Nobel Awards Put Light Research in Focus, Raising Questions About How Winners Are Chosen

The announcement of this year’s Nobel Prize winners in medicine and physics has drawn attention to research involving light, from its effects on the human brain to its role in understanding the universe and its origins.

Algae and an ice cube feature in the account of the awards, highlighting the unusual starting points that can underpin scientific research. The summary, however, does not identify the laureates or explain how those elements relate to the winning work.

The announcements also raise a broader question: how do researchers become candidates for a Nobel Prize? In medicine and physics, nominations are invited from eligible experts and institutions rather than submitted through an open public application. Candidates cannot nominate themselves.

Specialist Nobel committees review the nominations and assess the research, drawing on expert evaluations. The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet selects the medicine laureates, while the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences chooses the physics winners.

The process is largely confidential. Nomination records and related deliberations remain sealed for 50 years, meaning the public announcement reveals the winners but not the full field of candidates considered alongside them.