A little wonder, every day

Fact 1650 — A Nobel Prize can be divided between two works and their authors

AI-generated cover image illustrating a prize divided among multiple works or recipients. Exact prompt: “Photorealistic editorial cover about how a Nobel Prize can be divided between works and laureates: a gold medal beside two manuscript folders and three elegant equal portions of a prize ribbon arranged on a dark desk, vertical 4:5. Generic symbolic illustration, no official Nobel medal design, no readable text, no logos.”

Roger Penrose photographed at Berkeley in January 2011. Creator Biswarup Ganguly. Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Roger_Penrose_9529.JPG; CC BY 3.0 (also offered under GFDL); attribution required: Biswarup Ganguly, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. No edits. Optimized from `media/roger-penrose.jpg` to 1424×2144 px at JPEG quality 82.

AI-generated editorial illustration of three fictional award recipients (not real laureates), created 2026-10-19. Exact prompt: “Photorealistic editorial illustration of three diverse scientists standing together at a formal award ceremony, each holding a small generic gold medal, warm stage lighting, vertical 4:5. Anonymous fictional people, no recognizable real laureates, no official branding or readable text.”

AI-generated symbolic editorial still life (created 2026-10-19), showing different-sized shares beside a generic medal. It illustrates that shares can differ; it is not a literal accounting of a prize. Exact prompt: “Photorealistic editorial still life illustrating how prize shares can vary: a single generic gold medal and three adjacent stacks of gold-colored coins with visibly different sizes, a neutral scientific award setting, vertical 4:5. Symbolic illustration only, no official Nobel design, no numbers or text, no logos.”

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AI-generated cover image illustrating a prize divided among multiple works or recipients. Exact prompt: “Photorealistic editorial cover about how a Nobel Prize can be divided between works and laureates: a gold medal beside two manuscript folders and three elegant equal portions of a prize ribbon arranged on a dark desk, vertical 4:5. Generic symbolic illustration, no official Nobel medal design, no readable text, no logos.”

Listen to fact0:00 / —

The Nobel Foundation’s statutes allow the prize amount to be divided equally between two works if each is deemed worthy of an award. If a rewarded work was produced by two or three people, the prize is awarded to them jointly; in total, a prize amount cannot be divided among more than three people. Thus, the division takes account of both the number of rewarded works and their authors.