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In praise of not-so-famous men who should have won the prize
By David Hill |
October 14, 2009, Wednesday
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THERE is no doubt that United States President Barack Obama is a very good man indeed, but the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to him is too early.
I am not saying that he was not a worthy candidate. But there were more worthy people who have saved millions of lives but are little known.
I had the privilege to work with two of the world's most unknown "celebrities" who did indeed save millions of lives through their incredible work.
The first is the late Glenn Seaborg, the "father" of the chemistry of chemotherapy and initiator of the "The Test Ban Treaty" for nuclear weapons.
It is estimated that Seaborg through his chemistry and his creation of many of the chemical isotopes used in chemotherapy, has saved literally over 100 million human lives over the past 50-years alone.
And the number of people saved by the nuclear test ban initiative is incalculable.
The second person that I worked with is the late John Argyris, the modern-day inventor of the "Finite Element Method." It has revolutionized global engineering design so much that we now have far safer cars, buildings, bridges, airplanes, dams, trains, and the list goes on.
Indeed, without Argyris' input for NASA's pre-runner, the 1969 moon landing would never have happened
It is estimated that Argyris has saved hundreds of millions of lives through far greater safety in structural design.
Were these two great men of science and engineering who saved literally millions and millions of lives ever considered by the Nobel Foundation for their Peace Prize? No.
Gandhi never received it, either, even though he was nominated five-times. In the year of his death, the Nobel Foundation said that there were no candidates worthy enough and did not award the prize that year.
(David Hill, World Innovation Foundation, Bern, Switzerland.)
I am not saying that he was not a worthy candidate. But there were more worthy people who have saved millions of lives but are little known.
I had the privilege to work with two of the world's most unknown "celebrities" who did indeed save millions of lives through their incredible work.
The first is the late Glenn Seaborg, the "father" of the chemistry of chemotherapy and initiator of the "The Test Ban Treaty" for nuclear weapons.
It is estimated that Seaborg through his chemistry and his creation of many of the chemical isotopes used in chemotherapy, has saved literally over 100 million human lives over the past 50-years alone.
And the number of people saved by the nuclear test ban initiative is incalculable.
The second person that I worked with is the late John Argyris, the modern-day inventor of the "Finite Element Method." It has revolutionized global engineering design so much that we now have far safer cars, buildings, bridges, airplanes, dams, trains, and the list goes on.
Indeed, without Argyris' input for NASA's pre-runner, the 1969 moon landing would never have happened
It is estimated that Argyris has saved hundreds of millions of lives through far greater safety in structural design.
Were these two great men of science and engineering who saved literally millions and millions of lives ever considered by the Nobel Foundation for their Peace Prize? No.
Gandhi never received it, either, even though he was nominated five-times. In the year of his death, the Nobel Foundation said that there were no candidates worthy enough and did not award the prize that year.
(David Hill, World Innovation Foundation, Bern, Switzerland.)
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