Nobel Prize medal

The medals for chemistry, literature, physics, and physiology or medicine were designed by Erik Lindberg.

The medals for Chemistry, Literature, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine have identical obverses, showing the image of Nobel and the years of his birth and death.

[2] The names of the chemistry, medicine, literature and physics prize recipients are engraved on the reverse of the medal on a small plate.

[2] The Chemistry, Literature, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine medals were designed by Erik Lindberg.

[2] Between 1902 and 2010 the Nobel Prize medals were struck by the Myntverket, the Swedish royal mint, located in Eskilstuna.

[3] The reverse of the medal depicts the Goddess of Nature in the form of Isis as she emerges from clouds holding a cornucopia.

[4] The reverse of the medal depicts the 'Genius of Medicine holding an open book in her lap, collecting the water pouring out from a rock in order to quench a sick girl's thirst'.

[5] The reverse of the medal depicts a ' ... young man sitting under a laurel tree who, enchanted, listens to and writes down the song of the Muse'.

[5] The medal for the Nobel Peace Prize was designed by the Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland in 1901.

[6] The edge of the medal is inscribed with the year of its awarding, with the name of its recipient and "Prix Nobel de la Paix".

[6] The medal for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was designed by Gunvor Svensson-Lundqvist in 1968.

[7] The reverse features the emblem of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the North Star, in a design from 1815.

[7] "Kungliga Vetenskaps Akademien" ("The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences") is inscribed around the edge of the star.

[2] During World War II, the medals of German scientists Max von Laue and James Franck were sent to Copenhagen for safekeeping.

When Germany invaded Denmark, Hungarian chemist (and Nobel laureate himself) George de Hevesy dissolved them in aqua regia (nitro-hydrochloric acid), to prevent confiscation by Nazi Germany and to prevent legal problems for the holders.