9° 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE. 



THE NOBEL PRIZES. 



As has already been noted here the 

 Nobel prizes in science have this year 

 been awarded to Lord Rayleigh, Sir 

 William Ramsay and Professor Ivan 

 Pavlov. Each of these men of science 

 has that international reputation which 

 is said to be the best forecast of the 

 verdict of posterity. Lord Rayleigh 

 and Sir William Ramsay are famous 

 for their joint discovery of argon, to 

 which the latter has added helium, 

 neon, krypton and zenon; but each has 

 long been known as a leader in his sci- 

 ence. Lord Rayleigh's great work is 

 his 'Theory of Sound'; his collected 

 papers, recently published, cover a wide 

 range of subjects in mathematical phys- 

 ics. He was Maxwell's successor in the 

 chair of experimental physics at Cam- 

 bridge, now held by Professor J. J. 

 Thomson, but has since 1884 carried 

 on his researches in his private labora- 

 tory in his country place in Essex. 

 Lord Rayleigh is one of those who 

 have given distinction to science in 

 Great Britain without holding a pro- 

 fessional position, a class unfortunately 

 lacking in this country. Like Darwin 

 and others of this class, he also repre- 

 sents a hereditary interest in science, 

 his brother having done scientific work, 

 and his son having this year been nom- 

 inated for membership in the Royal 

 Society. Sir William Ramsay, who 

 has recently been knighted, is professor 

 of chemistry in University College, Lon- 

 don. Apart from his discovery of new 

 elements and their properties, he has 

 done important work on the molecular 

 surface energy of liquids and in other 

 directions, including improvements in 

 the teaching of chemistry. His recent 

 visit to America has left most pleasant 



I memories. His address on the ' The 

 ; Present Problems of Inorganic Chem- 

 I istry,' given at the St. Louis Congress 

 ! was published in the issue of this jour- 

 | nal for November last. Professor J. 

 P. Pavlov is less well known to Ameri- 

 cans than Rayleigh and Ramsay, partly 

 because his researches were originally 

 published in a language difficult to 

 read. His important work on digestion 

 with special reference to the control of 

 the nervous system was translated into 

 German in 1898, and by specialists, at 

 least, it is now fully appreciated. He 

 has also made important improvements 

 in technique and discoveries in regard 

 to the formation of urea, the functions 

 of the liver and in other directions. 

 He is professor in the Imperial Insti- 

 tute for Experimental Medicine at St. 

 Petersburg, which is liberally supported 

 by the Russian government. 



It will be remembered that Alfred 

 Nobel, who amassed a fortune by the 

 invention of dynamite, bequeathed it 

 to form a trust, which amounts to 

 about $8,000,000, "the interest of 

 which shall be distributed annually as 

 a reward to those who, in the course of 

 the preceding year, shall have rendered 

 the greatest services to humanity. 

 The sum total shall be divided into five 

 equal portions, assigned as follows: 



( 1 ) To the person having made the 

 most important discovery or invention 

 in the department of physical science. 



(2) To the person having made the 

 most important discovery or having 

 produced the greatest improvement in 

 chemistry. (3) To the author of the 

 most important discovery in the depart- 

 ment of physiology or of medicine. (4) 

 To the author having produced the 

 most notable literary work in the 



