1,000 Names Fill the Paper, But Only 3 Stand on the Podium: The Dilemma of the Nobel Prize at 125 Years [125 Years of the Nobel Prize]①

Rethinking the Idea of the "Discoverer"

Even with 1,200 LIGO Scientists Detecting Gravitational Waves, Only Three Won the Nobel Prize

From the “Lone Genius” to Mega-Collaborations

How the Landscape of Discovery Has Changed Over 100 Ye

Editor's Note125 years have passed since the first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901. Science has changed from the era of a single genius making discoveries to an era where thousands of researchers and artificial intelligence (AI) collaborate. The Asia Business Daily examines, across a seven-part series on 125 years of the Nobel Prize, how the key players and methods of scientific discovery have changed and to what extent the Nobel Prize reflects these transformations.

American theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics Laureate. Approximately 1,200 scientists and engineers participated in the LIGO-Virgo collaboration, which first directly detected gravitational waves. Thorne described himself, as a Nobel laureate, as a 'symbol' representing the vast collaborative research team. Official Nobel Prize website / Photo by Alexander Mahmoud

When Albert Einstein unveiled his general theory of relativity in 1915, only his name appeared as the author of the published paper. One hundred years later, on September 14, 2015, the gravitational waves Einstein had predicted were directly observed for the first time. The U.S. Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) captured these 'ripples in spacetime' generated by the collision of two black holes approximately 1.3 billion light-years away. The paper published the following year was densely packed with the names of more than 1,000 international researchers from the LIGO-Virgo collaborative team who had worked on the discovery for decades.

This scene—where thousands of scientists directly confirmed a phenomenon predicted by a single genius a century earlier—symbolizes how fundamentally the methods of scientific discovery have changed over the past hundred years. Yet, in the face of this monumental achievement, the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded only to three individuals: Rainer Weiss, Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Barry Barish and Kip Thorne, Professors Emeriti at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The citation honored their 'decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves.' Even in an era when thousands collaborate on a single discovery, the Nobel Prize continues to single out a select few who have made decisive contributions.

A panoramic view of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Hanford Observatory located in Hanford, Washington, USA. It sends lasers along two 4 km-long vacuum tubes extending at right angles to each other to measure extremely minute changes in spacetime. Together with another LIGO detector in Livingston, Louisiana, USA, it made the first direct detection of gravitational waves by humanity in 2015. Provided by Caltech/MIT/LIGO Laboratory

A Paper by One 100 Years Ago, 1,000 Authors Today

Wang Dasun, professor at Northwestern University in the U.S., pointed to the century-long difference between Einstein and LIGO as a representative illustration of modern changes in science in a written interview with The Asia Business Daily. Professor Wang, who studies the 'Science of Science,' stated, "In 1915, Einstein published the general theory of relativity as the sole author, but by 2015, the detection of gravitational waves was the result of an international collaboration involving more than 1,000 researchers." He emphasized, "The method of scientific discovery has fundamentally changed over the past century."

As scientific knowledge accumulates and research problems grow more complex, it has become nearly impossible for a single person to handle all the theory, experimentation, apparatus, and data involved. The detection of gravitational waves alone required a convergence of expertise in fields such as lasers and optics, vacuum and precision control, and computing and data analysis. Over decades, many researchers worked together to integrate these fields into one enormous observation system, enabling the direct detection of gravitational waves at last.

In his 2017 Nobel lecture, Professor Thorne explained that the first observation of gravitational waves was the result of nearly 1,200 LIGO-Virgo scientists and engineers working together for almost half a century. Although the Nobel Prize for decisive contribution was awarded to three individuals, including himself, he said that "the primary credit belongs to the full collaborative team" and described himself as a singular "icon" representing the collective.

This is not unique to gravitational waves. In 2012, the Higgs boson—predicted by theory in the 1960s—was confirmed at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The Higgs boson is a key to understanding how fundamental particles acquire mass.

Approximately 3,000 scientists participated respectively in the two massive international experiments, ATLAS and CMS, which discovered the Higgs boson. However, the following year's Nobel Prize in Physics went to just two people: François Englert and Peter Higgs, who had established the theory. Once again, the Nobel Prize chose a theorist for the 'decisive theoretical discovery' among the thousands who had contributed experimentally to verify it.

AI-generated graphic.

The Nobel Prize adheres to a longstanding principle. The statutes of the Nobel Foundation explicitly stipulate that the prize cannot be shared among more than three people. This rule, created in the early 20th century, persists into the 21st century—even as thousands co-author a single scientific paper. Priyamvada Natarajan, professor of astronomy and physics at Yale University, commented on this reality by saying, "The three-person rule does not correspond well to how discoveries are made today."

She remarked, "I never really believed in the model of the 'lone genius.' It makes for a wonderful story, but mostly that’s all it is." Science, she explained, has always advanced upon the accumulated knowledge and research of others, but today its collective nature is simply much more visible.

She added, "When the shadow of a black hole is photographed or the sound of two black holes colliding is heard, no one can truthfully say, 'I did this alone.'"

Professor Wang also pointed out that the gap between "how knowledge is created" and "how that knowledge is recognized" is growing in modern science. While it is possible to identify those who originate key ideas or provide intellectual leadership in large-scale projects, he stressed, "Discovering who made the key contribution and claiming that they alone made the discovery are two entirely different matters."

When honor is concentrated on a few, countless contributors responsible for essential roles—such as building experimental apparatus, analyzing data, developing software, and calibrating detectors—may go unrecognized by the public. Professor Wang also noted the so-called "Matthew effect," where researchers who already hold fame and status receive disproportionate recognition even if their contributions are similar to others.

Individual Insight Still Survives in the Age of Massive Collaboration

Albert Einstein, the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics laureate, is delivering his Nobel lecture in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 11, 1923. Einstein was unable to attend the award ceremony held in December 1922 and gave his Nobel lecture the following year in Gothenburg. Photo by Anders Wilhelm Karnell / Gothenburg Library Archive

Still, it would be wrong to conclude that the role of individuals has vanished from modern science. According to Professor Wang's research, small and large teams tend to play different functions in science. Smaller teams are relatively stronger at pursuing entirely new research directions that disrupt the established order, while large teams excel at developing existing ideas and solving complex problems.

Professor Natarajan also stated, "Individuals or small groups may be better suited to pursuing high-risk, high-reward, radical new ideas," and cautioned against viewing all scientific progress solely through the lens of large-scale collaboration.

Tobias Erb, director of the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Germany, agreed: "Science has always been a collective activity. What has changed is that the problems we seek to solve are vastly more complex, requiring far more advanced tools, technologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration." Nonetheless, he emphasized, "Challenging established ideas, discovering unexpected connections, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge with new ideas remain, at their core, acts of individual intellect."

Hiroshi Shimizu, professor at Waseda University in Japan, explained that science has always advanced upon a network of knowledge accumulated and shared across individuals, institutions, and generations. "No matter how outstanding a person may be, attributing an entire scientific discovery to one individual can foster misconceptions," he noted, "yet it is equally impractical to identify and credit every single contributor to a breakthrough."

It is precisely here that the dilemma of the 125-year-old Nobel Prize emerges. Peter Brzezinski, professor at Stockholm University and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects Nobel laureates in physics and chemistry, stated that "the three-person limitation has been raised and discussed within the Academy in the past." Still, the conclusion thus far is closer to maintaining, rather than altering, the status quo. "The current consensus is that the rules for selecting Nobel laureates will likely remain unchanged for the foreseeable future," he said.

Professor Brzezinski further explained that the purpose of the Nobel Prize is not to exhaustively record all contributors' names. Its role, he said, is to bring groundbreaking scientific discoveries to the world's attention, raise public interest in science through the stories of associated individuals, and inspire the next generation of researchers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.