankind but not math.

obligatory comment about how economics one isn't a Nobel prize.

Next Monday also isn’t in this week so it all works out.

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

> Although the Prize in Economic Sciences was not one of the original five Nobel Prizes established by Alfred Nobel's will, it is considered a member of the Nobel Prize system, and is administered and referred to along with the Nobel Prizes by the Nobel Foundation. Winners of the Prize in Economic Sciences are chosen in a similar manner to and announced alongside the Nobel Prize recipients, and receive the Prize in Economic Sciences at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony.

I think it's more the Nobel Peace Prize that stands out.

The peace prize stands out for being different.

The economics one stands out for not being endowed by Nobel but instead Sveriges Riksbank well after his death (thus it's the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences).

But it's administered by the Nobel Foundation, etc.

The Peace Prize stands out because sometimes it is given to someone who wages war such as Henry Kissinger or Barack Obama.

Giving the prize to Obama, whose main achievement at the time was not to be Bush, was a disgrace and did huge damage to the image of the committee. And he did nothing after that that would have deserved a prize.

Bush's PEPFAR was so good that if they gave him the prize it'd be more deserved than many other people who have it.

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