1901 Nobel Prize in Physics
The 1901 Nobel Prize in Physics was presented in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden to the German Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him", namely, X-rays. It was the first of its kind resulting from the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel to recognize "the person who made the most important discovery or invention in the field of physics".
Laureate
Wilhelm Röntgen was a German physicist at the University of Munich and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences when he received the Nobel Prize. Whilst he was at the University of Würzburg and experimenting with cathode ray tubes, Röntgen discovered on 8 November 1895 that some waves could penetrate objects and record their transparent likenesses on photographic plates. Röntgen announced his discoveries, which he named X-rays, in a brief note to the Physico-medical Society of Würzburg entitled Eine neue Art von Strahlen. It immediately attracted enormous popular and scientific attention worldwide, with over one thousand books, pamphlets and articles appearing on the phenomenon, which Rudolph Albert von Kölliker dubbed "Röntgen rays", in just the year 1896.Deliberately left unpatented by Röntgen, by 1901, X-rays were seeing widespread use in hospitals, inspired further research into radiation, including among many future Nobel laureates, and made its discoverer into a celebrity. For instance, in 1900 alone, Röntgen received the Barnard Medal from Columbia University, and was made Knight of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown and Prussian Order of the Crown 2nd Class. X-rays are still known in some languages as Röntgen rays, and images produced with them as roentgenograms.
Deliberations
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded by an absolute majority vote of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from among the persons given valid nominations by scientists and/or Academy members qualified to do so. The Academy held a plenary session on 12 November, with the secretary being Swedish chemist. There is no record of either proceedings or individual votes to comply with standards on secrecy.Within the Academy, there is a specialist Nobel Committee for Physics, usually composed of Swedes, who issue their own proposals and judgement. The Committee's membership in 1901 follows:
| No. | Member | Image | Date appointed | Affiliation |
| 1 | Knut Ångström | 1900 | Uppsala University | |
| 2 | Svante Arrhenius | 1900 | Stockholm University | |
| 3 | 1900 | Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences | ||
| 4 | Hugo Hildebrandsson | 1900 | Uppsala University | |
| 5 | Robert Thalén | 1900 | Uppsala University |
Nominations
Röntgen was nominated by sixteen of the 29 nominators. Members of the Academy are denoted with an asterisk in the table below. The five members of the Committee all divided their nominations between Röntgen and fellow German Philipp Lenard, who received the second-most number of nominations, i.e., six. Members of that Committee are denoted with a dagger. Röntgen himself voted for the English physicist Lord Kelvin. Nominations must have been received before 1 February 1901. As was the case until 1910, the identity of the winners was not revealed until the prize ceremony the following month.Note that two of the nominees died between 1 February and the plenary session: Henry Augustus Rowland, on 16 April 1901, and Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, on 12 August; therefore, they would be disqualified for a Nobel Prize, whose recipient must be living. Additionally, at least two nominations were disallowed because they were self-nominations.
Ceremony
The Nobel Prize ceremonies began at 7 o'clock p.m. on Tuesday, 10 December 1901, the fifth anniversary of Nobel's death. As until 1926, the scientific Prizes were presented in the hall of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Nybroviken, Stockholm, Sweden.The presentation speeches for the Prizes in Physics and Chemistry were delivered by Clas Theodor Odhner, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and former Rector of the National Archives of Sweden. Odhner began with Physics, describing its laureate thusly:
Röntgen was then presented with the Nobel diploma and medal from Crown Prince Gustaf, the future Gustaf V, in the King's absence. After the other medals were awarded, the laureates attended a banquet, held as until 1930 in the Grand Hôtel, Stockholm. Unlike the other laureates, Röntgen did not deliver a lecture the following day and left instead. In fact, he was intensely shy, refused interviews and resented publicity.
In accordance with Nobel's will, the prize money was divided to the laureates from the income of safe investments made by the Nobel Foundation from his vast fortune. In 1901, Röntgen received 150,782 kronor, worth about kr. in. Accounting for inflation, this would be the most paid to a Nobel laureate until 1991. It is sometimes said that Röntgen donated this prize to the University of Würzburg after his death—while he did dedicate nearly that amount in his testament of 1920, it was never specifically linked to the Nobel prize. In any case, the hyperinflation of the German Mark contemporary with Röntgen's death in 1923 essentially made his bequest worthless.
Reactions
Many Swedish publications reported on the Nobel ceremonies, while foreign coverage was minimal, even in Germany. A number of Swedish newspapers and magazines reprinted the faces and biographies of Röntgen and the other laureates. The Stockholms Dagblad commented on the laureates' "characteristic physiognomies", including Röntgen's "sharply defined face, projecting Teutonic strength with his long, bushy beard".The Motala ' commented that by the discovery of X-rays, Röntgen had earned "one of the foremost places of honour in the scientific world". The Gothenburg ' wrote: