Nobel academy head rules out gender, ethnicity quotas for prizes
Al Jazeera
Goran Hansson says prizes must go to ‘those most worthy’ but laments historic lack of female Nobel laureates.
The head of the academy that awards Nobel Prizes in science has ruled out introducing gender or ethnicity quotas after this year’s Nobel laureates included only one woman, continuing a historic imbalance among recipients.
Göran Hansson, the head of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said on Monday that he regretted that there were “so few women Nobel laureates” but added the prizes must go to “those who are found the most worthy”.
“We have decided we will not have quotas for gender or ethnicity. We want every laureate [to] be accepted … because they made the most important discovery, and not because of gender or ethnicity,” Hansson told the AFP news agency.
