STOCKHOLM (NEWSnet/AP) — Fall has arrived in Scandinavia, bringing Nobel Prize season.

Early October is when Nobel committees gather in Stockholm and Oslo to announce winners of the yearly awards.

First is the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology, which will be announced Oct. 2 by a panel of judges at the Karolinska Institute at the Swedish capital. Prizes in physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics will follow, with one announcement each weekday through Oct. 9.

Here are some details about the prize and its tradition.

Nobel Prizes were created by Alfred Nobel, a 19th-century businessman and chemist from Sweden. He held more than 300 patents, but his claim to fame was having invented dynamite by mixing nitroglycerine with a compound that made the explosive more stable.

Dynamite became popular in construction, mining and the weapons industry. It made Nobel a wealthy man. Toward the end of his life, he decided to use his vast fortune to fund annual prizes “to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”

The first prizes were presented in 1901, five years after Nobel’s death. In 1968, a sixth prize, for economics, was created by Sweden’s central bank.

The peace prize has a separate ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death. The others are presented in Stockholm.

Nobel Prizes project an aura of being above the political fray, focused on benefit for humanity. But the peace and literature awards sometimes are suspected of being politicized. Critics question whether winners are selected because their work is truly outstanding or because it aligns with the political preferences of the judges.

Norwegian Nobel Committee is an independent body that insists its only mission is to carry out the will of Alfred Nobel. However, it does have links to Norway's political system. The five members are appointed by Norwegian Parliament, so the panel's composition reflects the power balance in the legislature.

To avoid the perception that the prizes are influenced by Norway’s political leaders,  members of the Norwegian government or Parliament are barred from serving on the committee. Even so, the panel isn't always viewed as independent by foreign countries.

The prize comes with a generous amount of cash. The Nobel Foundation, which administers the awards, raised prize money by 10% this year to about $1 million. In addition to the money, winners receive an 18-carat gold medal and diploma.

Most winners are proud and humbled by joining the pantheon of Nobel laureates that include Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa. But two winners refused the prize: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre, who turned down the literature prize in 1964; and Vietnam politician Le Duc Tho, who declined the peace prize that he was to share with U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger in 1973.

Historically, the majority of Nobel Prize recipients have been white men. That has started to change, but there is still little diversity among Nobel winners, especially in the science categories. To date, 60 women have won a Nobel Prize, including 25 in scientific categories. Four women have won the Nobel Prize in physics and two have received the economics prize.

At one time, lack of diversity among winners could be explained by the lack of diversity among scientists. But modern critics say the judges must make a better attempt to highlight discoveries made by women and scientists outside Europe and North America.

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