samsamsam

went to the Nobel museum last week, its pretty similar to the roadshow one they have traveling around the world. was there because it was Nobel week, i.e. the entrance fee is waived.

a room where you get to listen to the famous speeches by the laureates.


the main exhibition hall.


Alfred Nobel's bag and stuff.


some of his books


so what will you actually get by winning this award?
a nice dinner held in the city hall hosted by the king of sweden. with very nice chinaware. its so nice that people steal it, and so much was stolen that they had to send out letters to all who attended before and ask them to plese return the forks and spoons coz they were running at a loss. many were returned.


then there's the prize ceremony where you get a diploma, as it is called, hand painted and one of a kind. there are no two similar ones made. on the left is what award you won, and on the right is the names of the people who are in the academy who came to the decision of putting you on top.


you get a prize money of 10,000,000 SEK and a gold medallion that costs 33,000 SEK to produce. since the designs of the coins are copyrighted, there are very few around, in additon, each one is unique as it bears the name of the winner. so the actual street price would be many times the cost price.



and you also get to visit the nobel museum for free, and while there, you sign, not a guest book, but a cafe chair.

this one has the 2008 economics prize winner on the bottommost part.

the story of how the chair signing came about is something like this.

in 2001, Bill Clinton visited Stockholm. the newly opened Nobel museum was one of his stops and so sitting down for a cup of coffee, he asked if they had a guestbook for him to sign.
and the manager went *****
one young hopeful winner of the Nobel prize for saving-your-boss'-face came up with the idea after spying a white marker and a black chair. unfortunately, he did not realize there was no such prize.
and so the tradition started in 2001. the only person who signed the chair but is not a nobel laureate is Bill Clinton. so if you are a nobel laureate from whichever year, step right into the museum free of charge, grab a chair and demand a white marker!

the nameless faceless hero who saved his boss' face remains nameless and faceless today.

the chance of me winning the nobel prize is very low, but i think got chance to win the noble prize. noble because i let others win before me......hahahaha