The awards, which are also handed out for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, literature and peace, come with a prize amount of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.2 million) and bestow an instant fame on the recipients that is unthinkable for the vast majority of scientists.
WHO WAS ALFRED NOBEL?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, who in his will dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
Nobel spent much of his career developing weapons technologies and made a fortune from it, but later in life became a close friend of Austrian peace activist Bertha von Suttner. She went on to become the first woman to win the peace prize in 1905 and many believe it was her influence that made him include an award for that category.
Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
WHO AWARDS THE NOBEL PRIZES?
Nobel selected the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to award the prizes for chemistry and physics, the Swedish Academy for literature, Sweden's Karolinska Institute medical university for physiology or medicine, and the Norwegian parliament for peace. It is not known exactly why Nobel chose Norway to hand out the peace prize, though it could reflect that Norway and Sweden were linked in a political union at the time he penned his will.
In 1968, when Sweden's central bank was celebrating its 300th anniversary, it established the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel with a donation to the Nobel Foundation. The prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, according to the same principles as the other prizes.
FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS LAUREATES
Notable Nobel laureates include scientists Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and Marie Curie, authors Ernest Hemingway and Albert Camus, and inspirational leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Teresa.
While most achievements are still celebrated, some awards have not aged well, such as Egas Moniz's 1949 prize in physiology or medicine for the since-discredited practice of lobotomy.
Many peace prizes have also been criticized, including those for Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres. Failure to give the prize to Mahatma Gandhi before his death in 1948 is also seen by many as a great oversight.
THE FESTIVITIES
The Nobel prizes are presented to the laureates on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. The peace prize is handed out by the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, while the other prizes are presented by the Swedish king in Stockholm Concert Hall.
During the evening some 1,300 guests are treated to a lavish banquet at Stockholm City Hall. The menu, meticulously planned for months by some of Sweden's best chefs and sommeliers, is kept a secret until the food is served by 200 waiters.
The food has a Nordic theme and last year's menu included a starter of goat's cheese filled with lovage, a main course quenelle of chicken, miso-glazed celeriac and cabbage, and dessert of baked apple terrine and brown butter cake, flavoured with spruce shoots.
