No Data, No Results, No Problem, No Bel!

October 9, 2009 by Renaisauce

As a fan of professional science, I was thrilled to hear that the Nobel Peace Prize was offered to President Obama, and not just because I want to hear someone yell "you lie!" during his speech in Oslo before getting tazed by agents of the King. My hope is that the bold initiative taken by the Peace Prize committee will finally extend to all the other Nobel categories.

In this future, this could be a tremendous boost to young scientists with big ideas. For example, take the guys who, several years back, undertook a gene therapy trial in an attempt to cure hemophilia. Such pioneering thinking and guts clearly deserved a Nobel, right? A medal would have come in pretty handy when the first person died. "Hey, I want to say this procedure doesn't work, but what am I gonna do? They're Laureates!"

If the President can get a Nobel for encouraging hand-shaking and making people cry with hope during his eight months in office, surely we can encourage our most promising scientists by handing out the hardware early. Watson and Crick may have found out the structure of DNA after getting it wrong the first time without help from the Swedes, but they would have looked much younger at their awards ceremony (not to mention that Rosalind Franklin would have had one!)

Think how good a Nobel for a promising theory would look on an NSF grant application. "I submit this request for funds. I am aware that I haven't published any results thus far, but I remind the review board that my press release in the university newsletter was Nobel-worthy." Tough to argue, and tough to withhold the tax-payer dollars to the guy inventing the definitive cure for cancer (hey, it worked in rats!)

While I understand that the approach to the Peace Prize is different than prizes awarded for science, there's no reason for the principle to not be carried over. After all, there is nothing wrong with dialogue, and the audacity of hope deserves audacious recognition. Really, it's about time to make this practice the centerpiece of our recognition system. Haven't we always told our children that it was the "thought that counts"? It's time we, as adults, lived to that same high standard (or at least have that intention.)

In fact, I look forward to the Peace Prize approach being applied to the entire award industry. I look forward to Michael Bay's Oscar win for the solid movie he might one day make, and to LA Clippers rookie Blake Griffen being given his 2012 Finals MVP trophy as soon as possible. And I'm not just saying that to up the chances of my ingenious novel idea winning the Pulitzer before sending it on to potential editors. Did somebody say "bidding war"?