ABSTRACT
A similar situation happened with the 1997 Prize (32]. What I have said has no intention of casting aspersions on the laureates. I have no doubt that the Nobel Committee sought to select, however difficult this
could be, the three most distinguished researchers in the chosen field. But the very character of these prizes contrasts too dramatically with the vast majority of prizes awarded for individual and mostly original discoveries and achievements. The bright example can be the award of the first Nobel Prize in physics in 1901 to W Roentgen for the discovery of X-rays. At the same time, as mentioned in the main text of this article, Nobel Prizes in physics as a whole have gained authority, so I think that, in the future, most really great achievements in physics will sooner or later win such a prize (see also [21, 206] and articles 21 and 22 of this volume).
