Rondon, Einstein's letter and the Nobel peace prize

Abstract

We briefly discuss a letter written by physicist of German origin Albert Einstein (1879-1955) to the Norwegian Nobel Committee nominating the Brazilian military officer, geographer, explorer and peacemaker Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon (1865-1958). Einstein nominated other eleven scientists, and all them were Nobel Prizes laureates. We also examine and discuss the Nobel Peace Prize Nominators and Nominees from 1901 to 1964. Just taking into account data up to the year of the Nobel Prize, the highest number of nominations was awarded to an organization, the Permanent International Peace Bureau in 1910, with a total of 103 nominations, followed by two women: Bertha von Suttner (101 nominations, 1905) and Jane Addams (91 nominations, 1931). Data show that the average number of nominations per Nobel Prize awarded was 17.7, and only 18 of the total 62 laureates exceed this average. At the other extreme there were often prizewinners who had just zero, one, two or three nominations - a highly subjective indicator. We also verified that there were at least 25 nominations by National Parliaments, there were determinants for some winners. Considering the results presented, it is possible to affirm that Rondon received sufficient nominations to be awarded the Nobel Prize, even not considering Einstein’s letter