Quiz answers
Monthly April 2024
Quiz question
It takes time to become a Nobel Prize laureate
Since 1901, 965 people have been awarded the Nobel Prize or prize in economic sciences. Can you guess their average age? 50 years, 60 years or 70 years?
Quiz answer
The right answer is 60 years. See the list of all Nobel Prize laureates sorted by age.
Monthly March 2024
Quiz question
The first woman
Eleven laureates – seven men and four women – were awarded a Nobel Prize in 2023. Do you know who was the very first woman to be awarded a Nobel Prize? Bertha von Suttner, Marie Skłodowska Curie or Gerty Cori?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Marie Skłodowska Curie. She was awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1911 she became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Today she is still the only person that has been awarded two Nobel Prizes in two scientific categories. In 1905, Bertha von Suttner was the first woman awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and in 1947 Gerty Cori was the first woman awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Monthly February 2024
Quiz question
X-rays – an unexpected phenomena
The 1924 physics laureate Manne Siegbahn was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discoveries and research in the field of X-ray spectroscopy. Many Nobel Prize laureates have been awarded prizes for work related to X-ray technology. Do you know who discovered X-rays? Henri Becquerel, Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin or Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen.
Read more about Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, the first Nobel Prize laureate in Physics.
Monthly January 2024
Quiz question
Experiments with light capture the shortest of moments
The 2023 Nobel Prize laureates in physics have made it possible to explore the details of what happens inside of atoms and molecules with the help of extremely short pulses of light. These pulses last only on the order of an attosecond. How long is an attosecond? A thousandth of a thousandth of a second, a millionth of a millionth of a second or a billionth of a billionth of a second?
Quiz answer
The right answer is a billionth of a billionth of a second.
Read more about the 2023 physics prize here
Monthly December 2023
Quiz question
Alfred Nobel – the great donor
Alfred Nobel established the Nobel Prizes “for the greatest benefit to humankind”, and since 1901, the prizes have been presented to the laureates at ceremonies on 10 December. But what is so special about that day? Alfred Nobel was born on 10 December, Alfred Nobel signed his last will on 10 December or Alfred Nobel passed away on 10 December?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Alfred Nobel passed away on 10 December.
Read more about Alfred Nobel here
Monthly November 2023
Quiz question
They planted an important seed for nanotechnology
This year’s Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry, Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Aleksey Yekimov, have succeeded in creating extremely small nanoparticles whose size determines their properties. What are these small particles called? Liquid crystals, quantum dots or quantum lights?
Quiz answer
The right answer is quantum dots.
Read more about the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry here
Monthly October 2023
Quiz question
One Nobel Prize is not awarded in Sweden
All but one of the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded elsewhere. Do you know where? In Copenhagen, Denmark. in Helsinki, Finland or in Oslo, Norway?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Oslo, Norway. During Alfred Nobel’s lifetime Sweden and Norway were joined in a union but we still don’t know exactly why Alfred Nobel chose for the peace prize to be awarded in Norway. However, as the prize committee is located in Oslo, it follows that the prize is also awarded there.
Monthly September 2023
Quiz question
A prize for the youngest
The following organisations work to help children, and one has even been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work. Which one? Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages or United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)?
Quiz answer
The right answer is United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The organisation was awarded the 1965 Nobel Peace Prize.
Monthly August 2023
Quiz question
A thorough education by private teachers
Alfred Nobel’s father Immanuel invested in the education of his children. The four brothers were privately tutored at their home in St Petersburg in Russia, where the Nobel family lived from 1842 to 1863. The children were provided with a broad knowledge-base which included being taught a number of languages. Do you know in how many languages Alfred Nobel was fluent? 2, 5 or 10?
Quiz answer
The right answer is 5. Alfred Nobel learned five languages fluently – aside from his native Swedish he also spoke Russian, English, French, and German.
Read more in the article Alfred Nobel – St. Petersburg, 1842-1863
Monthly July 2023
Quiz question
The scent of smell
Our perception of the world is based on how our brain receives and processes various messages, including our sense of smell. Approximately how many different odours can the human nose distinguish? 10,000 odours, 1 billion odours or 1 trillion odours?
Quiz answer
The right answer is 1 trillion odours. At the time Richard Axel and Linda Buck carried out their research, scientists thought the human nose could detect approximately 10,000 odours but later studies showed we could detect many, many more. Read more about the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004.
Monthly June 2023
Quiz question
Awarded inventions
In earlier years, inventions were often recognised with Nobel Prizes. Do you know which one of these inventions was awarded the Nobel Prize? The light bulb. the transistor or the pacemaker?
Quiz answer
The right answer is the transistor. In 1956 William Bradford Shockley, John Bardeen and Walter Houser Brattain were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the invention of the transistor.
Monthly May 2023
Quiz question
She created a literary non-fiction genre
During the years, Nobel Prize awarded authors have been awarded for their novels, short stories, poems and drama. One laureate, who is a journalist, moves in the boundary between reporting and fiction. She uses interviews to create a collage of a wide range of voices and thereby creates a literary non-fiction genre that is entirely her own: documentary novels. Who is the author?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Svetlana Alexievich. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2015 with the motivation “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”.
Herta Müller was awarded the 2009 literature prize with the motivation “who, with the concentration of poetry and the frankness of prose, depicts the landscape of the dispossessed”. Doris Lessing was awarded the 2007 with the motivation “that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny”.
Monthly April 2023
Quiz question
The sixth prize
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is awarded according to the same principles governing the Nobel Prizes. Do you know when the first prize in economic sciences was awarded? In 1959, 1969 or 1979?
Quiz answer
The right answer is 1969.
The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was established in 1968. It is a memorial prize, based on a donation received by the Nobel Foundation from Sweden’s central bank on the occasion of the bank’s 300th anniversary. The first prize in economic sciences was awarded to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen in 1969.
More about the prize in economic sciences
Monthly March 2023
Quiz question
Nobel Prize awarded discoveries
She discovered a novel therapy against malaria
A number of serious infectious diseases are caused by parasites spread by insects. Malaria is caused by a single-cell parasite that causes severe fever. In the 1960s and 70s a female researcher discovered artemisinin, an anti-malarial, and also tested the new drug on herself to speed up the time needed for development. This drug has saved the lives of millions of people worldwide. Do you know who the researcher was?
Barbara McClintock, Gertrude Elion or Tu Youyou?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Tu Youyou. She was awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for her discoveries concerning a novel therapy against Malaria”. Barbara McClintock was awarded the 1983 medicine prize “for her discovery of mobile genetic elements” and Gertrude Elion was awarded the 1988 medicine prize for “discoveries of important principles for drug treatment”.
Do you want to match more laureates with their discoveries? Try this game!
Monthly February 2023
Quiz question
Multiple chemistry laureate
In December 2022, K. Barry Sharpless was awarded his second Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded the first one in 2001 and is the second person to be awarded two chemistry prizes since the first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. Do you know who the other laureate is?
Marie Curie, Ernest Rutherford or Frederick Sanger?
Quiz answer
The right answer is Frederick Sanger. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and in 1980. Marie Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1911. Ernest Rutherford was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry one time only, in 1908.
Monthly January 2023
Quiz question
Shared prizes
Since 1901, a total of 615 Nobel Prizes have been awarded, including the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. A Nobel Prize can be shared by up to three individuals, or in the case of the peace prize, it can also be awarded to an organisation. Do you know what has been most common – a prize shared by two or three laureates or a prize to one laureate only?
A prize to one laureate only or
A prize shared by two laureates or
A prize shared by three laureates?
Quiz answer
The right answer is a prize to one laureate only.
Number of prizes with only one laureate: 355
Number of prizes with two laureates: 146
Number of prizes with three laureates: 114
