New Awards To Compete With Nobel Prizes

Tsalg writes "The Nobel prizes will soon have company. Fred Kavli, a Norwegian physicist, is funding new awards in the fields of astrophysics, neuroscience and nanotechnology. Kavli already funds several think tanks both in the U.S. and abroad, and intends the awards to help 'spread the word of science and get more students interested', as 'in many parts of the world that's a problem, from Norway to the United States...'"

Comments

about time

[brontus3927]

It's about time. The Nobel Committee isn't living up to goals Alfred Nobel had for the prize. I read an article on the Nobel Prize and how to win it. Step 1 was live a long time, because it takes so long for your research to be recognized by the committee. IIRC, the average time between doing something Nobel worthy and being nominated for it is ~20 years.

Awards don't attract students to science...

[MagicDude]

Big name prizes don't really attract people to science. College scholarships and demonstrations of practical applications of science will atract new students. For example, it's all well and good if Dr. Hoffenheimer wins the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in anti-positron flux through a silicone wafer, but other than physics grad students and Ph.Ds, nobody else is going to understand it, and lack of understanding leads to lack of caring. I think shows like Beakman's World and Bill Nye have done more to attract kids to science by makeing it seem approchable, rather than science being some thing that old guys did in white coats in sterile labratories.

Re:The problem

[Vraylle]

As a former public school teacher, I have to ask you about your $/pupil analaysis...how many of those nations spending less money per student yet scoring higher on the tests are actually including ALL children, and not just the ones that have tested well for entrance, have no disabilities, etc.? My experience was that 75%-85% of educational resources are spent on "special needs" students. A big part of this is the notion that they should be included with "normal" children in "normal" classrooms. I'm not aware of any other countries that supposedly outperform us that do the same.