Stockholm, Oct 1 (AFP/APP):Wars, jailed laureates and diplomatic rows have occasionally put the brakes on the Nobel prizes through the years. This time it is the coronavirus pandemic that has thwarted plans, and while prize announcements will go ahead next week, December festivities will be scaled back. The traditional December 10 awards ceremony and banquet in Stockholm honouring the laureates in medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics has been replaced by a televised event where the winners will receive their prizes in their home countries. The Oslo ceremony for the peace prize, held on the same day, will meanwhile go ahead on a smaller scale, and that banquet has also been cancelled. Here are some previous occasions when the Nobels didn’t go as planned. Prizes not awarded The committees tasked with selecting Nobel laureates in the fields of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics can refrain from awarding the prize. The Nobel Foundation’s statutes say this is possible when no work or research is deemed worthy. Not awarding the prize can also be an honour. In 1948, several months after the death of Mahatma Gandhi, the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded, a homage to the Indian pacifist who … Continue reading Wars, rows and scandals: When the Nobels didn’t go as planned