Prizes and Awards in Science before Nobel

The papers published in this special issue of Nuncius were presented at the 5th Watson Seminar on the Material and Visual History of Science, which was held at the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm on September 5, 2016. They explore through a selection of significant case studies the changing role of prizes in the history of science before the institutionalization of the Nobel Prize. There is little doubt that the Nobel Prize has since the early 20th century represented by far the most important recognition a scientist can receive; the universal prestige of the Nobel Prize has overshadowed numerous attempts to award a varied typology of prizes to creative scientists and inventors, a practice that has existed since classical antiquity. It took a long time before a relatively standardized prize system became widely accepted, but the competitive nature of science showed the importance of public recognition at a very early stage.