Coordinates	52°10′″N9°45′″N
name	The Nobel Prize
alt	A golden medallion with an embossed image of Alfred Nobel facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "MDCCCXXXIII" above, followed by (smaller) "OB•" then "MDCCCXCVI" below.
description	Outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or MedicineThe Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, identified with the Nobel Prize, is awarded for outstanding contributions in Economics.
presenter	Swedish AcademyRoyal Swedish Academy of SciencesKarolinska InstitutetNorwegian Nobel Committee
country	SwedenNorway (Peace Prize only)
year	1901
website	nobelprize.org }}

The Nobel Prizes (, Swedish definite form, singular: ''Nobelpriset'') are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895. The prizes in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace were first awarded in 1901.

The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway, while the other prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. Each Nobel Prize is regarded as the most prestigious award in its field.

In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank instituted an award that is often associated with the Nobel prizes, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The first such prize was awarded in 1969. Although it is not an official Nobel Prize, its announcements and presentations are made along with the other prizes.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Swedish Academy grants the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded by a Swedish organisation but by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Each recipient, or laureate, receives a gold medal, a diploma, and a sum of money which depends on the Nobel Foundation's income that year. In 2009, each prize was worth 10 million SEK (c. US$1.4 million). The prize cannot be awarded posthumously, unless the laureate has died after the prize's announcement. Nor may a prize be shared among more than three people. The average number of laureates per prize has increased substantially over the 20th century.

History

Alfred Nobel () was born on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden, into a family of engineers. He was a chemist, engineer, and inventor. In 1894 Nobel purchased the Bofors iron and steel mill, which he made into a major armaments manufacturer. Nobel also invented ballistite, a precursor to many smokeless military explosives, especially the British smokeless powder cordite. Nobel was even involved in a patent infringement lawsuit over cordite. Nobel amassed a fortune during his lifetime. Most of his wealth was from his 355 inventions, of which dynamite is the most famous.

In 1888, Alfred was astonished to read his own obituary, titled ''‘The merchant of death is dead’'', in a French newspaper. As it was Alfred's brother Ludvig who had died, the obituary was eight years premature. The article disconcerted Nobel and made him apprehensive about how he would be remembered. This inspired him to change his will. On 10 December 1896 Alfred Nobel died in his villa in San Remo, Italy from a cerebral haemorrhage. He was 63 years old.

To widespread astonishment, Nobel's last will specified that his fortune be used to create a series of prizes for those who confer the "greatest benefit on mankind" in physics, chemistry, peace, physiology or medicine, and literature. Nobel wrote several wills during his lifetime. The last was written over a year before he died, signed at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris on 27 November 1895. Nobel bequeathed 94% of his total assets, 31 million SEK (c. US$186 million in 2008), to establish the five Nobel Prizes. Because of scepticism surrounding the will, it was not until 26 April 1897 that it was approved by the Storting in Norway. The executors of Nobel's will, Ragnar Sohlman and Rudolf Lilljequist, formed the Nobel Foundation to take care of Nobel's fortune and organise the award of prizes.

Nobel's instructions named a Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize, the members of whom were appointed shortly after the will was approved in April 1897. Soon thereafter, the other prize-awarding organisations were established. These were the Karolinska Institutet on 7 June, the Swedish Academy on 9 June, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 11 June. The Nobel Foundation reached an agreement on guidelines for how the prizes should be awarded, and in 1900, the Nobel Foundation's newly-created statutes were promulgated by King Oscar II. In 1905, the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved. Thereafter Norway's Nobel Committee was responsible for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize and the Swedish institutions retained responsibility for the other prizes.

Nobel Foundation

The Nobel Foundation was founded as a private organisation on 29 June 1900, to manage the finances and administration of the Nobel Prizes. In accordance with Nobel's will, the primary task of the Foundation is to manage the fortune Nobel left. Robert and Ludwig Nobel were involved in the oil business in Azerbaijan and according to Swedish historian E. Bargengren, who accessed the Nobel family archives, it was this "decision to allow withdrawal of Alfred's money from Baku that became the decisive factor that enabled the Nobel Prizes to be established". Another important task of the Nobel Foundation is to market the prizes internationally and to oversee informal administration related to the prizes. The Foundation is not involved in the process of selecting the Nobel laureates. In many ways the Nobel Foundation is similar to an investment company, in that it invests Nobel's money to create a solid funding base for the prizes and the administrative activities. The Nobel Foundation is exempt from all taxes in Sweden (since 1946) and from investment taxes in the United States (since 1953). Since the 1980s, the Foundation's investments have become more profitable and as of 31 December 2007, the assets controlled by the Nobel Foundation amounted to 3.628 billion Swedish ''kronor'' (c. US$560 million).

According to the statutes, the Foundation consists of a board of five Swedish or Norwegian citizens, with its seat in Stockholm. The Chairman of the Board is appointed by the Swedish King in Council, with the other four members appointed by the trustees of the prize-awarding institutions. An Executive Director is chosen from among the board members, a Deputy Director is appointed by the King in Council, and two deputies are appointed by the trustees. However, since 1995 all the members of the board have been chosen by the trustees, and the Executive Director and the Deputy Director appointed by the board itself. As well as the board, the Nobel Foundation is made up of the prize-awarding institutions (the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute, the Swedish Academy, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee), the trustees of these institutions, and auditors.

First prizes

Once the Nobel Foundation and its guidelines were in place, the Nobel Committees began collecting nominations for the inaugural prizes. Subsequently they sent a list of preliminary candidates to the prize-awarding institutions. Originally, the Norwegian Nobel Committee appointed prominent figures including Jørgen Løvland, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Johannes Steen to give the Nobel Peace Prize credibility. The committee awarded the Peace Prize to two prominent figures in the growing peace movement around the end of the 19th century: Frédéric Passy was co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and Henry Dunant was founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Nobel Committee's Physics Prize shortlist cited Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen's discovery of X-rays and Philipp Lenard's work on cathode rays. The Academy of Sciences selected Röntgen for the prize. In the last decades of the 19th century, many chemists had made significant contributions. Thus, with the Chemistry Prize, the Academy "was chiefly faced with merely deciding the order in which these scientists should be awarded the prize." The Academy received 20 nominations, eleven of them for Jacobus van't Hoff. Van't Hoff was awarded the prize for his contributions in chemical thermodynamics.

The Swedish Academy chose the poet Sully Prudhomme for the first Nobel Prize in Literature. A group including 42 Swedish writers, artists and literary critics protested against this decision, having expected Leo Tolstoy to win. Some, including Burton Feldman, have criticised this prize because they consider Prudhomme a mediocre poet. Feldman's explanation is that most of the Academy members preferred Victorian literature and thus selected a Victorian poet. The first Physiology or Medicine Prize went to the German physicist and microbiologist Emil von Behring. During the 1890s, von Behring developed an antitoxin to treat diphtheria, which until then was causing thousands of deaths each year.

World War II

In 1938 and 1939, Adolf Hitler's Third Reich forbade three laureates from Germany (Richard Kuhn, Adolf Friedrich Johann Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk) from accepting their prizes. Each man was later able to receive the diploma and medal. Even though Sweden was officially neutral during World War II, the prizes were awarded irregularly. In 1939, the Peace Prize was not awarded. No prize was awarded in any category from 1940–42, due to the occupation of Norway by Germany. In the subsequent year, all prizes were awarded except those for literature and peace.

During the occupation of Norway, three members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee fled into exile. The remaining members escaped persecution from the Nazis when the Nobel Foundation stated that the Committee building in Oslo was Swedish property. Thus it was a safe haven from the German military, which was not at war with Sweden. These members kept the work of the Committee going but did not award any prizes. In 1944 the Nobel Foundation, together with the three members in exile, made sure that nominations were submitted for the Peace Prize and that the prize could be awarded once again.

Prize in Economic Sciences

In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank celebrated its 300th anniversary by donating a large sum of money to the Nobel Foundation to be used to set up a prize in honor of Nobel. The following year, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded for the first time. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences became responsible for selecting laureates. The first laureates for the Economics Prize were Jan Tinbergen and Ragnar Frisch "for having developed and applied dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes." Although not a Nobel Prize, it is identified with the awards; the laureates are announced with the Nobel Prize recipients, and the Prize in Economic Sciences is presented at the Swedish Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. The Board of the Nobel Foundation decided that after this addition, it would allow no further new prizes.

Award process

The award process is similar for all of the Nobel Prizes; the main difference is in who can make nominations for each of them.

Nominations

Nomination forms are sent by the Nobel Committee to about 3000 individuals, usually in September the year before the prizes are awarded. These individuals are often academics working in a relevant area. For the Peace Prize, inquiries are sent to governments, members of international courts, professors and rectors, former Peace Prize laureates and current or former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. The deadline for the return of the nomination forms is 31 January of the year of the award. The Nobel Committee nominates about 300 potential laureates from these forms and additional names. The nominees are not publicly named, nor are they told that they are being considered for the prize. All nomination records for a prize are sealed for 50 years from the awarding of the prize.

Selection

The Nobel Committee then prepares a report reflecting the advice of experts in the relevant fields. This, along with the list of preliminary candidates, is submitted to the prize-awarding institutions. The institutions meet to choose the laureate or laureates in each field by a majority vote. Their decision, which cannot be appealed, is announced immediately after the vote. A maximum of three laureates and two different works may be selected per award. Except for the Peace Prize, which can be awarded to institutions, the awards can only be given to individuals. If the Peace Prize is not awarded, the money is split among the scientific prizes. This has happened 19 times so far.

Posthumous nominations

Although posthumous nominations are not permitted, individuals who died in the months between their nomination and the decision of the prize committee were originally eligible to receive the prize. This occurred twice: the 1931 Literature Prize awarded to Erik Axel Karlfeldt, and the 1961 Peace Prize awarded to UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. Since 1974, laureates must be alive at the time of the October announcement. There has been one laureate, William Vickrey, who died after the prize was announced but before it could be presented.

Recognition time lag

Nobel's will provides for prizes to be awarded in recognition of discoveries made "during the preceding year". Early on, the awards usually recognised recent discoveries. However, some of these early discoveries were later discredited. For example, Johannes Fibiger was awarded the 1926 Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his purported discovery of a parasite that caused cancer. To avoid this embarrassment, the awards increasingly recognised scientific discoveries that had withstood the test of time. According to Ralf Pettersson, former chairman of the Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology or Medicine, "the criterion ‘the previous year’ is interpreted by the Nobel Assembly as the year when the full impact of the discovery has become evident." The interval between the award and the accomplishment it recognises varies from discipline to discipline. The Literature Prize is typically awarded to recognise a cumulative lifetime body of work rather than a single achievement. The Peace Prize can also be awarded for a lifetime body of work. For example 2008 laureate Martti Ahtisaari was awarded for his work to resolve international conflicts. However, they can also be awarded for specific recent events. For instance, Kofi Annan was awarded the 2001 Peace Prize just four years after becoming the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Similarly Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres received the 1994 award, about a year after they successfully concluded the Oslo Accords.

Although Nobel's will stated that prizes should be awarded for contributions made "during the preceding year", awards for physics, chemistry, and medicine are typically awarded once the achievement has been widely accepted. This may sometimes take decades - for example, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar shared the 1983 Physics Prize for his 1930s work on stellar structure and evolution. Not all scientists live long enough for their work to be recognised. Some discoveries can never be considered for a prize if their impact is realised after the discoverers have died.

Award ceremonies

Apart from the Peace Prize, the Nobel Prizes are presented in Stockholm, Sweden, at the annual Prize Award Ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The recipients' lectures are normally held in the days prior to the award ceremony. The Peace Prize and its recipients' lectures are presented at the annual Prize Award Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, usually on 10 December. The award ceremonies and the associated banquets are typically major international events. The Prizes awarded in Sweden's ceremonies' are held at the Stockholm Concert Hall, with the Nobel banquet following immediately at Stockholm City Hall. The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony has been held at the Norwegian Nobel Institute (1905–1946); at the auditorium of the University of Oslo (1947–1989); and at Oslo City Hall (1990–).

The highlight of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm occurs when each Nobel Laureate steps forward to receive the prize from the hands of the King of Sweden. In Oslo, the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee presents the Nobel Peace Prize in the presence of the King of Norway. Since 1902, the King of Sweden has presented all the prizes, except the Peace Prize, in Stockholm. At first King Oscar II did not approve of awarding grand prizes to foreigners, but is said to have changed his mind once his attention had been drawn to the publicity value of the prizes for Sweden.

Nobel banquet

After the award ceremony in Sweden, a banquet is held at the Stockholm City Hall, which is attended by the Swedish Royal Family and around 1,300 guests. The banquet features a three-course dinner, entertainment and dancing and is extensively covered by local and international media. Before 1930, the banquet in Sweden was held in the ballroom of Stockholm's Grand Hotel.

The Nobel Peace Prize banquet is held in Oslo at the Grand Hotel after the award ceremony. As well as the laureate, other guests include the President of the Storting, the Prime Minister and (since 2006) the King and Queen of Norway. In total there are about 250 guests attending who all are treated a five-course meal. For the first time in its history, the banquet was cancelled in Oslo in 1979 because the laureate Mother Teresa refused to attend, saying the money would be better spent on the poor. Mother Teresa used the US$7,000 that was to be spent on the banquet to hold a dinner for 2,000 homeless people on Christmas Day.

Nobel lectures

According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, each laureate is required to give a public lecture on a subject related to the topic of their prize. These lectures normally occur during Nobel Week (the week leading up to the award ceremony and banquet, which begins with the laureates arriving in Stockholm and normally ends with the Nobel banquet), but this is not mandatory. The laureate is only obliged to give the lecture within six months of receiving the prize. Some have happened even later. For example, US president Theodore Roosevelt won the Peace Prize in 1906 but gave his lecture in 1910, after his term in office. The lectures are organised by the same association who selected the laureates.

Prizes

Medals

The Nobel Prize medals, minted by Myntverket in Sweden and the Mint of Norway since 1902, are registered trademarks of the Nobel Foundation. Each medal features an image of Alfred Nobel in left profile on the obverse. The medals for physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and literature have identical obverses, showing the image of Alfred Nobel and the years of his birth and death. Nobel's portrait also appears on the obverse of the Peace Prize medal and the medal for the Economics Prize, but with a slightly different design. For instance, the laureate's name is engraved on the rim of the Economics medal. The image on the reverse of a medal varies according to the institution awarding the prize. The reverse sides of the medals for chemistry and physics share the same design. All medals made before 1980 were struck in 23 carat gold. Since then they have been struck in 18 carat green gold plated with 24 carat gold. The weight of each medal varies with the value of gold, but averages about for each medal. The diameter is and the thickness varies between and . Because of the high value of their gold content and tendency to be on public display, Nobel medals are subject to medal theft. During World War II, the medals of German scientists Max von Laue and James Franck were sent to Copenhagen for safekeeping. When Germany invaded Denmark, chemist George de Hevesy dissolved them in aqua regia, to prevent confiscation by Nazi Germany and to prevent legal problems for the holders. After the war, the gold was recovered from solution, and the medals re-cast.

Diplomas

Nobel laureates receive a diploma directly from the hands of the King of Sweden or the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Each diploma is uniquely designed by the prize-awarding institutions for the laureates that receive them. The diploma contains a picture and text which states the name of the laureate and normally a citation of why they received the prize. None of the Nobel Peace Prize laureates has ever had a citation on their diplomas.

Award money

The laureates are given a sum of money when they receive their prizes, in the form of a document confirming the amount awarded. The amount of prize money depends upon how much money the Nobel Foundation can award each year. The purse has increased since the 1980s, when the prize money was 880 000 SEK (c. 2.6 million SEK or US$350 000 today). In 2009, the monetary award was 10 million SEK (US$1.4 million). If there are two laureates in a particular category, the award grant is divided equally between the recipients. If there are three, the awarding committee has the option of dividing the grant equally, or awarding one-half to one recipient and one-quarter to each of the others. It is not uncommon for recipients to donate prize money to benefit scientific, cultural, or humanitarian causes.

Controversies and criticisms

Controversial recipients

Among other criticisms, the Nobel Committees have been accused of having a political agenda, and of omitting more deserving candidates. They have also been accused of Eurocentrism. This is especially true for the Literature Prize. One of the controversial Peace Prizes was the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Barack Obama. Nominations had closed only eleven days after Obama took office as President, but the actual evaluation occurred over the next eight months. Obama himself stated that he did not feel he deserved the award, and that he did not feel worthy of the company the award would place him in. Past Peace Prize laureates were divided, some saying that Obama deserved the award, and others saying he had not yet earned it. Obama's award, along with the previous Peace Prizes for Jimmy Carter and Al Gore, prompted accusations of a left-wing bias.

Among the most criticised Nobel Peace Prizes was the one awarded to Henry Kissinger and Lê Ðức Thọ, who later declined the prize. This led to two Norwegian Nobel Committee members resigning. Kissinger and Thọ were awarded the prize for negotiating a ceasefire between North Vietnam and the United States in January 1973. However, when the award was announced hostilities still occurred from both sides. Many critics were of the opinion that Kissinger was not a peace-maker but the opposite; responsible for widening the war.

Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin received the Peace Prize in 1994 for their efforts in making peace between Israel and Palestine. Many issues, such as the plight of Palestinian refugees, had not been addressed and no final status agreement was reached. Immediately after the award was announced one of the five Norwegian Nobel Committee members denounced Arafat as a terrorist and resigned. Additional misgivings about Arafat were widely expressed in various newspapers.

The award of the 2004 Literature Prize to Elfriede Jelinek drew a protest from a member of the Swedish Academy, Knut Ahnlund. Ahnlund resigned, alleging that selecting Jelinek had caused "irreparable damage to all progressive forces, it has also confused the general view of literature as an art." He alleged that Jelinek's works were "a mass of text shovelled together without artistic structure." The 2009 Literature Prize to Herta Müller also generated criticism. According to ''The Washington Post'' many US literary critics and professors had never previously heard of her. This made many feel that the prizes were too Eurocentric.

In 1949, the Portuguese neurologist António Egas Moniz received the Physiology or Medicine Prize for his development of the prefrontal leucotomy. The previous year Dr. Walter Freeman had developed a version of the procedure which was faster and easier to carry out. Due in part to the publicity surrounding the original procedure, Freeman's procedure was prescribed without due consideration or regard for modern medical ethics. Endorsed by such influential publications as ''The New England Journal of Medicine'', lobotomy became so popular that about 5,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States in the three years immediately following Moniz's receipt of the Prize.

Overlooked achievements

The Norwegian Nobel Committee confirmed that Mahatma Gandhi was nominated for the Peace Prize in 1937–39, 1947 and a few days before he was assassinated in January 1948. Later members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed regret that he was not given the prize. Geir Lundestad, Secretary of Norwegian Nobel Committee in 2006 said, "The greatest omission in our 106 year history is undoubtedly that Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace prize. Gandhi could do without the Nobel Peace prize, Whether Nobel committee can do without Gandhi is the question". In 1948, the year of Gandhi's death, the Nobel Committee declined to award a prize on the grounds that "there was no suitable living candidate" that year. Later, when the Dalai Lama was awarded the Peace Prize in 1989, the chairman of the committee said that this was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi." Other high profile individuals with widely recognised contributions to peace have been missed out. As well as Gandhi, ''Foreign Policy'' lists Eleanor Roosevelt, Václav Havel, Ken Saro-Wiwa, Sari Nusseibeh and Corazon Aquino as people who "never won the prize, but should have."

The Literature Prize also has controversial omissions. Adam Kirsch has suggested that many notable writers have missed out on the award for political or extra-literary reasons. The heavy focus on European and Swedish authors has been a subject of criticism. The Eurocentric nature of the award was acknowledged by Peter Englund, the 2009 Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, as a problem with the award and was attributed to the tendency for the academy to relate more to European authors. Notable writers that have been overlooked for the Literature Prize include; Émile Zola, Jorge Luis Borges, Marcel Proust, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, August Strindberg, John Updike, Arthur Miller, and Mark Twain.

The strict rule against awarding a prize to more than three people is also controversial. When a prize is awarded to recognise an achievement by a team of more than three collaborators one or more will miss out. For example, in 2002, the prize was awarded to Koichi Tanaka and John Fenn for the development of mass spectrometry in protein chemistry, an award that did not recognise the achievements of Franz Hillenkamp and Michael Karas of the Institute for Physical and Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Frankfurt. Similarly, the prohibition of posthumous awards fails to recognise achievements by an individual or collaborator who dies before the prize is awarded. In 1962, Francis Crick, James D. Watson, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize for discovering the structure of DNA. Rosalind Franklin, a key contributor in that discovery, died of ovarian cancer four years earlier.

Emphasis on discoveries over inventions

Alfred Nobel left his fortune to finance annual prizes to be awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." He stated that the Nobel Prizes in Physics should be given "to the person who shall have made the most important 'discovery' or 'invention' within the field of physics." Nobel did not emphasise discoveries, but they have historically been held in higher respect by the Nobel Prize Committee than inventions: 77% of the Physics Prizes have been given to discoveries, compared with only 23% to inventions. Christoph Bartneck and Matthias Rauterberg, in papers published in ''Nature'' and ''Technoetic Arts'', have argued this emphasis on discoveries has moved the Nobel Prize away from its original intention of rewarding the greatest contribution to society.

Specially distinguished laureates

Multiple laureates

Four people have received two Nobel Prizes. Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the Physics Prize in 1903 for the discovery of radioactivity and the Chemistry Prize in 1911 for the isolation of pure radium. Linus Pauling won the 1954 Chemistry Prize for his research into the chemical bond and its application to the structure of complex substances. Pauling also won the Peace Prize in 1962 for his anti-nuclear activism, making him the only laureate of two unshared prizes. John Bardeen received the Physics Prize twice: in 1956 for the invention of the transistor and in 1972 for the theory of superconductivity. Frederick Sanger received the prize twice in Chemistry: in 1958 for determining the structure of the insulin molecule and in 1980 for inventing a method of determining base sequences in DNA.

Two organisations have received the Peace Prize multiple times. The International Committee of the Red Cross received it three times: in 1917 and 1944 for its work during the world wars; and in 1963 during the year of its centenary. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has won the Peace Prize twice for assisting refugees: in 1954 and 1981.

Family laureates

The Curie family has received the most prizes, with five. Maria Skłodowska-Curie received the prizes in Physics (in 1903) and Chemistry (in 1911). Her husband, Pierre Curie, shared the 1903 Physics prize with her. Their daughter, Irène Joliot-Curie, received the Chemistry Prize in 1935 together with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie. In addition, the husband of Maria Curie's second daughter, Henry Labouisse, was the director of UNICEF when it won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965.

Although no family matches the Curie family's record, there have been several with two laureates. The husband-and-wife team of Gerty Radnitz Cori and Carl Ferdinand Cori shared the 1947 Prize in Physiology or Medicine. J. J. Thomson was awarded the Physics Prize in 1906 for showing that electrons are particles. His son, George Paget Thomson, received the same prize in 1937 for showing that they also have the properties of waves. William Henry Bragg together with his son, William Lawrence Bragg, shared the Physics Prize in 1915. Niels Bohr won the Physics prize in 1922, and his son, Aage Bohr, won the same prize in 1975. Manne Siegbahn, who received the Physics Prize in 1924, was the father of Kai Siegbahn, who received the Physics Prize in 1981. Hans von Euler-Chelpin, who received the Chemistry Prize in 1929, was the father of Ulf von Euler, who was awarded the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1970. C.V. Raman won the Physics Prize in 1930 and was the uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who won the same prize in 1983. Arthur Kornberg received the Physiology or Medicine Prize in 1959. Kornberg's son, Roger later received the Chemistry Prize in 2006. Jan Tinbergen, who won the first Economics Prize in 1969, was the brother of Nikolaas Tinbergen, who received the 1973 Physiology or Medicine Prize.

Refusals and constraints

Two laureates have voluntarily declined the Nobel Prize. In 1964 Jean-Paul Sartre was awarded the Literature Prize but refused, stating, "A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honourable form." The other is Lê Ðức Thọ, chosen for the 1973 Peace Prize for his role in the Paris Peace Accords. He declined, stating that there was no actual peace in Vietnam.

During the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler hindered Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt, and Gerhard Domagk from accepting their prizes. All of them were awarded their diplomas and gold medals after World War II. In 1958, Boris Pasternak declined his prize for literature due to fear of what the Soviet Union government would do if he travelled to Stockholm to accept his prize. In return, the Swedish Academy refused his refusal, saying "this refusal, of course, in no way alters the validity of the award." The Academy announced with regret that the presentation of the Literature Prize could not take place that year, holding it until 1989 when Pasternak's son accepted the prize on his behalf.

Nobel Prize in Art

The memorial symbol "Planet of Alfred Nobel" was opened in Dnipropetrovsk University of Economics and Law at September 13, 2008. It is a granite monument on which the hand supports the globe. Around the globe is the trace of flying figure of a woman - the goddess of science, reason and intellect.

On the globe there are 802 Nobel laureates' reliefs made ​​of a composite alloy obtained when disposing military strategic missiles.

See also

Crafoord Prize

Evolution of Nobel Prizes by country

Ig Nobel Prize

List of female Nobel laureates

List of Nobel laureates

List of Nobel laureates by country

List of prizes, medals, and awards

Nobel laureates by university affiliation

Nobel Conference

Nobel Library

Nobel Museum

Nobel Peace Center

Nobel Peace Prize

Right Livelihood Award (Alternative Nobel Prize)

Rolf Schock Prizes in Logic and Philosophy, Mathematics, Visual Arts, and Musical Arts

Shaw Prize

Turing Award

Ramon Magsaysay Award

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Official Website

For more information

* Category:Science and engineering awards Category:Organizations based in Sweden Category:Academic awards Category:Awards established in 1895

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Coordinates	52°10′″N9°45′″N
Name	Round Table
Source	Arthurian legend
First	Roman de Brut
Creator	Wace
Type	Fictional table
Genre	Fantasy
Owner	King Arthur

The Round Table is King Arthur's famed table in the Arthurian legend, around which he and his Knights congregate. As its name suggests, it has no head, implying that everyone who sits there has equal status. The table was first described in 1155 by Wace, who relied on previous depictions of Arthur's fabulous retinue. The symbolism of the Round Table developed over time; by the close of the 12th century it had come to represent the chivalric order associated with Arthur's court, the Knights of the Round Table.

History

The Round Table first appears in Wace's ''Roman de Brut'', a Norman language adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Historia Regum Britanniae'' finished in 1155. Wace says Arthur created the Round Table to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others. Layamon added to the story when he adapted Wace's work into the Middle English ''Brut'' in the early 13th century, saying that the quarrel between Arthur's vassals led to violence at a Yuletide feast. In response a Cornish carpenter built an enormous but easily transportable Round Table to prevent further dispute. Wace claims he was not the source of the Round Table; both he and Layamon credit it instead to the Bretons. Some scholars have doubted this claim, while others believe it may be true. There is some similarity between the chroniclers' description of the Round Table and a custom recorded in Celtic stories, in which warriors sit in a circle around the king or lead warrior, in some cases feuding over the order of precedence as in Layamon. There is a possibility that Wace, contrary to his own claims, derived Arthur's round table not from any Breton source, but rather from medieval biographies of Charlemagne - notably Einhard's ''Vita Caroli'' and Notker the Stammerer's ''De Carolo Magno'' - in which the king is said to have possessed a round table decorated with a map of Rome.

Though the Round Table itself is not mentioned until Wace the concept of Arthur having a marvelous court made up of many prominent warriors is much older. Geoffrey of Monmouth says that after establishing peace throughout Britain Arthur "increased his personal entourage by inviting very distinguished men from far-distant kingdoms to join it." The code of chivalry so important in later romance figures in as well, as Geoffrey says Arthur established "such a code of courtliness in his household that he inspired peoples living far away to imitate him." Long before Geoffrey, Arthur's court was well known to Welsh storytellers; in the romance ''Culhwch and Olwen'', written around 1100, the protagonist Culhwch invokes the names of 225 individuals affiliated with Arthur. In fact, the fame of Arthur's entourage became so prominent in Welsh tradition that in the later additions to the Welsh Triads, the formula "Arthur's Court" in the titles of the triads began to supersede the older "Island of Britain" formula. Though the code of chivalry crucial to later continental romances dealing with the Round Table is mostly absent from the earlier Welsh material, some passages of ''Culhwch and Olwen'' seem to prefigure it, for instance when Arthur explains the ethos of his court, saying "[w]e are nobles as long as we are sought out: the greater the bounty we may give, the greater our nobility, fame and honour."

Though no Round Table appears in the early Welsh texts, Arthur is associated with various items of household furniture. The earliest of these is Saint Carannog's mystical floating altar in that saint's 12th century ''Vita''; in the story Arthur has found the altar and attempts unsuccessfully to use it for a table, and returns it to Carannog in exchange for the saint ridding the land of a meddlesome dragon. Arthur's household furniture figures into local topographical folklore throughout Britain as early as the early 12th century, with various landmarks being named "Arthur's Seat", "Arthur's Oven," and "Arthur's Bed-chamber." A henge at Eamont Bridge near Penrith, Cumbria is known as "King Arthur's Round Table". The still-visible Roman amphitheatre at Caerleon has been associated with the Round Table and has been suggested as a possible source for the legend.

In 2010, following archaeological discoveries at the Roman ruins in Chester, some writers suggested that the Chester Roman Amphitheatre was the true prototype of the Round Table but English Heritage, acting as consultants to a History Channel documentary in which the claim was made, declared that there was no archaeological basis to the story.

Later development

The Round Table takes on new dimensions in the romances of the late 12th and early 13th century, where it becomes a symbol of the famed order of chivalry which flourishes under Arthur. In Robert de Boron's ''Merlin'', written around the 1190s, the wizard Merlin creates the Round Table in imitation of the table of the Last Supper and of Joseph of Arimathea's Holy Grail table. This table, here made for Arthur's father Uther Pendragon rather than Arthur himself, has twelve seats and one empty place to mark the betrayal of Judas. This seat must remain empty until the coming of the knight who will achieve the Grail. The Didot ''Perceval'', a prose continuation of Robert's work, takes up the story, and the knight Percival sits in the seat and initiates the Grail quest.

The prose cycles of the 13th century, the Lancelot-Grail cycle and the Post-Vulgate Cycle, further adapt the chivalric attributes of the Round Table. Here it is the perfect knight Galahad, rather than Percival, who assumes the empty seat, now called the Siege Perilous. Galahad's arrival marks the start of the Grail quest as well as the end of the Arthurian era. In these works the Round Table is kept by King Leodegrance of Cameliard after Uther's death; Arthur inherits it when he marries Leodegrance's daughter Guinevere. Other versions treat the Round Table differently, for instance Italian Arthurian works often distinguish between the "Old Table" of Uther's time and Arthur's "New Table."

Round Table tournaments

During the Middle Ages festivals called Round Tables were celebrated throughout Europe in imitation of Arthur's court. These events featured jousting, dancing, and feasting, and in some cases attending knights assumed the identities of Arthur's knights. The earliest of these was held in Cyprus in 1223 to celebrate a knighting. Round Tables were popular in various European countries through the rest of the Middle Ages and were at times very elaborate; René of Anjou even erected an Arthurian castle for his 1446 Round Table.

The artifact known as the "Winchester Round Table," a large tabletop hanging in Winchester Castle bearing the names of various knights of Arthur's court, was probably created for a Round Table tournament. The current paintwork is late; it was done by order of Henry VIII of England for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V's 1522 state visit, and depicts Henry himself sitting in Arthur's seat above a Tudor rose. The table itself is considerably older; dendrochronology calculates the date of construction to 1250–1280—during the reign of Edward I—using timber from store felled over a period of years. Edward was an Arthurian enthusiast who attended at least five Round Tables and hosted one himself in 1299, which may have been the occasion for the creation of the Winchester Round Table. Martin Biddle, from an examination of Edward's financial accounts, links it instead with a tournament Edward held near Winchester on April 20, 1290, to mark the betrothal of one of his daughters.

Notes

References

Bromwich, Rachel (2006). ''Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Triads of the Island of Britain''. University Of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1386-8.

Geoffrey of Monmouth; Thorpe, Lewis (1988). ''The History of the Kings of Britain''. New York: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044170-0.

Lacy, Norris J. (Ed.) (1991). ''The New Arthurian Encyclopedia''. New York: Garland. ISBN 0-8240-4377-4.

Loomis, Roger S. (1959). "Arthurian Influence on Sport and Spectacle."

''Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages''. Oxford.

Padel, O. J. (2000). ''Arthur in Medieval Welsh Literature''. University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-7689-1.

Rouse, Robert; and Cory Rushton (2005). ''The Medieval Quest for Arthur''. Tempus, Stroud. ISBN 0-7524-3343-1.

External links

Timeless Myths - Knights of the Round Table

The 14th Century Round Table in Winchester, Hampshire. UK

Category:Arthurian legend Category:Tables (furniture)

ar:طاولة مستديرة br:An Daol Grenn bg:Кръгла маса ca:Taula Rodona cs:Kulatý stůl cy:Y Ford Gron da:Runde bord de:Runder Tisch el:Στρογγυλή Τράπεζα es:Mesa Redonda eo:Ronda Tablo eu:Mahai Borobila fr:Table ronde ko:원탁 io:Ronda tablo it:Tavola Rotonda hu:Kerekasztal nl:Ronde Tafel ja:円卓 no:Det runde bord pl:Rycerze Okrągłego Stołu ru:Круглый стол simple:Round Table sv:Runda bordet uk:Круглий стіл zh:圆桌骑士

Coordinates	52°10′″N9°45′″N
{{infobox scientist|name	Louis J. Ignarro
Birth date	May 31, 1941
Nationality	American
Field	pharmacology
Work institutions	UCLA School of Medicine, King Saud University
Known for	nitric oxide
Prizes	Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1998)
Signature	}}

Louis J. Ignarro (born May 31, 1941) is an Italian American pharmacologist. He was corecipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert F. Furchgott and Ferid Murad for demonstrating the signaling properties of nitric oxide.

He is currently professor of pharmacology at the UCLA School of Medicine's department of molecular and medical pharmacology in Los Angeles, which he joined in 1985. Before relocating to California, he was a professor of pharmacology at Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, for 12 years. Ignarro has also previously worked as a staff scientist, research department, for the pharmaceutical division of CIBA-GEIGY Corporation in New York.

Ignarro has published numerous articles on his research. He received the Basic Research Prize of the American Heart Association in 1998, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of cardiovascular science. That same year, he was inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and the following year, into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

He is the founder of the Nitric Oxide Society, and founder and editor-in-chief of ''Nitric Oxide Biology and Chemistry.'' Ignarro holds a B.S. in pharmacy, Columbia University, 1962, and a Ph.D. in pharmacology, University of Minnesota, School of Medicine, 1966. He also received a postdoctoral fellowship in chemical pharmacology from National Institutes of Health in 1968. He is a member of the scientific committee of Nicox, a French pharmaceutical company, a member of the Board of Directors of Antibe Therapeutics, a Canadian drug discovery company, a member of the Board of Directors of Operation USA, a non-profit organization, and a member of the Nutritional Advisory Board for Herbalife, a for-profit nutrition and weight-management company.

Awards and recognitions

Awarded a Nobel Prize in 1998.

By 1998 Ignarro was the winner of 11 consecutive Golden Apples, the award UCLA medical students give to the year's best teacher. 2008 American Heart Association Distinguished Scientist.

Early life

Born of Italian immigrants, Ignarro grew up near New York City, and had a predilection for science from an early age, which led to a bachelor's degree in pharmacy from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Minnesota. His university studies also concentrated in chemistry, enzymology and cardiovascular physiology, and resulted in several published papers. His work continued at the NIH in the fields he'd studied, collaborating with many other scientists to discover regulatory mechanisms of the cardiovascular system that would lead to his most famous work.

Herbalife relationship

Ignarro worked with Herbalife to develop Niteworks, a dietary supplement designed to boost the body’s own production of nitric oxide, and later became a member of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Ignarro endorsed this product in exchange for a royalty agreement reported to have earned his consulting firm over $1 million in the first 12 months.

Ignarro also promoted Niteworks' ingredients in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where, as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, he can submit papers without review, and furthermore without disclosing his financial interest to the publication. After Ignarro's ties to Herbalife were revealed, the journal issued a correction to the article, citing Ignarro's undisclosed "conflict of interest." Robert F. Furchgott, who shared the Nobel Prize award with Ignarro, criticized Ignarro's claims about the effectiveness of Herbalife's products, noting that there were no properly controlled studies demonstrating any effectiveness of the products in humans. UCLA conducted its own investigation and determined that Ignarro did not act improperly as all the research was done in Italy and no research funds came from UCLA.[citation needed] Therefore, it was not legally necessary for him to disclose anything. Ignarro presents a one-hour Herbalife promotional video for Niteworks.

Publications

''NO More Heart Disease: How Nitric Oxide Can Prevent - Even Reverse - Heart Disease and Strokes.'' New York: St. Martin's Press (2005). ISBN 0312335822.

''Health Is Wealth: 10 Power Nutrients That Increase Your Odds Of Living To 100.'' Health Value Publications (2009). ASIN: B002RS4388.

See also

Pharmacology

Pharmacy

Nitric Oxide

Notes

References

UCLA Louis J. Ignarro, Medicine (1998)

"Nobel Prize Winner Didn't Disclose Herbalife Contract" Bloomberg News report

Washington Post article "Nitric Oxide Now -- Ask Me How: Some Find Nobel Laureate's Alliance With Supplement Marketer Hard to Swallow", Washington Post, October 7, 2003

Louis Ignarro bio, Herbalife.com, cited March 17, 2008

External links

Louis Ignarro's Official Homepage

Nobel Prize Autobiography

Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:American Nobel laureates Category:Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine Category:American pharmacologists Category:University of California, Los Angeles faculty Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Tulane University faculty

ar:لويس إغنارو ca:Louis José Ignarro de:Louis J. Ignarro es:Louis Ignarro fr:Louis J. Ignarro hr:Louis J. Ignarro id:Louis José Ignarro it:Louis Ignarro nl:Louis Ignarro ja:ルイ・イグナロ no:Louis J. Ignarro oc:Louis J. Ignarro pnb:لوئس اگنارو pl:Louis Ignarro pt:Louis Ignarro ru:Игнарро, Луис sv:Louis J. Ignarro tr:Louis Ignarro uk:Луїс Ігнаро yo:Louis J. Ignarro zh:路易斯·路伊格纳洛

Surat ar-Rahman (Arabic: ) is the 55th sura of the Qur'an with 78 ayats. It has the refrain: "Then which of the favours of your Lord will you deny?"

Verse

Ar-Rahman is often regarded as the 'beauty of the Quran', in accordance with a hadith: Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said, "''Everything has an adornment, and the adornment of the Qur'an is Surah ar Rahman''" [Bayhaqi in Shuab al Eiman]

The main theme of the Surah is giving manifestation and fruits to the attribution of Allah's mercy and grace, which is evident right from the beginning, till the very end.

الرَّحْمَنُ Ar'Reh'maan: Name of Allah

The Nouns in Arabic, whether Proper Nouns or Common Nouns, in their original/default state, as a rule are always "Nominative" or مرفوع i.e. the last consonant has a vowel sign as is here نُ.

The name is the code which gives the basic cognition of existence and presence of a thing and person. Hence name is the introduction for apparent/initial recognition of a thing and person. Cognition of the code/name of a thing or person is the elementary/first step in gaining knowledge about the thing or person. Name of a thing or person gives it or him a vivid distinction from all other things and persons and makes it or him distinguished/identified/definite/isolated [معرفة] and grants an ability to others to identify and describe/ remember/recall and/or mention-refer it or him to others. The name/code serves as a basis/foundation for others to enquire and study about it to gain further knowledge.

Attributive names/adjectival descriptions give further information, insight and knowledge about the thing or person introduced by a Personal Name. These are complimentary in nature and help to acquaint others about the inner-self [بَاطِن] of the named object or person/being. Every person and thing/object that exists has two aspects, the one evidently apparent [ظَاهر] notwithstanding whether or not it is in the range of focus of someone, and the other is the inner-self, hidden, infolded, not apparent but invisibly embedded therein [بَاطِن].

The evidently apparent [ظَاهر] is the reflection of the fact of existence, and its cognition and reference is by the Name. The pursuit-journey of knowledge is from cognition of existence/Name towards knowing and perceiving the inner-self [بَاطِن] of that which exists and its relationships and equations with all that exists. We cannot have the absolute knowledge of anything and person/being unless we know its/his inner-self [بَاطِن], after its cognition, i.e. introductory knowledge of its Name.

Once we know the inner-self, all that is secreted, hidden and its relationships with everything else, we know that thing and Person in near absolute sense. Thereupon, it or He becomes more visible and apparent than the shining sun in a bright and clear day, even without being physically in visual sight, the [ظَاهر] aspect of Him. Therefore, we know Him/him with such conviction, which is the absolute-exalted end of the knowledge. This type of knowledge, with reference to personalities, can be attained only about two, Ar'Reh'maan, the Exalted and Muhammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam-The Mercy Personified, since the بَاطِن of both is quite extensively visible to us all around and through the courtesy of Grand Qur'aan.

Personal Names that introduce and grant cognition of an existing personality, unlike attributive/ adjectival names/descriptions, never have duality and plurality, and neither with personal names is done the process of feminization or masculinization.

A peculiar and distinguishing feature of Arabic language is that, unlike other languages say English and Urdu in which the adjective comes first-prioritized than the described one, the مُوْصُوف/the one who is being described/portrayed is always mentioned first followed by the صِفَة/Adjective. Arabic, the language of our Guide Muhammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam, is a language of truth and fact. مُوْصُوف/the one being described/portrayed is mentioned first since he is First in Existence and it is always the مُوْصُوف who has either inherently and intrinsically the mentionedصِفَة/adjective, quality, trait, or has acquired/adopted it. Hence Proper Nouns/Personal Names are NEVER placed at a secondary place as an adjective in the Adjectival Phrases.

الرَّحْمَنُ-Ar'Reh'maan is the Personal Name of Allah. It is unique, exclusive, unprecedented [19:65]; this has no parallel, no dual, no plural, no feminine equivalent. In Grand Qur'aan it is never placed as second noun of Adjectival Phrase, and nor one will find it in any Arabic literature mentioned as second noun of Adjectival Phrase.

Personal Names are also not the first noun [مضاف] of possessive construction/genitive phrases [الاضافة]. They are always second noun [مضاف اليه] in possessive phrases. One will never find الرَّحْمَنُ the Personal Name of Allah having been used as first noun [مضاف] of possessive construction/genitive phrases.

The fundamental and simple features and principles of Arabic language vividly reflect that الرَّحْمَنُ cannot be considered and perceived except as Proper Name. But in consideration of the fact that there has been a debate, spreading over thousands of pages, over this Peculiar Name of Allah, we may, without indulging into merits of controversy, request the Grand Qur'aan to let us know whether this is the Personal Name of Allah or it could be stretched and considered as an Adjectival Name attributing a qualitative trait.

The Grand Qur'aan unambiguously explains to us, in various references and contexts that this is but the Unique and Exclusively the Personal Name of Allah Who is the Sustainer Lord of all that exists. Some of contexts and references are as under:-

2. Surrender and allegiance is by the Title and/or Personal Name of Master-Lord; not by adjectival names. 2.1 Subject [عَبْد plural عباد] is identified only by the Title-Allah and Personal Name-Ar'Reh'maan of his Lord.

3. Creator of a thing is identified and referred only by Title-Allah and Personal Name Ar'Reh'maan.

4. Prostration-obeisance is before and for the Person, and not for his traits.

5. One is mentioned by Title and Personal Name who adorns the Throne/Seat of Sovereignty and not by adjectival.

6. A person makes a promise. Promise-maker finds mention by his title or personal name.

7. An agreement, treaty, compact, pact of obligation is with reference to Title or Personal Name.

8. Fear is induced by a perceived threat from a specific stimulus-Being or a named object.

9. Mention of Permission, Authorization, and Proclamation is always by the Title or Name of the authority.

10. People relate a son [very as well adopted] with Personal Name of the one with whom they relate a son.

[For detailed study kindly see the Link on 01-Surat Fateh "Word by Word Analysis"

Recitation

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Surat-Al-Rahman/142565212521005?sk=info

By---Tafseet e Qurrtabi

Surah Ar-Rahman In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

The Most Gracious (Allâh)! (1) He has taught (you mankind) the Qur'ân (by His Mercy). (2) He created man. (3) He taught him eloquent speech. (4) The sun and the moon run on their fixed courses (exactly) calculated with measured out stages for each (for reckoning). (5) And the herbs (or stars) and the trees both prostrate themselves. (to Allah. See V.22:18). (Tafsir Ibn Kathir) (6) And the heaven He has raised it high, and He has set up the Balance. (7) In order that you may not transgress (due) balance. (8) And observe the weight with equity and do not make the balance deficient. (9)And the earth He has put down (laid) for the creatures. (10) Therein are fruits, date-palms producing sheathed fruit-stalks (enclosing dates). (11)And also corn, with (its) leaves and stalk for fodder, and sweet-scented plants. (12) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (13) He created man (Adam) from sounding clay like the clay of pottery. (14) And the jinn He created from a smokeless flame of fire. (15)Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (16) (He is) the Lord of the two easts (places of sunrise during early summer and early winter) and the Lord of the two wests (places of sunset during early summer and early winter). (17) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (18) He has let loose the two seas (the salt and the fresh water) meeting together. (19) Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress. (20) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (21) Out of them both come out pearl and coral. (22) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (23) And His are the ships going and coming in the seas, like mountains. (24) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (25) Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish. (26) And the Face of your Lord full of Majesty and Honour will remain forever. (27) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (28) Whosoever is in the heavens and on earth begs of Him (its needs from Him). Every day He is (engaged) in some affair (such as giving honour or disgrace to some, life or death to some, etc.)! (29)Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (30) We shall attend to you, O you two classes (jinn and men)! (31) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (32)O assembly of jinn and men! If you have power to pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, then pass beyond (them)! But you will never be able to pass them, except with authority (from Allâh)! (33) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (34) There will be sent against you both, smokeless flames of fire and (molten) brass, and you will not be able to defend yourselves. (35) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (36) Then when the heaven is rent asunder, and it becomes rosy or red like red-oil, or red hide — (See V.70:8|) (37) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (38) So on that Day no question will be asked of man or jinni as to his sin, [because they have already been known from their faces either white (dwellers of Paradise - true believers of Islamic Monotheism) or black (dwellers of Hell - polytheists; disbelievers, criminals)]. (39) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (40) The Mujrimûn (polytheists, criminals, sinners) will be known by their marks (black faces), and they will be seized by their forelocks and their feet. (41) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (42) This is Hell which the Mujrimûn (polytheists, criminals, sinners) denied. (43) They will go between it (Hell) and the fierce boiling water! (44) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (45) But for him who fears the standing before his Lord, there will be two Gardens (i.e. in Paradise). (46) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (47) With spreading branches. (48) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (49) In them (both) will be two springs flowing (free). (50) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (51)In them (both) will be every kind of fruit in pairs. (52) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (53) Reclining upon the couches lined with silk brocade, and the fruits of the two Gardens will be near at hand. (54) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (55) Wherein both will be Qasirat-ut-Tarf [chaste fmales (wives) restraining their glances, desiring none except their husbands], with whom no man or jinni has had Tamth[] before them. (56)Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (57) (In beauty) they are like rubies and coral. (58) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (59) Is there any reward for good other than good? (60) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (61) And besides these two, there are two other Gardens (i.e. in Paradise). (62) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (63) Dark green (in colour). (64) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (65) In them (both) will be two springs gushing forth. (66) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (67)In them (both) will be fruits, and date- palms and pomegranates. (68) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (69)Therein (Gardens) will be Khairâtun-Hisân [fair (wives) good and beautiful]. (70) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (71) Hûr[] (beautiful, fair females) guarded in pavilions; (72) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (73)With Whom no man or jinni has had Tamth[] before them. (74) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (75)Reclining on green cushions and rich beautiful mattresses. (76) Then which of the Blessings of your Lord will you both (jinn and men) deny? (77)Blessed is the Name of your Lord (Allâh), the Owner of Majesty and Honor. (78)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنُ (١) عَلَّمَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانَ (٢) خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ (٣) عَلَّمَهُ ٱلۡبَيَانَ (٤) ٱلشَّمۡسُ وَٱلۡقَمَرُ بِحُسۡبَانٍ۬ (٥) وَٱلنَّجۡمُ وَٱلشَّجَرُ يَسۡجُدَانِ (٦) وَٱلسَّمَآءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ ٱلۡمِيزَانَ (٧) أَلَّا تَطۡغَوۡاْ فِى ٱلۡمِيزَانِ (٨) وَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلۡوَزۡنَ بِٱلۡقِسۡطِ وَلَا تُخۡسِرُواْ ٱلۡمِيزَانَ (٩) وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ وَضَعَهَا لِلۡأَنَامِ (١٠) فِيہَا فَـٰكِهَةٌ۬ وَٱلنَّخۡلُ ذَاتُ ٱلۡأَكۡمَامِ (١١) وَٱلۡحَبُّ ذُو ٱلۡعَصۡفِ وَٱلرَّيۡحَانُ (١٢) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (١٣)خَلَقَ ٱلۡإِنسَـٰنَ مِن صَلۡصَـٰلٍ۬ كَٱلۡفَخَّارِ (١٤) وَخَلَقَ ٱلۡجَآنَّ مِن مَّارِجٍ۬ مِّن نَّارٍ۬ (١٥) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (١٦) رَبُّ ٱلۡمَشۡرِقَيۡنِ وَرَبُّ ٱلۡمَغۡرِبَيۡنِ (١٧) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (١٨) مَرَجَ ٱلۡبَحۡرَيۡنِ يَلۡتَقِيَانِ (١٩) بَيۡنَہُمَا بَرۡزَخٌ۬ لَّا يَبۡغِيَانِ (٢٠) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٢١) يَخۡرُجُ مِنۡہُمَا ٱللُّؤۡلُؤُ وَٱلۡمَرۡجَانُ (٢٢) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٢٣) وَلَهُ ٱلۡجَوَارِ ٱلۡمُنشَـَٔاتُ فِى ٱلۡبَحۡرِ كَٱلۡأَعۡلَـٰمِ (٢٤) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٢٥)كُلُّ مَنۡ عَلَيۡہَا فَانٍ۬ (٢٦) وَيَبۡقَىٰ وَجۡهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو ٱلۡجَلَـٰلِ وَٱلۡإِكۡرَامِ (٢٧) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٢٨) يَسۡـَٔلُهُ ۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۚ كُلَّ يَوۡمٍ هُوَ فِى شَأۡنٍ۬ (٢٩) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٠) سَنَفۡرُغُ لَكُمۡ أَيُّهَ ٱلثَّقَلَانِ (٣١)فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٢) يَـٰمَعۡشَرَ ٱلۡجِنِّ وَٱلۡإِنسِ إِنِ ٱسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ أَن تَنفُذُواْ مِنۡ أَقۡطَارِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَٱنفُذُواْ‌ۚ لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلۡطَـٰنٍ۬ (٣٣) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٤)يُرۡسَلُ عَلَيۡكُمَا شُوَاظٌ۬ مِّن نَّارٍ۬ وَنُحَاسٌ۬ فَلَا تَنتَصِرَانِ (٣٥) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٦)فَإِذَا ٱنشَقَّتِ ٱلسَّمَآءُ فَكَانَتۡ وَرۡدَةً۬ كَٱلدِّهَانِ (٣٧) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٣٨) فَيَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ۬ لَّا يُسۡـَٔلُ عَن ذَنۢبِهِۦۤ إِنسٌ۬ وَلَا جَآنٌّ۬ (٣٩) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّڪُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٤٠) يُعۡرَفُ ٱلۡمُجۡرِمُونَ بِسِيمَـٰهُمۡ فَيُؤۡخَذُ بِٱلنَّوَٲصِى وَٱلۡأَقۡدَامِ (٤١) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٤٢) هَـٰذِهِۦ جَهَنَّمُ ٱلَّتِى يُكَذِّبُ بِہَا ٱلۡمُجۡرِمُونَ (٤٣) يَطُوفُونَ بَيۡنَہَا وَبَيۡنَ حَمِيمٍ ءَانٍ۬ (٤٤) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٤٥)وَلِمَنۡ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِۦ جَنَّتَانِ (٤٦) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٤٧) ذَوَاتَآ أَفۡنَانٍ۬ (٤٨) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٤٩) فِيہِمَا عَيۡنَانِ تَجۡرِيَانِ (٥٠)فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٥١) فِيہِمَا مِن كُلِّ فَـٰكِهَةٍ۬ زَوۡجَانِ (٥٢) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٥٣) مُتَّكِـِٔينَ عَلَىٰ فُرُشِۭ بَطَآٮِٕنُہَا مِنۡ إِسۡتَبۡرَقٍ۬‌ۚ وَجَنَى ٱلۡجَنَّتَيۡنِ دَانٍ۬ (٥٤) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٥٥) فِيہِنَّ قَـٰصِرَٲتُ ٱلطَّرۡفِ لَمۡ يَطۡمِثۡہُنَّ إِنسٌ۬ قَبۡلَهُمۡ وَلَا جَآنٌّ۬ (٥٦) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٥٧) كَأَنَّہُنَّ ٱلۡيَاقُوتُ وَٱلۡمَرۡجَانُ (٥٨)فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٥٩) هَلۡ جَزَآءُ ٱلۡإِحۡسَـٰنِ إِلَّا ٱلۡإِحۡسَـٰنُ (٦٠) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٦١) وَمِن دُونِہِمَا جَنَّتَانِ (٦٢) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٦٣) مُدۡهَآمَّتَانِ (٦٤) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٦٥) فِيہِمَا عَيۡنَانِ نَضَّاخَتَانِ (٦٦) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٦٧) فِيہِمَا فَـٰكِهَةٌ۬ وَنَخۡلٌ۬ وَرُمَّانٌ۬ (٦٨) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٦٩) فِيہِنَّ خَيۡرَٲتٌ حِسَانٌ۬ (٧٠) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٧١) حُورٌ۬ مَّقۡصُورَٲتٌ۬ فِى ٱلۡخِيَامِ (٧٢) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٧٣) لَمۡ يَطۡمِثۡہُنَّ إِنسٌ۬ قَبۡلَهُمۡ وَلَا جَآنٌّ۬ (٧٤) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٧٥) مُتَّكِـِٔينَ عَلَىٰ رَفۡرَفٍ خُضۡرٍ۬ وَعَبۡقَرِىٍّ حِسَانٍ۬ (٧٦) فَبِأَىِّ ءَالَآءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ (٧٧) تَبَـٰرَكَ ٱسۡمُ رَبِّكَ ذِى ٱلۡجَلَـٰلِ وَٱلۡإِكۡرَامِ (٧

Translation

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

1. ((Allah)) Most Gracious!

2. It is He Who has taught the Qur'an.

3. He has created man:

4. He has taught him speech (and intelligence).

5. The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed;

6. And the herbs and the trees - both (alike) bow in adoration.

7. And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice),

8. In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance.

9. So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance.

10. It is He Who has spread out the earth for (His) creatures:

11. Therein is fruit and date-palms, producing spathes (enclosing dates);

12. Also corn, with (its) leaves and stalk for fodder, and sweet-smelling plants.

13. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

14. He created man from sounding clay like unto pottery,

15. And He created Jinns from fire free of smoke:

16. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

17. (He is) Lord of the two Easts and Lord of the two Wests:

18. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

19. He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together:

20. Between them is a Barrier which they do not transgress:

21. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

22. Out of them come Pearls and Coral:

23. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

24. And His are the Ships sailing smoothly through the seas, lofty as mountains:

25. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

26. All that is on earth will perish:

27. But will abide (for ever) the Face of thy Lord,- full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour.

28. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

29. Of Him seeks (its need) every creature in the heavens and on earth: every day in (new) Splendour doth He (shine)!

30. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

31. Soon shall We settle your affairs, O both ye worlds!

32. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

33. O ye assembly of Jinns and men! If it be ye can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, pass ye! not without authority shall ye be able to pass!

34. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

35. On you will be sent (O ye evil ones twain!) a flame of fire (to burn) and a smoke (to choke): no defence will ye have:

36. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

37. When the sky is rent asunder, and it becomes red like ointment:

38. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

39. On that Day no question will be asked of man or Jinn as to his sin.

40. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

41. (For) the sinners will be known by their marks: and they will be seized by their forelocks and their feet.

42. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

43. This is the Hell which the Sinners deny:

44. In its midst and in the midst of boiling hot water will they wander round!

45. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

46. But for such as fear the time when they will stand before (the Judgment Seat of) their Lord, there will be two Gardens-

47. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

48. Containing all kinds (of trees and delights);-

49. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

50. In them (each) will be two Springs flowing (free);

51. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

52. In them will be Fruits of every kind, two and two.

53. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

54. They will recline on Carpets, whose inner linings will be of rich brocade: the Fruit of the Gardens will be near (and easy of reach).

55. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

56. In them will be (Maidens), chaste, restraining their glances, whom no man or Jinn before them has touched;-

57. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

58. Like unto Rubies and coral.

59. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

60. Is there any Reward for Good - other than Good?

61. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

62. And besides these two, there are two other Gardens,-

63. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

64. Dark-green in colour (from plentiful watering).

65. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

66. In them (each) will be two Springs pouring forth water in continuous abundance:

67. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

68. In them will be Fruits, and dates and pomegranates:

69. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

70. In them will be fair (Companions), good, beautiful;-

71. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

72. Companions restrained (as to their glances), in (goodly) pavilions;-

73. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

74. Whom no man or Jinn before them has touched;-

75. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?-

76. Reclining on green Cushions and rich Carpets of beauty.

77. Then which of the favours of your Lord will ye deny?

78. Blessed be the name of thy Lord, full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour.

[for linked study see the link on 01-Suray Fateh "Word by Word Analysis"

See also

References

External links

Exegesis of Surah Rahman

Read Surah Ar-Rahman in many languages www.SearchTruth.com

Rahman Rahman

ar:سورة الرحمن az:Rəhman surəsi bs:Er-Rahman fa:الرحمن hi:अर-रहमान id:Surah Ar-Rahman ku:Rehman ml:റഹ്‌മാൻ mzn:الرحمان ms:Surah Ar-Rahman nl:Soera De Erbarmer ce:Сура Къинхетамениг ps:سورة الرحمن pt:Ar-Rahman ru:Сура Ар-Рахман sl:Usmiljeni (sura) sv:Ar-Rahman tr:Rahman Suresi ur:الرحمٰن

Coordinates	52°10′″N9°45′″N
name	Doris Lessing
pseudonym	Jane Somers
birth name	Doris May Tayler
birth date	October 22, 1919
birth place	Kermanshah, Persia
occupation	Writer
nationality	British
period	20th century, 21st century
spouse	Frank Charles Wisdom (1939-1943) Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing (1945-1949)
movement	Modernism, Postmodernism, Sufism, Socialism, Feminism, Science fiction
notableworks	''The Grass is Singing'', ''The Golden Notebook'', ''Briefing for a Descent into Hell'', ''The Good Terrorist'', ''Canopus in Argos'', ''The Cleft''
awards
influences	Idries Shah, Sufism, Olive Schreiner, Simone de Beauvoir, Sartre, Dostoyevsky, Brontë sisters, Christina Stead, D. H. Lawrence, Stendhal, Virginia Woolf, Mikhail Bulgakov, Olaf Stapledon
influenced	Alexandra Fuller, Elaine Showalter, Octavia Butler, Rachel Blau DuPlessis, Erica Jong, Toni Morrison, Joanna Russ, Marge Piercy, Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, ''Simoun''
website	http://www.dorislessing.org/ }}

Doris May Lessing CH (née Tayler; born 22 October 1919) is a British writer. Her novels include ''The Grass is Singing'', ''The Golden Notebook'', and five novels collectively known as ''Canopus in Argos''.

Lessing was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature. She was described by the Swedish Academy as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". Lessing was the eleventh woman and the oldest ever person to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British Literature. In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Background

Lessing was born in Iran, then known as Persia, on 22 October 1919, to Captain Alfred Tayler and Emily Maude Tayler (née McVeagh), who were both English and of British nationality. Her father, who had lost a leg during his service in World War I, met his future wife, a nurse, at the Royal Free Hospital where he was recovering from his amputation. Alfred Tayler and his wife moved to Kermanshah, Iran, in order to take up a job as a clerk for the Imperial Bank of Persia and it was here that Doris was born in 1919. The family then moved to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1925 to farm maize, when her father purchased around one thousand acres of bush. Lessing's mother attempted to lead an Edwardian life style amidst the rough environment, which would have been easy had the family been wealthy; it was not. The farm was not successful and failed to deliver the wealth the Taylers had expected. She left school aged 14, and thereafter was self-educated; she left home at 15 and worked as a nursemaid. She started reading material on politics and sociology that her employer gave her, It was here that she met her second husband, Gottfried Lessing. They were married shortly after she joined the group, and had a child together (Peter), before the marriage also ended in divorce in 1949. Gottfried Lessing later became the East German ambassador to Uganda, and was murdered in the 1979 rebellion against Idi Amin Dada.

Writing career

Because of her campaigning against nuclear arms and South African apartheid, Lessing was banned from that country and from Rhodesia for many years. She moved to London with her youngest son in 1949. Her first novel, ''The Grass Is Singing'', was published in 1950. was published in England and the US in 1983, and ''If the Old Could'' in both countries in 1984 , both as written by "Jane Somers." In 1984, both novels were re-published in both countries (Viking Books publishing in the US), this time under one cover, with the title ''The Diaries of Jane Somers: The Diary of a Good Neighbor and If the Old Could'', listing Doris Lessing as author.

She declined a damehood, but accepted appointment as a Companion of Honour at the end of 1999 for "conspicuous national service". She has also been made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature.

In 2007, Lessing was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. She was 87, making her the oldest winner of the literature prize at the time of the award and the third oldest Nobel Laureate in any category. She also stands as only the eleventh woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature by the Swedish Academy in its 106-year history. Lessing was out shopping for groceries when the announcement came, arriving home to tell reporters who had gathered there, "Oh Christ!”. She told reporters outside her home "I've won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one, so I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush." She titled her Nobel Lecture ''On Not Winning the Nobel Prize'' and used it to draw attention to global inequality of opportunity, and to explore changing attitudes to storytelling and literature. The lecture was later published in a limited edition to raise money for children made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. In a 2008 interview for the BBC's ''Front Row'', she stated that increased media interest following the award had left her without time for writing.

Lessing's fiction

thumb|right|110px|Idries Shah, who introduced Lessing to SufismLessing's fiction is commonly divided into three distinct phases: the Communist theme (1944–1956), when she was writing radically on social issues (to which she returned in ''The Good Terrorist'' [1985]), the psychological theme (1956–1969), and after that the Sufi theme, which was explored in the Canopus in Argos sequence of science fiction (or as she preferred to put it "space fiction") novels and novellas.

Lessing's Canopus sequence was not popular with many mainstream literary critics. For example, in the ''New York Times'' in 1982 John Leonard wrote in reference to ''The Making of the Representative for Planet 8'' that "[o]ne of the many sins for which the 20th century will be held accountable is that it has discouraged Mrs. Lessing... She now propagandizes on behalf of our insignificance in the cosmic razzmatazz." To which Lessing replied: "What they didn't realize was that in science fiction is some of the best social fiction of our time. I also admire the classic sort of science fiction, like ''Blood Music'', by Greg Bear. He's a great writer." Unlike some authors primarily known for their mainstream work, she has never hesitated to admit that she wrote science fiction and attended the 1987 World Science Fiction Convention as its Writer Guest of Honor. Here she made a well-received speech in which she described her dystopian novel ''Memoirs of a Survivor'' as "an attempt at an autobiography."

When asked about which of her books she considers most important, Lessing chose the Canopus in Argos sequence. These novels present an advanced interstellar society's efforts to accelerate the evolution of other worlds, including Earth. (Similar concepts occur in science fiction by other authors, e.g. the Progressor and Uplift sequences.) Using Sufi concepts, to which Lessing had been introduced in the mid-1960s by her "good friend and teacher" Idries Shah, the series of novels also owes much to the approach employed by the early 20th century mystic G. I. Gurdjieff in his work ''All and Everything''. Earlier works of "inner space" fiction like ''Briefing for a Descent into Hell'' (1971) and ''Memoirs of a Survivor'' (1974) also connect to this theme. Lessing's interest had turned to Sufism after coming to the realization that Marxism ignored spiritual matters, leaving her disillusioned.

Lessing's novel ''The Golden Notebook'' is considered a feminist classic by some scholars, but notably not by the author herself, who later wrote that its theme of mental breakdowns as a means of healing and freeing one's self from illusions had been overlooked by critics. She also regretted that critics failed to appreciate the exceptional structure of the novel. She explained in ''Walking in the Shade'' that she modelled Molly partly on her good friend Joan Rodker, the daughter of the modernist poet and publisher John Rodker.

Lessing does not like the idea of being pigeonholed as a feminist author. When asked why, she explained:

Archive

Lessing's largest literary archive is held by the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, at the University of Texas at Austin. The 45 archival boxes of Lessing's materials at the Ransom Center contain nearly all of her extant manuscripts and typescripts up to 1999. Original material for Lessing's early books is assumed not to exist because she kept none of her early manuscripts. Other institutions, including the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa, hold smaller collections.

Awards

Somerset Maugham Award (1954)

Prix Médicis étranger (1976)

Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1981)

Shakespeare-Preis der Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F. V. S., Hamburg (1982)

W. H. Smith Literary Award (1986)

Palermo Prize (1987)

Premio Internazionale Mondello (1987)

Premio Grinzane Cavour (1989)

James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography (1995)

Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1995)

Premi Internacional Catalunya (1999)

Order of the Companions of Honour (1999)

Companion of Literature of the Royal Society of Literature (2000)

David Cohen Prize (2001)

Premio Príncipe de Asturias (2001)

S.T. Dupont Golden PEN Award (2002)

Nobel Prize in Literature (2007)

Works

;Novels

''The Grass is Singing'' (1950)

''Retreat to Innocence'' (1956)

''The Golden Notebook'' (1962)

''Briefing for a Descent into Hell'' (1971)

''The Summer Before the Dark'' (1973)

''Memoirs of a Survivor'' (1974)

''The Diary of a Good Neighbour'' (as Jane Somers, 1983)

''If the Old Could...'' (as Jane Somers, 1984)

''The Good Terrorist ''(1985)

''The Fifth Child'' (1988)

''Love, Again'' (1996)

''Mara and Dann'' (1999)

''Ben, in the World'' (2000) – sequel to ''The Fifth Child''

''The Sweetest Dream'' (2001)

''The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog'' (2005) – sequel to ''Mara and Dann''

''The Cleft'' (2007)

''Alfred and Emily'' (2008)

;The Children of Violence series

''Martha Quest'' (1952)

''A Proper Marriage'' (1954)

''A Ripple from the Storm'' (1958)

''Landlocked'' (1965)

''The Four-Gated City'' (1969)

;The Canopus in Argos: Archives series

''Shikasta'' (1979)

''The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five'' (1980)

''The Sirian Experiments'' (1980)

''The Making of the Representative for Planet 8'' (1982)

''The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire'' (1983)

;Opera libretti

''The Making of the Representative for Planet 8'' (music by Philip Glass, 1986)

''The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five'' (music by Philip Glass, 1997)

;Comics

''Playing the Game'' (graphic novel illustrated by Charlie Adlard, 1995)

;Drama

''Each His Own Wilderness'' (three plays, 1959)

''Play with a Tiger'' (1962)

;Poetry

''Fourteen Poems'' (1959)

''The Wolf People - INPOPA Anthology 2002'' (poems by Lessing, Robert Twigger and T.H. Benson, 2002)

;Short story collections

''Five Short Novels'' (1953)

''The Habit of Loving'' (1957)

''A Man and Two Women'' (1963)

''African Stories'' (1964)

''Winter in July'' (1966)

''The Black Madonna'' (1966)

''The Story of a Non-Marrying Man'' (1972)

''This Was the Old Chief's Country: Collected African Stories, Vol. 1'' (1973)

''The Sun Between Their Feet: Collected African Stories, Vol. 2'' (1973)

''To Room Nineteen: Collected Stories, Vol. 1'' (1978)

''The Temptation of Jack Orkney: Collected Stories, Vol. 2'' (1978)

''Through the Tunnel'' (1990)

''London Observed: Stories and Sketches'' (1992)

''The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches'' (1992)

''Spies I Have Known'' (1995)

''The Pit'' (1996)

''The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels'' (2003)

; Cat Tales

''Particularly Cats'' (stories and nonfiction, 1967)

''Particularly Cats and Rufus the Survivor'' (stories and nonfiction, 1993)

''The Old Age of El Magnifico'' (stories and nonfiction, 2000)

''On Cats'' (2002) – omnibus edition containing the above three books

;Autobiography and memoirs

''Going Home'' (memoir, 1957)

''African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe'' (memoir, 1992)

''Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949'' (1994)

''Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 to 1962'' (1997)

;Other nonfiction

''In Pursuit of the English'' (1960)

''Prisons We Choose to Live Inside'' (essays, 1987)

''The Wind Blows Away Our Words'' (1987)

''A Small Personal Voice'' (essays, 1994)

''Conversations'' (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1994)

''Putting the Questions Differently'' (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1996)

''Time Bites'' (essays, 2004)

''On Not Winning the Nobel Prize'' (Nobel Lecture, 2007, published 2008)

See also

Whites in Zimbabwe

List of female Nobel laureates

References

Further reading

External links

Doris Lessing homepage created by Jan Hanford

Lessing Nobel Prize Lecture

Joyce Carol Oates on Doris Lessing

Doris Lessing's papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin

Doris Lessing Archive, University of East Anglia

University of Tulsa McFarlin Library's inventory of Doris Lessing manuscripts housed in Special Collections

Doris Lessing Page at ''Guardian Unlimited'' contains links to all available articles and reviews by Lessing to appear at Guardian Unlimited, including audio, streaming video, and interviews, and additional articles focusing on Lessing from other writers

British Author, Doris Lessing, bags 2007 Nobel Literature Prize

Articles by Doris Lessing on the 5th Estate blog

Doris Lessing on Feminism, Communism and 'Space Fiction'

The modern child and Romantic monstrosity in Doris Lessing’s The Fifth Child An article by Camille François

Lessing's childhood home in Zimbabwe

Category:1919 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kermanshah Category:English novelists Category:English science fiction writers Category:English autobiographers Category:English women writers Category:English essayists Category:Massey Lecturers Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Category:Worldcon Guests of Honor Category:David Cohen Prize recipients Category:Nobel laureates in Literature Category:British Nobel laureates Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:English communists Category:English poets Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English Sufis Category:South African science fiction writers Category:Anglo-African people Category:Rhodesian people Category:Zimbabwean communists Category:Zimbabwean feminists Category:Zimbabwean novelists Category:Zimbabwean writers Category:Zimbabwean women writers Category:Women Nobel Laureates Category:Prix Médicis étranger winners Category:Austrian State Prize for European Literature winners Category:Women science fiction and fantasy writers

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