Department for the History, Philosophy, and Ethics of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Heinrich-Heine-University Duesseldorf, Moorenstr. 5, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany.
Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2021 Sep;147(9):2547-2553. doi: 10.1007/s00432-021-03671-x. Epub 2021 May 29.
To date, 11 scientists have received the Nobel Prize for discoveries directly related to cancer research. This article provides an overview of cancer researchers nominated for the Nobel Prize from 1901 to 1960 with a focus on Ernst von Leyden (1832-1910), the founder of this journal, and Karl Heinrich Bauer (1890-1978).
We collected nominations and evaluations in the archive of the Nobel committee of physiology or medicine in Sweden to identify research trends and to analyse oncology in a Nobel Prize context.
We found a total of 54 nominations citing work on cancer as motivation for 11 candidates based in Germany from 1901 to 1953. In the 1930s, the US became the leading nation of cancer research in a Nobel context with nominees like Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) and George N. Papanicolaou (1883-1962).
The will of Alfred Nobel stipulates that Nobel laureates should have "conferred the greatest benefit to mankind". Why were then so few cancer researchers recognized with the Nobel medal from 1901 to 1960? Our analysis of the Nobel dossiers points at multiple reasons: (1) Many of the proposed cancer researchers were surgeons, and surgery has a weak track record in a Nobel context; (2) several scholars were put forward for clinical work and not for basic research (historically, the Nobel committee has favoured basic researchers); (3) the scientists were usually not nominated for a single discovery, but rather for a wide range of different achievements.
迄今为止，已有 11 位科学家因与癌症研究直接相关的发现而获得诺贝尔奖。本文概述了 1901 年至 1960 年获得诺贝尔奖提名的癌症研究人员，重点介绍了该杂志的创始人恩斯特·冯·莱登（Ernst von Leyden，1832-1910 年）和卡尔·海因里希·鲍尔（Karl Heinrich Bauer，1890-1978 年）。
我们在瑞典诺贝尔生理学或医学委员会的档案中收集了提名和评估，以确定研究趋势，并在诺贝尔奖背景下分析肿瘤学。
我们总共发现了 54 项提名，其中 11 位候选人的研究动机是基于德国从 1901 年至 1953 年的癌症研究。在 20 世纪 30 年代，美国成为诺贝尔奖背景下癌症研究的领先国家，其提名人包括哈维·库欣（Harvey Cushing，1869-1939 年）和乔治·N·帕帕尼古拉乌（George N. Papanicolaou，1883-1962 年）。
阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔的遗嘱规定，诺贝尔奖得主应该“给人类带来最大的利益”。那么，为什么从 1901 年到 1960 年，只有这么少的癌症研究人员获得诺贝尔奖呢？我们对诺贝尔奖档案的分析指出了多个原因：（1）许多被提名的癌症研究人员是外科医生，而外科手术在诺贝尔奖背景下的记录较弱；（2）一些学者是因为临床工作而不是基础研究而被提名（历史上，诺贝尔委员会更倾向于基础研究人员）；（3）这些科学家通常不是因为单一的发现而被提名，而是因为广泛的不同成就。
