The Nobel Prize is rich with scandal. The prestigious awards are known to divide opinion, and the winners list is often clouded in controversy. This year has been no different. The latest set of Nobel laureates, announced in October, has been mired in accusations of genocide denial, sexual abuse and Eurocentric bias.

writers Gregory Myers and Tiffany Howard have both covered strange Nobel Prize moments before, but every year brings a fresh batch of controversy. Founded in 1895, the Nobel Prize has no paucity of shocking secrets and despot laureates. Previous winners include an apologist for ethnic cleansing, a prominent eugenicist and an LSD-addled biochemist with a love of astrology and alien encounters. From Soviet repression to sexual assault, here are ten shocking facts about the Nobel Prize.

Related On : Top 10 Controversial Nobel Peace Prize Winners

10 Fritz Haber, the “Father of Chemical Warfare”

Fritz Haber is among the most controversial Nobel Prize recipients. Some view him as a brilliant chemist who revolutionized the production of ammonia. Others see him as the vile figure who oversaw Germany’s program of chemical warfare during World War I.

Haber was born to a Jewish family in the Prussian city of Breslau, now part of western Poland. Around the turn of the twentieth century, he and his colleague Carl Bosch developed an innovative method to synthesize ammonia gas. Ammonia is a vital component for producing fertilizer, and the Haber-Bosch process is still widely used in agriculture. Around half of the global food supply depends on Haber’s brilliant method. The process has saved billions of people from starvation. For this remarkable achievement, Haber was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1918. Bosch received his in 1931.

When the First World War broke out, Haber devoted his research to developing chemical weapons for the German army. As head of the Chemistry Section at the German Ministry of War, he spearheaded the use of chlorine gas in trench warfare, earning him the unenviable title of “father of chemical warfare”. Chlorine gas is a ruthless weapon, designed to slaughter enemy troops without mercy. The gas creeps over no-mans-land, pushed on by the wind, before sinking down into the opposing trench and suffocating those inside. In total it is estimated that over a million WWI soldiers lost their lives to chemical gas attacks. Haber also demonstrated how ammonia could be oxidized to produce nitric acid, the main compound used to produce explosives.^[1]

9 Peter Handke, an Accused Genocide Apologist

The Nobel Prize in Literature is notorious for dividing opinion. Often the controversy is a matter of literary taste. Readers feel that the chosen laureate was unworthy, or that a more talented writer has been overlooked by the committee.

The outrage over Peter Handke runs deeper than artistic opinion. The Austrian playwright is accused of supporting Miloševic’s genocidal regime during the Bosnian wars. A proud nationalist, Handke has publicly denied the events of the Srebrenica genocide. The ethnic cleansing of Srebrenica is remembered as the largest case of mass murder in Europe since the Second World War. Over 7,000 Bosnian Muslims were brutally massacred in 1995 by Bosnian-Serb forces, an atrocity Handke claims never happened.

Handke is also accused of spreading controversial opinions about the Siege of Sarajevo. Writing in the 1990s, he suggested that the Muslims in Sarajevo were not massacred by Miloševic’s troops; instead they slaughtered themselves and blamed the Serbs to incite further hatred.

Handke’s receipt of the 2019 prize has been met with outrage from writers and activists across the globe. Salman Rushdie, Slavoj Žižek and Jennifer Egan are among those who have condemned the Nobel committee’s decision. Egan, an avid campaigner on human rights, described feeling “dumbfounded by the selection of a writer who has used his public voice to undercut historical truth and offer public succor to perpetrators of genocide… At a moment of rising nationalism, autocratic leadership, and widespread disinformation around the world, the literary community deserves better than this.”^[2]

8 Kary Mullis, the Narcotic Astrologer

An LSD advocate with passionate beliefs in astrology, Kary Mullis was an unconventional Nobel Prize winner. In 1993, he shared the award with Michael Smith for their landmark discoveries in the field of DNA research. Mullis played a pivotal role in developing the technique known as polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This brilliant invention allows scientists to create millions of duplicates of a DNA molecule. PCR is considered to be one of the most significant breakthroughs of the 20th century, used in everything from fossil analysis to criminal identification.

Mullis was an outlandish, controversial figure who held little regard for academic expectations. Until his death in August 2019, the Californian maverick had a reputation for experimenting with LSD. This affinity for narcotics may explain some of his more unorthodox beliefs. Mullis was highly skeptical of the connection between HIV and Aids, and a staunch advocate of astrology. But perhaps most bizarre of all was his claim to have been abducted by a glowing alien raccoon. Despite his eccentricities, the Nobel committee still considered him worthy of the prestigious accolade.^[3]

7 Egas Moniz, Inventor of the Lobotomy

By modern standards, the lobotomy is an obsolete medical practice that feels more like a medieval torture method than a form of psychiatric treatment. However, in the early half of the 20th century, the procedure was celebrated as a state-of-the-art “treatment” for mental illness. In the US around 20,000 people underwent the operation, in which the prefrontal cortex is cut to sever connections in the brain.

Portuguese neurologist Egas Moniz first introduced the technique in the mid-1930s. Following preliminary tests on a group of schizophrenia sufferers, he remarked that it was “simple operation, always safe.” He was soon proven wrong. A number of patients suffered irrevocable personality damage after undergoing the procedure. Some were reduced to listless, childlike beings; a handful fell into a vegetative state. In light of the high-risk side effects, lobotomies are now widely viewed as highly amoral.

Moniz was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1949 for developing the controversial procedure. At that point very little scientific research had been conducted into lobotomies. The side effects were relatively unknown.

Some historians argue that Moniz’s receipt of the Nobel Prize legitimized the procedure. They believe that the prestigious award helped bolster the popularity of lobotomies. A number of appeals have been made to the Nobel committee to rescind his award, but they refuse to do so. Instead, the committee argues that there is “no reason for indignation at what was done in the 1940s as at that time there were no other alternatives.”^[4]

6Soviet Repression

Boris Pasternak, the Russian author behind Doctor Zhivago, was announced as the winner of the 1958 Nobel Prize in Literature. Originally his novel had been rejected by Soviet publishers for spreading “malicious libel of the USSR”, however it soon found popularity outside of the country. The US, who were locked in a battle with Stalin’s government, seized Pasternak’s book as an opportunity for anti-Soviet propaganda. The CIA bought and circulated copies across the globe as a cultural weapon against the socialist state.

While Pasternak was overjoyed at his accolade from the Nobel committee, the Soviet Union took a very different view. Newspaper articles denounced Pasternak as a “literary weed”. The Soviet government, now under the rule of Nikita Khrushchev, pressured his contemporaries into shunning him. When he was threatened with being banished from the USSR if he accepted, Pasternak was forced to turn down the prize.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn faced similar repression when he was awarded the 1970 Prize in Literature. The Russian writer, a staunch critic of the Soviet Union, was denied travel to Oslo to receive his award, and expelled for treason four years later.^[5]

5Sexual Assault and Financial Misconduct

In 2018, Jean-Claude Arnault was hit by a barrage of serious accusations relating to sexual assault and financial misconduct. The 72-year-old, one of Sweden’s leading cultural figures, faced charges of assault, abuse and sexual harassment. Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter published accusations from eighteen women against Arnault. Further evidence emerged that he and his wife Katarina, a member of the Swedish Academy board, had leaked the names of several prize winners in advance.

The scandal around Arnault became so severe that the Nobel committee were forced to cancel that year’s literature prize. Prior to the scandal, Arnault had arrogantly boasted of being the unofficial “nineteenth member” of the academy board. He was convicted of rape in October 2018 and is currently serving a two year prison sentence.^[6]

4 Alexis Carrel, Surgeon and Eugenicist

Alexis Carrel was a remarkable biologist. The Frenchman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 for his groundbreaking research into transplant surgery. Just three years later, in the midst of World War I, he developed an innovative method for treating wounds with antiseptic.

But in the decades that followed, Carrel’s research took a dark and sinister turn. In 1935 Carrel published the book Man, The Unknown in which he explains his support for eugenics. He was of the opinion that women with “desirable” characteristics should focus exclusively on reproducing with “desirable” men, and then mothering their “desirable” children. He also believed that “undesirable” people should discouraged from reproducing, and that criminals deserved to be “humanely and economically disposed of” in gas chambers.^[7]

3 D. Carleton Gajdusek, Perverse Criminal

Born in New York, Daniel Carleton Gajdusek shared the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work into the spread of infectious disease. The esteemed physician was a leading figure in the study of degenerate brain disorders. While researching the Fore tribe in New Guinea, Gajdusek was the first to attribute a local nervous system disease to a ghastly ritual of eating human brains. He was also praised for his bountiful generosity. Gajdusek adopted around fifty impoverished children from the Pacific Islands and personally funded their education in the US.

However in 1997, Gajdusek’s cherished reputation crashed suddenly to Earth. The Nobel Prize-winning physician faced allegations of sexually abusing underage boys. Two of the students sponsored by Gajdusek, a young man from Micronesia and another too young to be identified, claimed they were assaulted while in the researcher’s care. When brought to trial, Gajdusek pleaded guilty to abuse and molestation, and was imprisoned for a year.^[8]

2 Aung San Suu Kyi, Apologist for Ethnic Cleansing

The Nobel Peace Prize has a long history of controversial recipients: Henry Kissinger, Barack Obama, and the European Union to name a few. In recent years, a debate has been sparked around Aung San Suu Kyi—the Myanmar politician who became a Peace Prize laureate in 1991.

In 2018, the United Nations published a damning report detailing some of the atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military. UN investigators found that soldiers are brutally persecuting an ethnic group known as the Rohingya Muslims. Their heinous actions include mass killings and gang rapes. The army’s extreme crackdown on the state of Rakhine has left tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims dead. A further 700,000 have fled the violence, most of them sheltering as refugees in Bangladesh.

As leader of the Myanmar government, Aung San Suu Kyi has faced criticism for supporting this vicious regime of ethnic cleansing. Nonetheless, the Nobel committee refuses to revoke her prize.^[9]

1 William Shockley, White Supremacist

William Shockley revolutionized the world of technology. In 1956, the American physicist set up the first silicon semiconductor laboratory in Mountain View, California, the area now known as Silicon Valley. That same year, Shockley was awarded the Nobel Prize for his role in the invention of the transistor – arguably the most important scientific breakthrough of the last century. Transistors are one of the key components of computers and mobile phones; without them the Internet would be unable to function.

Shockley’s enormous scientific impact is undeniable. But, despite his genius, he was also a fervent white supremacist. In his later years, Shockley was obsessed with the idea of a disparity in IQ between different races and decided to turn his hand to eugenics. Believing white people to be intellectually superior, he proposed that “genetically disadvantaged” (i.e. black) people should be given financial incentives to persuade them to be sterilized.^[10]

To win a Nobel Prize is one of the greatest honors in the academic world. Scientists, writers, politicians, journalists, and more are nominated each year to receive the coveted award at the Nobel Prize Ceremony, held in Stockholm. While the Nobel Prize Foundation’s committee is busy deciding who will be recognized for their outstanding contributions to society that year, another group is making selections of a different type.

The Annals of Improbable Research is a satirical magazine that publishes news of real but peculiar goings-on in the world of science. Each year, they celebrate individuals who have made a mark with their strange and humorous scientific research. This lighthearted award is designed to “honor achievements that make people laugh, then think,” and its ceremony is held at Harvard University every September.

Here are ten hilariously weird winners of the Ig Nobel award.

10 Researcher Lives as a Goat

In 2016, the Ig Nobel Biology Prize was awarded jointly to Charles Foster and Thomas Thwaites. Throughout his career, Foster, who is an Oxford University graduate, lived in the wild as a bird, a badger, a deer, an otter, and a fox. He explains that his motivation in all his research is to discover “who or what are we?” and “what on earth are we doing here?”

Thomas Thwaites, however, had his own reasons for building prosthetic leg extensions and traveling to the Alps to live among a herd of goats. He explains, “I tried to become a goat to escape the angst inherent in being a human. The project became an exploration of how close modern technology can take us in fulfilling an ancient human dream: to take on characteristics from other animals.”^[1]

9 Levitating Frogs

Andre Geim of the University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University, England, won the prize in physics for their research into levitation. Using a Levitron, a device consisting of opposing magnets that interact to create a magnetic field, the researchers managed to levitate a living frog six feet (1.82 meters) into the air.

Frogs weren’t the only species to have a turn floating in mid-air, however. The researchers also caused a fish to levitate, as well as a mouse and some vegetables. Geim’s brilliant mind and out-of-the-box thinking have earned him the distinction of being the first person ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize, as well as the Ig Nobel Prize.^[2]

8 Management vs. Voodoo

In 2017, the Ig Nobel Economics prize was taken home by six researchers for their joint effort in discovering whether voodoo dolls could be used to help employees deal with their abusive bosses. The team states that it is natural for people to want to retaliate against mean management but also that direct retaliation may do more harm than good. The solution? Round up a large group of employees, give them access to voodoo dolls, ask the participants to name the doll with the initials of their boss, and go to town!

Using pins, pliers, and flame, the group was encouraged to punish the little playthings while thinking of a time they were wronged by their doll’s namesake. The results speak for themselves. After beating up their voodoo dolls, the participants experienced a reduction in their internal sense of injustice. Not to worry, though. None of the ills inflicted on the voodoo dolls affected management… we think.^[3]

7 Insect Stings on the Penis for Science

Justin Schmidt was jointly awarded the Physiology and Entomology prize for his mission to rank over 83 insects based on the painfulness of their sting. Outrageously, Schmidt took it upon himself to personally experience each and every sting. With the results of his research, he created the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which sorted each creature on a scale of 1 to 4. Schmidt rated one of the most painful stings as coming from the bullet ant. He ranked its sting as a 4 and described it as “pure, intense, brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.”

The other winner that year was Michael L. Smith. He conducted his research into the painfulness of a honey bee’s sting. Not just once but 28 times, all over his body, including the back of his knee, the arch of his foot, and his nipple. He then ranked their painfulness on a scale of 1 to 10. Smith stated that the most painful places to be stung by a bee were on the nostril, the upper lip, and the penis shaft.^[4]

6 Tanks for Solving a Parking Issue

It’s not only scientific researchers who are awarded for their ingenuity when it comes to the Ig Nobels. Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2011, took to the streets to remedy the problem of luxury car owners parking illegally and blocking the city’s bicycle lanes. Using a tank-like armored vehicle, Zuokas was filmed joyfully rolling over an expensive-looking car, completely crushing it.

Available for viewing on YouTube, the narrator in the video states that a tank is the best solution to deal with drivers who think they’re above the law. Whether the action was genuine or a stunt remains to be seen but likely left local drivers wondering if parking illegally is worth the risk.^[5]

5 Narcissists and Their Eyebrows

The 30th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, which was held in 2020, was the first time the ceremony was hosted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Miranda Giacomin and Nicholas Rule jointly received the Psychology Prize. Their research was dedicated to discovering whether those with grandiose narcissism can be identified by only the thickness and density of their eyebrows.

The broader aim of the pair’s research was to potentially help others identify narcissists in their everyday lives and thereby know who to avoid. Throughout their experiments, the researchers claim that “distinctive eyebrows reveal narcissists’ personality to others, providing a basic understanding of the mechanism through which people can identify narcissistic personality traits with potential application to daily life.”^[6]

4 Do I Smell Bacon?

In 2014, a group of four researchers from the Detroit Medical Center in Michigan discovered that sometimes old treatments are just what the doctor ordered. For those who suffer from serious recurring nosebleeds, all manner of remedies have been tested over the years, mainly in the form of packing the nose with different materials.

In this particular case, the four researchers decided to give an old wives’ tale a try. And it worked. A patient’s serious nosebleed disorder was treated like this: “cured salted pork crafted as a nasal tampon and packed within the nasal vaults successfully stopped nasal hemorrhage promptly, effectively, and without sequelae.” If it works, it works!^[7]

3 Wombat Mystery Poop

Bare-nosed wombats are chubby, cuddly-looking marsupials that are endemic to Australia. Their closest living relative is the koala, with which they share their herbivorous diet. Unlike koalas, however, they have cube-shaped poop. In fact, wombats are the only known animals to have this unusual dung. And in 2019, a group of seven researchers came together to get to the bottom of it.

Wombats who had previously fallen victim to South Australian drivers were collected and dissected by the team who examined them. It was established that wombats have circular bottoms, not square and that the molding actually takes place inside the intestines. Some parts of the intestine turned out to be firm, while other sections were soft. This, combined with the way the insides contract during digestion, was what turned out to produce the poop that had previously been a mystery to us all.^[8]

2 Beards for Self Defense

Beards—what are they good for? Catching crumbs? Attracting mates? How about dampening punches to the face? In 2021, Ethan Beseris, Steven Naleway, and David Carrier completed their research into the topic and won an Ig Nobel Peace prize as a result. Instead of having volunteers struck in the face for science, prosthetic bones were created for the experiment and covered in sheepskin. Some of these samples had wool intact, while some had been shorn. They were then struck, and the pressure was measured.

The results did indeed show that hair (or wool) absorbs a significant amount of blunt force. Some researchers have hypothesized that, like male lions, male humans may have developed longer hair around the neck and jaw to protect these delicate areas from attack.^[9]

1 Decongestants or Orgasms?

In 2016, a small team of researchers from Germany, Turkey, and the UK worked together to discover whether sexual orgasms can compete with decongestants when it comes to clearing the airways. The group states that “a physiological connection between the nose and the genitals has long been proposed.” One of the men who once delved into this area of research was an ear, nose, and throat doctor and a close friend of Sigmund Freud.

Instead of a strange Freudian link, however, the relation between sex and clearing a blocked nose may be down to the combination of physical exercise along with the hormonal changes that occur during intercourse. Both of these things have previously been shown to have decongestant properties. Either way, the results were clear. Sexual climax can improve nasal breathing to the same degree as a nasal decongestant for up to 60 minutes in those with a blocked nose. Good to know for the cold and flu season!^[10]