Trivia: The reason Alfred Nobel put the Peace Prize in the hands of the Norwegians instead of the Swedes like the other rewards was that it was a more political prize, he he felt that the Norwegians could be more unbiased than the Swedes because they didn't have a foreign policy at the time (they were in a union with Sweden, and only had control of some domestic affairs).
Anyway, the Peace Prize has always gone with the trends of the day, hardly taking into account if the laureates' work will have long-term benefits. The other five prices are by all means more respectable, although I don't always agree with their handling of the literature or economic prizes (that they gave the latter to Milton Friedman says everything).
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