Nobel Prizes are becoming more diverse, says Academy secretary general

Stockholm: Hans Ellegren, the secretary general of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said the Nobel Prizes are growing more diverse. His statement is drawing attention because only one woman has won the Nobel science prize this year. And all 2022 laureates are from the US and Europe.

He told AFP that he is "rather glad" about the progress being made and noted that four women won Nobel Prize for Chemistry in the last five years. "That's half of all women laureates in chemistry that have ever been awarded the prize." He added that two women won the Nobel Prize in Physics even though it is a very male-dominated field. "And we have one in economic science."

He further said that the Nobel science prizes typically go to people who conducted their research several decades ago when there were fewer women in the labs. "The laureates (honoured) now reflect what the scientific community looked like then."

This year, Carolyn Bertozzi won the Prize for chemistry and she is the only woman to be honoured in a science discipline. She shared the award with two men. The only other woman laureate of 2022 is French author Annie Ernaux, who won the Literature Prize.

Ellegren said he is anticipating more geographic diversity in the future. "I expect that. But we can't guarantee and we don't really foresee who will be awarded the prize. But one could really think that there will be a change also when it comes to geographical origins."