One of the first questions, invariably, is, Why do Jews win so many Nobel Prizes?
For a group of people who comprise 0.2 per cent of the world’s population, it is an impressive achievement to win nearly 20 per cent or more of all Nobel Prizes! the Jewish population of the world stands at best at 15 million whereas the population of the planet is approaching 7.5 Billion!
This year, one of the Nobel Prize winners in Physics was not only Jewish but also the oldest to win Nobel Prize at 96 years of age!
While many of our enemies accuse us of being controllers of the economies and conspiring businessmen, the fields Jews excel in the Nobel Prize arena is Medicine, Physics and Chemistry!
here is an quote from an Israeli newspaper in the year when 6 out of 8 Nobel Prize winners were Jewish, one of them Israeli.
The real explanation of Jewish success in science lies elsewhere. The 20th century began with massive migrations of Jews, to the United States, to the cities of Russia (and then the Soviet Union), and to Palestine. In each of these new lands, Jews turned to science in great numbers because it promised a way to transcend the old world orders that had for so long excluded most Jews from power, wealth and society. Science, based as it is on values of universality, impartiality and meritocracy, appealed powerfully for Jews seeking to succeed in their new homes. It is not so much what Jews were (smart, bookish) that explains their success in science, as what we wanted to be (equal, accepted, esteemed), and in what sorts of places we wanted to live (liberal and meritocratic societies).
So when I was interviewed for a radio programme in Malaysia by my good friend, Arlene T, her first question was: Why do Jews win so many Nobel Prizes.
Certainly it is not due to the fact that Jews are smarter than other people, there are very clever people in all parts of the world, but may be we are a just a bit more curious about the world. I am still very curious about what is happening anywhere and everywhere, my father used to be glued to the radio learning about what is happening in places that he would never visit. On a recent visit to Israel, at the dinner table where there were 6 children/adolescents aged between 7-14 years I was amazed at the depth of their knowledge, curiosity about the world and interest in knowing things for the sake of knowing things. You cannot but be impressed when the 7 year old talks about microbiome or the life stories of famous women (In Hebrew there are so many books written about Famous people for children to read and follow)
Some interesting data points
• Of all authors and writers, only 35% are women. According to population groups, 48% of the prose writers and children’s literature in the Haredi community are women, compared to 40% of women in the general public.
Original Blogger URL: https://medicoanthropologist.blogspot.com/2018/10/jews-and-nobel-prizes.html