How much of the prestige is the money value, how much just the age of the prize, and how much the association with a fancy institution like the Swedish monarchy?
I seem to remember that Heisenberg etc were more excited by the money than the prize, back in the day.
The money isn’t necessary—see the Fields Medal. Nor is the Swedish Monarchy—see the Nobel Memorial Prize in Econ. Age obviously helps. And there’s some self-reinforcement—people want the prize that others want. My guess is that money does help, but this could be further investigated.
The Jacobs Foundation awards $1m prizes to scientist as a grant—I think this might be one of the biggest—one could award $5-10m to make it the most prestigious prize in the world.
How much of the prestige is the money value, how much just the age of the prize, and how much the association with a fancy institution like the Swedish monarchy?
I seem to remember that Heisenberg etc were more excited by the money than the prize, back in the day.
The money isn’t necessary—see the Fields Medal. Nor is the Swedish Monarchy—see the Nobel Memorial Prize in Econ. Age obviously helps. And there’s some self-reinforcement—people want the prize that others want. My guess is that money does help, but this could be further investigated.
The Jacobs Foundation awards $1m prizes to scientist as a grant—I think this might be one of the biggest—one could award $5-10m to make it the most prestigious prize in the world.
I think Templeton Prize has become prestigious because they give more money than the Nobel on purpose.