This book investigates the history of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The anthology will help the reader to better understand the social dynamics of scientific recognition and reputation throughout the 20th century and provide new perspectives on excellence in science and medicine.

Foreword  Jeffrey Flier List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction  Nils Hansson, Thorsten Halling and Heiner Fangerau Part 1: The Award and Beyond 1 Commemorating Excellence: The Nobel Prize and the Secular Religion of Science  Jacalyn Duffin 2 More Than a Prize: The Creation of the Nobel System  Gustav Källstrand 3 Hitler’s Boycott: Cultural Politics and the Rhetoric of Neutrality  Sven Widmalm Part 2: Laureates and Nominees 4 From Global Recognition to Global Health: Antimicrobials and the Nobel Prize, 1901–2015  Scott H. Podolsky 5 Discovery or Reputation? Jacques Loeb and the Role of Nomination Networks  Heiner Fangerau, Thorsten Halling and Nils Hansson 6 Defining ‘Cutting-edge’ Excellence: Awarding Nobel Prizes (or not) to Surgeons  Nils Hansson, David S. Jones and Thomas Schlich Part 3: Reverberation and Commercialization 7 John C. Eccles’ Conversion and the Meaning of ‘Authority’  Fabio De Sio, Nils Hansson and Ulrich Koppitz 8 The Laureate in the Spotlight: Renato Dulbecco and the Public Image of Science  Massimiano Bucchi 9 Nobel Prize Awarded Discoveries and Commercialization: The Role of the Laureates  Katarina Nordqvist and Pauline Mattsson Index