Amid COVID-19 scare, Nobel Prize banquet to be cancelled for first time since 1956: Report
Stockholm/IBNS: The Nobel Prize banquet might be cancelled this year for the first time in over half a century amidst a continuous peak in the coronavirus cases globally, media reports said on Tuesday.
The Nobel Prize winners for 2020 will be announced but the traditional banquet, which is hosted on the 10th of December, will not happen due to the pandemic.
Around 1300 guests attend the prestigious banquet every year.
"There are two problems. You can not gather that many people next to each other. And it is uncertain whether people can travel to Sweden to the extent they want," Nobel Foundation Chairman Lars Heikensten told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.
Earlier, the Nobel Prize banquet was cancelled during World War I and II.
It was last cancelled in 1956 as a mark of protest during the Soviet Union's invasion of Hungary.
The Nobel Prize is a set of annual international awards bestowed in several categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances.
The will of the Swedish chemist, engineer and industrialist Alfred Nobel established the five Nobel prizes in 1895.
The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901.
(Image :NobelPrize.org)
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