The Saints of Science? Bodies, Ceremonies, and the Public Image of the Nobel Prize

The paper analyses one of the leading narratives characterising the public image of Nobel laureates. This narrative connects with an iconography that emerged during the 19th century, in coincidence with increasing social and cultural recognition of science, as well as with the emerging expectation, in civil societies across many countries, that highly symbolic lay figures should correspond to religious saints and ought to be celebrated through biographies, portraits and monuments. Especially in certain cases, this secular worship of scientists also extends to the body of the scientist and its relics. The Nobel Prize, its ceremonials and rituals have become part of, reinforced and consolidated this narrative, offering insight to understand how the prize has contributed to shape the public image of scientists during the past century.