Talk:Nobel Prize/Why Isn't There a Nobel Prize in Mathematics

This page, or some of its history, was merged into Nobel Prize and is kept for attribution of the original edits.

Nobel Prizes were created by the will of Alfred Nobel, a notable Swedish chemist. Many areas of scientific endeavour were rewarded by the prize, but not mathematics.

Myths
One of the most common --and unfounded-- reasons as to why Nobel decided against a Nobel prize in math is that a woman he proposed to his wife/his mistress rejected him because she cheated on him with a famous mathematician. Gosta Mittag-Leffler is often claimed to be the guilty party. There is no historical evidence to support the story. Mr. Nobel was never married.

Likely Reasons
There are more credible reasons as to why there is no Nobel prize in math. Chiefly among them is simply the fact he didn't care much for mathematics, and that it was not considered a practical science from which humanity could benefit (a chief purpose for creating the Nobel Foundation).Further, at the time there existed already a well known Scandinavian prize for mathematicians. If Nobel knew about this prize he may have felt less compelled to add a competing prize for mathematicians in his will.

Ironically, the existing mathematical distinctions were mainly due to the work of Mittag-Leffler, the person who is held to have cheated with the unmarried Nobel's 'wife'. Mitta-Leffler founded the Acta Mathematica, which a century later is still one of the world's leading mathematical journals. Through his influence in Stockholm he persuaded King Oscar II to endow prize competitions and honor various distinguished mathematicians all over Europe. Hermite, Bertrand, Weierstrass, and Poincare were among those honored by the King.

Conclusion
The story of some rivalry over a woman is obviously much more amusing, and that's why it will probably continue to be repeated.