Labor pains in the early days of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry

Human activities have been marred for ages by conflicts of interest. This is no less true in the field of science. In the early years of the Nobel Prizes, little attention was focused on this aspect, but awareness steadily grew. In particular, this concerned Swedes nominated for Nobel Prizes, who were most likely themselves members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, but whose fellows at the Academy should treat them equally with respect to foreign nominees. In addition, conflicts of interest can arise when committee members have close contacts with nominated scientists, regardless of nationality.